Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Eat Rodents: Food and National Policy
United States government agencies have been giving recipes away since before the Internet was a gleam in the eye of the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. Why is Uncle Sam so interested in swapping recipes? Many reasons: feeding the troops, public health, helping people economize during tough times, promoting agricultural sectors, using surpluses to provide school lunches… Sometimes this means cookbooks focused on apples or wine, and sometimes it means, yes, eating rodents: switching to muskrat during wartime when other meat is rationed, or helping control invasive nutria by turning them into jambalaya.
We have listed examples below to get you started, but there are many more government-produced cookbooks. Here are a few tips for finding them in the California State Library catalog.
- Use the Advanced Search option
- Select the search profile “library catalog” from the drop-down menu
- Select “Subjects” from the first search filter drop-down menu and enter “cookbooks” in the search box
- In the “refine your results” menu, select “Library—Government Publications (GPS)”
Many United States government publications from before 1976 do not yet have records in the online catalog. If you don’t find a particular title, Ask a Librarian for help.
Feeding an Army
Dozier, Herbert L. Recipes for Cooking Muskrat Meat. Wildlife Leaflet 229. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, October 1943.
Sanderson, Captain James M. Camp Fires and Camp Cooking, or, Culinary Hints for the Soldier : Including Receipt for Making Bread in the “Portable Field Oven” Furnished by the Subsistence Department. United States. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1862.
Wessling, Hannah L. Use of Wheat Flour Substitutes in Baking. Farmers’ Bulletin 955. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1918.
United States. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. Recipes to Match Your Sugar Ration. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1942.
United States. Food Administration. Save Sugar, Use Other Sweets. United States Food Leaflet no. 15. Washington, D.C. : United States Food Administration, 1918.
United States. Navy. Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. General Mess Manual and Cookbook for Use on Board Vessels of the United States Navy. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
United States. War Department. Office of the Commissary General. Manual for Army Bakers. War Department document no. 358. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1910.
Public Health and Welfare
California. Department of Public Health. Healthy Eating Cookbooks Library.
Carpenter, Rowena Schmidt and Fanny Walker Yeatman. School Lunches Using Farm Surpluses. Miscellaneous Publication no. 408. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1940.
Complete Guide to Home Canning. Agriculture Information Bulletin no. 539. Revised. [Washington, D.C.] : United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 2015.
Healthy Recipes. Bethesda, Maryland : MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
The Houston Emergency Preparedness Cookbook : Recipes to Turn Your Emergency Food Supply into Life-Saving Meals. [Houston, Texas] : Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Surveillance and Public Health Preparedness, [2016?]
Jaffa, Adele S. A Standard Dietary for an Orphanage : Written for the State Board of Charities and Corrections. [Sacramento] : California State Printing Office, 1915.
Recipe Collection. Nutrition.gov.
United States. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. Money-Saving Main Dishes : 150 Tested Recipes. Leaflet no. 269. Washington, D.C. : Office for Food and Feed Conservation, United States Department of Agriculture, [1948]
United States. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. School Lunch Recipes for Sandwich Fillings Using Peanut Butter, Dried Fruits, and Raw Vegetables. Washington, D.C. : [U.S. Department of Agriculture], 1948.
United States. Department of Agriculture. MyPlate.
Van Deman, Ruth, and Fanny Walker Yeatman. Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised. United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Home Economics, 1931.
Agricultural Promotion
Alexander, Lucy M. and Fanny Walker Yeatman. Eggs at Any Meal. Leaflet no. 39. Revised. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1931.
California. Dairy Industry Advisory Board. California Magic with Cottage Cheese. [Sacramento : s.n., 1953.]
California. Wine Advisory Board. How to Make Punches & Other Mixed Drinks with California Wines: 58 Easy Recipes for Year-Round Refreshment. San Francisco : Wine Advisory Board, [1950-1959?]
Hunt, Caroline L. and Helen W. Atwater. Honey and Its Uses in the Home. Farmers’ Bulletin no. 653. Revised. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1922.
Robinson, James F., C.F. Woodward, W.O. Harrington, and C.H. Hills. Making and Preserving Apple Cider. Farmers’ Bulletin number 2125. Slightly revised. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1977.
Swickard, Mary T. Apples in Appealing Ways. Leaflet no. 312. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1951.
Swickard, Mary T., Rowena Schmidt Carpenter, Stanley J. Marsden, and Roberta Clark. Turkey on the Table Year Round. Farmers’ Bulletin no. 2011. Slightly revised. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1952.
Swickard, Mary T. and Alice M. Harkin. Ways to Cook Rabbit. Home and Garden Bulletin no. 35. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1953.
United States. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. Peanut and Peanut Butter Recipes. AIS 68. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1948.
United States. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. Tomatoes on Your Table. AWI 104. Washington, D.C. : United States Department of Agriculture, 1944.
Cultural Heritage
Chuck Wagon Recipes for Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS. [Deer Lodge, Montana?] : Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, National Park Service, [2015?]
Heart-Healthy Home Cooking African American Style : With Every Heartbeat Is Life. Bethesda, MD : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2008.
Jones, Anore. Iqaluich Niġiñaqtuat, Fish That We Eat. Final Report No. FIS02-023. Anchorage, Alaska : United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Subsistence Management, Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program, 2006.
Platillos Latinos, Sabrosos y Saludables = Delicious Heart-Healthy Latino Recipes. Bethesda, MD : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 2008.
United States. War Food Administration. Genuine Puerto Rican Recipes. Washington, D.C. : War Food Administration, Office of Distribution, 1944.
Environmental Protection
Eng, Jeff. Cornmeal Crusted Chesapeake Bay Blue Catfish. [Annapolis, Maryland] : Maryland Seafood, [2016?]
Glasgow, Leslie A. and Lavon A. McCollough. Nutria for Home Use. Circular no. 77. [Baton Rouge] : Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1963.
Nutria for Human Consumption. [Lafayette, Louisiana] : Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 2019.
Seattle City Light. Cookin’ with Kilowatts Cookbook. [Seattle, Washington] : Seattle City Light, 2018.