meals names
WW2 and
before gas
pressure
and cooking meals in
austerity more and
more potatoes
and veg hardly any
meat fish if
available eggs:
a food basic bread:
the national
loaf desserts
and drinks

Fish-based cheap, high protein meals in WW2 UK

Fish is a nutritious protein food, but it was not rationed in World War Two. This page explains why. It goes on to describe the queues outside fishmongers and fish and chip shops and how the fish was packaged. Details of the most common fish and shellfish follow with innovative ways of preparing and cooking them in the austerity of wartime.

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By the webmaster: her childhood recollections with contributions from others who lived at the time

Why fish was not rationed

Fish, a really nutritious food, was not rationed during the Second World War. Although this may seem surprising, it is understandable because of the WW2 rationing policies: If there was enough of anything to go round even in tiny quantities, it was rationed so that everyone could have some of it, but if there was not enough to go round, if was 'first come, first served' with the inevitable queues. Implicit in this, but not actually stated, was that if a food were rationed it must stay fresh enough to travel to the far reaches of the country. Fish was a case in point, particularly as household fridges were effectively non-existent, and fresh fish spoils quickly.

So fish was not rationed, but its availability was unpredictable, both in quantity and type. It had to come from own coastal waters which, fortunately, were not as depleted as they are today. Fishermen would not venture far from shore as German submarines were always ready to bring down boats.

Fish and chip shops

Fish from Fish and Chips shops and fishmongers was cheap and reasonably plentiful if you were prepared to buy whatever type happened to be available and if you were not at long distances from the coast. There was always a long queue of people waiting for the shop to open.

Fish and chips from Fish and Chip shops was served in newspaper. So we could either eat it out of doors if the weather was fine or take it home to eat.

Peter Johnson

Herrings and kippers

Herrings were particularly popular. Kippers were popular too and sold ready to eat. Young children frequently assumed that they had been caught swimming in the sea like herrings, even though kippers are actually herrings, split, dried and smoked.

Gutting herrings for cooking

I suppose fishmongers would have gutted fish for customers if they had been asked to, but this was not expected and would have delayed the queue. Even as late as the early 1960s, I regularly bought herrings as whole fish and gutted them myself. It was a messy business but I never questioned it. The innards were wrapped in newspaper and put in the dustbin, and the fish itself was dipped in flour and fried. It didn't need milk or egg to make the flour stick. Unfortunately, the frying pan needed a good clean afterwards, and many people kept a separate pan for fish.

How to gut and prepare a whole herring for cooking

First remove the head and row. To do this, pick up the herring in your left hand as if it were about to swim off. Put it on a chopping board and hold it firmly just behind the head. Then with a sharp knife firmly cut into the head, going through the bone but not quite through the whole fish. Keeping the knife in place, use it to pull the cut pieces away from the fish. The cut pieces include the roe, i.e. the fish eggs which are regarded as a delicacy by some people. If you want to cook it and have it, say, on toast, put it to one side. Roes come in two types, hard and soft, depending on the sex of the fish.

To remove the backbone, split the fish open and lay it flat on the chopping board. It may be tempting to pick off the small bones one by one, but don't. Hold one end of the main backbone and lift and drag it upwards. All the bones will come away easily, attached to the entire backbone. Incidentally the same cannot be said for kippers. Tasty as they are, the multiple bones put many people off.

Neil Cryer

Haddock

Our occasional haddock was poached in milk and water and we children used to dip our bread in the juice while father had the fish. (For medical reasons he was not away in the armed forces.)

John Cole

Shellfish

Shellfish was generally sold already cooked.

On Sundays in the years of austerity after the war, a vendor used to come round the streets with a horse and cart, selling shrimps, winkles and cockles. These were often our treat for the week.

Mike Swift

The man who sold cockles, mussels, prawns and winkles always came on a Sunday. Presumably he had a shop during the week. He came round the streets ringing a bell and pushing a hand cart. We had his wares for Sunday tea.

Vera Harding
born Vera Eaton

Fish recipes in wartime

Fish cakes of sorts were made by mashing some potatoes, mixing in some boiled fish then forming into scone-size shapes. They were then grilled on both sides. Grilling was better than frying because these fish cakes did not contain egg or milk to bind the fish cakes together.

Peter Johnson

Herrings with mash and onion gravy may sound odd but it was lovely, as was kippers with really new bread, which was our Saturday tea.

Anne Jameson

We seemed to have preserved fish quite often, particularly soused herring and soused mackerel.

John Cole

Tinned fish in the austerity of the years after the war

After the war, rationing and shortages were even more severe, but the seas were safe for imports. The result for fish as food was an influx of tinned sardines and pilchards. Whenever my mother had visitors, the meal always seemed to be tinned sardine salad.

Fish in school dinners shortly after WW2

Imported tinned pilchards were all too common in school dinners in the late 1950s.

Julie Vanstone

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