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Becoming A City: Food
When families sat down to meals, the bread was made from flour from the Ipswich flour mill, baked locally and stored in a bread crock made at Dinmore Pottery. Other local foods included butter, cheese, honey, jellies, lollies, preserved meat, soft drink, beer and wine. [1]
In 1915 the Queensland Times published an article titled 'Economy in Food'. People were being encouraged to grow as much as they could in their home gardens.
Produce food for yourselves. Everyone who lives in the country or has a garden can produce something to eat - the more the better: vegetables, fruit, poultry, eggs, rabbits, milk, and cheese. Plant at once what you can, and prepare in all possible ways for next year's cropping. Every plant in your garden may save you money. Produce all you can; buy as little as possible. Cultivate thoroughly. Destroy insect pests and weeds. Prepare manure. Store your own vegetables. Bottle your fruit or make jam or pulp of it. Preserve your eggs when abundant. Cure your own bacon. Eat little meat. Replace meat by milk, cheese, peas, beans and lentils, which are as rich in flesh-formers as meat and much cheaper. Use more vegetables. Eat more fruit. Bake your own bread; it will be cheaper and better. use whole meal flour from home grown wheat, barley, and oats. Cook vegetables by steaming. Boiling water reduces their food value. Cook potatoes in their skins. Use the hay-box cooker; it will save coal. Waste nothing. Buy nothing from abroad that can be produced at home.
Some good plain dishes described in the Queensland Times in January 1916 included a buttered pudding, an Irish Stew with no meat, a potato soup, potatoes and rice, oatmeal pudding and Onion dumplings.
References (online)[1] Ipswich in the 20th century: Section 1: 1904 - 1914, p15 Ipswich, 2004Aphrodite and the Mixed Grill: Gender and Ethnic Relations in Ipswich's Greek Cafes from 1900 to 2005Fruit Cookery, Queensland Times, Sat 30 Apr 1910 p9Recipes for Raw Food Eaters, Queensland Times, Sat 25 Jul 1914Economy in Food, Queensland Times, Sat 18 Dec 1915Some good plain dishes, Queensland Times, Sat 29 Jan 1915 p5Plain Cookery, Queensland Times, Sat 11 May 1918, p4Christmas Cookery, Queensland Times, Tue 3 Dec 1929 p4