OURGRANDMAS…
392.8(437.3)''1918/1938''
OURGRANDMASDIDN´TJUSTEATPORRIDGE! i
(TheresearchoftheeatinghabitsamongtheinhabitantsoftheCzechpartofCzechoslovakia
in1918–1938accordingtowomensmagazinesfromthattime)
KristinaZábrodská(Šemberová) ii
CharlesUniversity,Prague,CzechRepublic
Abstract: What are your favourite meals? Did you eat
thematyourgrandma’stable?Themealsweconsumein
our early childhood form our eating habits for the rest
ofourlivesaswellasourattitudestowardsournational
cuisine. Our grandma´s cuisine is usually seen as tradi‐
tional, rich in nutrition and tasty. Its roots and recipes
canbetracedbacktopastgenerations.Buthowcanwe
identify the origins of this food? Contemporary cook‐
booksandmedia,bothwidelyreadandavailableduring
the1920s–1930s,provideidealsources.
This paper looks at articles dealing with gastronomy
topics in Czech lifestyle magazines focused on women
from 1918 – 1938. This period was very significant in
thehistoryoftheCzechRepublic,asitrelatestoanera
of independence, democracy and freedom between the
wars.Czechoslovakiaatthattimewastheleadingdemo‐
cratic republic in Central Europe, especially in politics,
the economy and gastronomy. Prague, along with Paris
andVienna,wasoneofthemostinterestingandinnova‐
tiveculinaryEuropeancities.
Did the media reflect the development and changes in
thecuisineofthisperiod?Howdidtheyformthenutri‐
tionandcookinghabitsofthepostwargeneration?This
paper answers such questions through an analysis of
articlesineightdifferentCzechmagazinesandprovides
anoutlineofthetopics,trendsandgastronomicalland‐
scape of Czech households during this time. The pub‐
lished recipes and food articles found not only give an
insight into daily life in the 1920s and 1930s, but also
offer tips on how to survive through years of financial
crisis,anissuehighlyrelevanttoEuropeanstoday.
Key words: Gastronomy, Czechoslovakia, 1918 – 1938,
familyfood,eatinghabits,womensmagazines
I. INTRODUCTION
In the past few years, especially since 2008, there
hasbeenagrowinginterestintheCzechRepubliccon‐
cerning traditional Czech dishes. Chefs, professionals
andfoodjournalistsbegantopraisethe“goodoldgas‐
tronomy”of1918–1938,intheso‐calledFirstRepub‐
lic. It seems, from revisiting cookbooks of that time
and within contemporary public opinion, that there
hasbeenaresurgenceandnew‐foundappreciationfor
qualityCzechcuisine.
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КУЛТУРА/CULTURE,9/2015
As a food journalist and scientist I decided to look
closer at the issue, going deeper into the Czech media
from that time to search for evidence about past gas‐
tronomyinordertodeterminewhatitwasthatCzechs
actually ate between the two great wars. The content
analysisof8Czechwomen’smagazinesfromthisperi‐
od showed that the reality was quite different from
what is currently presented as popular gastronomy
fromthattime.
From our own living histories, the cooking of our
grandparents and more specifically, grandmothers, we
are able to see examples of typical dishes from the
1920stothe1950sastheycontinuetocooktheirfavor‐
itechildhooddishesforcurrentandfuturegenerations.
Asgrandparents usuallylookafter their grandchildren
thesamewaytheytookcareoftheirownchildren,the
foodcultureofthefamilyiscontinuedfromonegenera‐
tion to the next. In this way our collective knowledge
andattitudetowardournationalcuisineisformed.
The development of Czech history was unfortu‐
nately broken by World War II and the 40‐year‐long
eraofcommunismandcollectivedining.Today,Czech
societymustexploreitsrootsinordertofollowupon
thisinterruptedhistory.
II. ABRIEFHISTORY
Gastronomyandeatinghabitsarecloselyconnect‐
edtothestateoftheeconomy,whicharealsoclosely
tied to politics. A brief overview of Czechoslovak his‐
toryisthereforeuseful.
Czechoslovakia, the state of Czechs and Slovaks,
wasfoundedin1918afterWorldWarI.Itwasthefirst
Czechoslovakian independent national state and its
endcamewiththeMunichPact(Agreement)of1938.
ThisperiodisknownastheFirstRepublic,andwasan
eracharacterizedbythebuildingofthenewstate,the
economy, national culture and public space. Its icon
remainsthefirstCzechpresidentTomášGarrigueMa‐
saryk, who invested all of his efforts into creating a
unitednationalstate.
Czechoslovakia was counted among the leading
democracies in Europe, and had the foreign coopera‐
tion of Great Britain and France, and economic rela‐
tions with Germany. It had approximately 14 million
inhabitants, mostly Czechs, Slovaks and smaller
amountsofUkrainiansandGermans(especiallyinbig
cities–theurbanizationratein1930was48.7%[Bar‐
toš, Trapl, 2001: 11]). The years 1925 – 1930 are
commonly known as the Golden Era. Industry was
flourishing, food shortages were rare and people, es‐
peciallyinbigcities,hadwork,moneyandfreetimeto
spend it in. Weekends (Saturday evenings and Sun‐
days) were spent dancing, going to bars and restau‐
rants,spendingtimeinnatureandenjoyinglife.
On28thOctober1918,thenationwasproclaimedas
the independent Czechoslovak Republic. People were
notonlyeuphoricabouttheirnewfoundindependence
from the Austro‐Hungarian Empire but also about the
end of the First World War. The building of the new
state, its economy and homes could begin. However,
problemsbegantoariseduringthenextyearwithinthe
postwarindustriesandagriculture.“Theeconomicsitu‐
ation stayed very dismal. There was a critical lack of
goods,therationcardsystemcouldn´tassurethenutri‐
tionofthewidersociety.Therewasriseinprices,usu‐
ry and in the black market. There was not enough
food,coalandhousing,”(Olivová,2000:90).Nonethe‐
less,withintwoyears,thesituationhadstabilizedand
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OURGRANDMAS…
the economystartedto grow.Theyear1924isknown
asthebeginningofthe“GoldenEra”,duetotheflourish‐
ing economy and growing lifestyle of the common peo‐
ple.Itreacheditspeakin1929whentheGreatDepres‐
sion hit the USA and started to move across the world.
The Depression came to the young Czechoslovakia in
1931 with widespread bankruptcies and the shutdown
of factories, along with a growing unemployment rate
whichhittwo‐thirdsofthenation.Suchconditionspro‐
vided fertile ground for nationalist tendencies and led
directly to therise ofnationalist parties in anumberof
countries–mostnotablytheGermanNaziparty.In1938,
with the Nazi party gaining more power and influence
overothernations–combinedwiththedemocraticand
weak Czechoslovakian political situation – the annexa‐
tion of the Sudetenland was approved in the Munich
AgreementonSeptember29th.
ThepostwarmarketafterWWIwasdominatedbya
coupon system, state controlled supplies, lack of goods,
lowwages,highpricesandthespreadofthegreymarket
andprofiteeringfromelementary,basicnecessities.The
“Goldentwenties”representedarisingstandardofliving
for all classes within Czech society, with the opening of
the most famous restaurants and the rising interest of
youngwomeningastronomy,cookingandhousekeeping
(suchsubjectsbegantobetaughtinschoolsandinspe‐
cialcookingandhousekeepingcourses).Thefoodmarket
boomed and a healthy lifestyle and nutrition started to
prevail over typical Czech cuisine.However, this period
was greatly inhibited by the Great Depression between
1929and1933;smallfarmersvergedonstarvationonce
againandtheirhabitschangedheavily.Thestandardof
livingonceagainbegantoriseinthesecondhalfofthe
thirties, but the promise of expansion and the deve‐
lopmentofsocietyweredisruptedbyWorldWarII.
III. MEDIALANDSCAPE
TheCzechpublicsphereevolvedwiththeassistance
of the mass media – daily newspapers, magazines and
the beginning of radio during this period. After WWI
there were about 2,250 newspaper titles in
Czechoslovakia, and by 1925 there were already 2,800
(Kubíček, 2004, 2006‐2007). Politics and art provided
populartopicsofdiscussionincafésandprivatesalons,
mostly among the middle and upper classes.
“Newspapers and magazines fulfilled two main goals –
information and news; at the same time they work
towardsopinion,ideasandpoliticalinfluence.Themain
signature of newspapers is the news or information,“
(Bůžeketal.,1994:45).
From the perspective of traditional gender roles,
householdcookingwasthedomainofwomen.Therefore
in this paper I focus on the findings from a content
analysisof8magazinesforwomenfromdifferentclasses
andpoliticalviews,becausethistypeofpressistheideal
sourceofinformationforeatinghabitsanddailylifefrom
the sample period. These magazines were widely read
throughout the entire country. They were published
weekly or monthly, had usually 8 – 12 pages (weekly
magazine) or 20 pages (monthly magazine). The cover
pageusuallyfeaturedthetitleoftheissue,aswellasthe
beginningofthediscussionofthatedition’schosennews
orhouseholdissue.
The Social Democratic Party was affiliated with
Ženské noviny (Women Newspapers, published 1919 –
1924), Ženské listy (Women Papers, 1873 – 1926) and
Ženský list (Woman Paper, 1920 – 1922). The weekly
magazineŽenskénoviny(WomenNewspapers)wassup‐
ported by the Social Democratic Labour Party. Its aim
was to raise and influence a society of Czech female
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КУЛТУРА/CULTURE,9/2015
labourers and responsible mothers. The articles within
this outlet focused on politics and social issues. Ženský
list (Woman Paper) was established by a group of
journalists, and eventually became affiliated with the
socialistand(later)communistmovement.Frompartof
thejournaliststheweeklymagazineŽenskýlist(Woman
Paper)wasgrounded,lateronitbecameasocialistand
communistpaper.
The magazine Ženské listy (Women Papers) was
more traditionaland practical, publishingnot only reci‐
pesbutalsofashiontrends,educationalandhealthtips.
The Communist or Labour Party used Rozsévačka
(Sower,1926–1938)andŽenskénoviny(WomenNews‐
paper,1925–1940,changedfromthemagazineofSocial
Democratic Party) as its affiliated news outlet. Rozsév‐
ačka(Sower)wasaffiliatedstronglywiththeCommunist
partyandlabourclasswhichprimarilysoughttoeducate
women in political issues and gave tips on how to take
careofahouseholdwithalowincome.Itwaspublished
threetimesin6monthsbeforebeingcensoredforpub‐
lishingpoliticallyinappropriatecontent(andabandoned
inJuly1929,March1931andNovember1933).
The Catholic wing published Žena (Women, 1919 –
1925)whichfocusedonallencompassingissueswithin
women’s lives, firstly about social and political events,
then later in regards to more specifically Christianity‐
orientedissues.
Therewerealsoanumberofapoliticalmagazineslike
Ženskýsvět(Woman´sWorld,1896–1930),ČeskáŽena
(CzechWoman,1908–1927),andlaterNašedomácnost
(Our Household, 1927 – 1932), and Kalendář paní a
dívek Československá žena (Calender of Women and
Ladies ‐ Czechoslovak Women, 1923 – 1936). The
magazine Ženský svět (Women World) is the oldest
Czech women’s magazine (published from 1896) and
wasissuedtwiceamonth.Itfocusedondailylifeandthe
interests of Czech women from the educated middle
class. The articles were quite long and covered current
issues in society. The magazine Česká Žena (Czech
Woman), later on Naše domácnost (Our Household),
gave news and tips on how to cook and take care of a
middle class household along with reports about food
production and political influence. The Calender pub‐
lished more detailed philosophical articles and also
popularwisdom.
IV. METHODOLOGY
Torealizewhatpeopleusedtoeatandwhatformed
theirknowledgeaboutnutritionandfoodIusedquanti‐
tative content analysis from these eight widely read
Czechmagazinesforwomenfrom1919–1938.Theunit
in content analysis is one article. In total the sampled
magazines contained 636 articles about gastronomy,
food and eatingacross the period from 1918 – 1938 in
recipesectionsorelsewhere.Theanalysisfocusesonthe
topics, length, position, section and genre of these arti‐
cles. Not all magazines were published throughout the
wholeperiod.Thecollecteddatawascodedandevaluat‐
edbySPSS.
The content analysis was designed to answer the
followingthreequestions:
1. On which topics was journalism about these is‐
sues focused? How often was the material published
andinwhatform?
2. Was gastronomy afforded its own sections and
genre?
3.Wasthereanydevelopmentinthisthemeduring
theperiod1918–1938?
116
OURGRANDMAS…
The following hypotheses arose from these re‐
searchquestions:
H1:Themainissuesofgastronomicaljournalismin
women’s magazines would be concerned with food,
nutrition,dailyeatinghabitsandrecipes.
H2:Therewouldnotbemuchdiscussionofrestau‐
rant‐based dining, as restaurants were visited pri‐
marilybyhigherincomefamiliesandsingleadults.
V. GASTRONOMYINMAGAZINES
Themostarticles(239outof636)ofthisissuewere
published in Ženský svět (Women´s World), which also
popularized new recipes, such as one containing spa‐
ghetti with nuts. The weekly magazine Ženské noviny
(Women Newspapers) published 156 such articles. The
regular section ‘What to cook?’ supplied(and displayed
in detail) menus for the whole week. Although many
womenworkedinfactories,theywerestillrecommend‐
ed to cook warm meals every day, typically including a
sweetdishonFridaysandaSundaymealwithmeatand
dumplings.Cookingwastheprimarythemeintheapolit‐
icalmagazines,althoughthiswasalsothecasewiththe
CommunistpaperRozsévačka(Sower),inwhichreaders
couldfindtipsonhowtoliveonalowincomealongwith
dailyrecipes.
Inall,articlesconsistedmainlyofrecipesonhowto
There was ostensibly a shift from recipes with fewer
ingredientsinthepostwarperiodalongwithrecipesfor
children and people of ill‐health to articles about vita‐
mins, recipes with more fruit, vegetables and meat in
the1920stoissuesofhealthandfitnessinthe1930s.
Eachmagazine had its own particular audience, at‐
tracting people with particular interests and shaping
those interests in turn. The magazines aimed at the
Figure1.PublishedarticlesintheCzechwomenmagazines, 1918‐ 1938
117
КУЛТУРА/CULTURE,9/2015
middleandupperclassesdiscussedhealthissues,con‐
taining recipes and tips for family well‐being. Those
aimed primarily at the working class were focused
mainly on the high prices of food, political issues and
detailedtipsonpreparingcheapfood.Inmostcases,the
articleswerepublishedintotheirownsections,named
differently in each magazine depending on the themes
and the style of the title. In some these articles were
publishedundersectionstitledRecipes,whileinothers,
such sections were named ‚Cooking tips‘, ‚Kitchen‘,
‚Householdadvice‘,andsoon.
ThehypothesesH1:Themainissuesofgastronomi‐
cal journalism in women’s magazines would be con‐
cernedwithfood,nutrition,dailyeatinghabitsandrec‐
ipes and H2: There would not be much discussion of
restaurant‐based dining, as restaurants were visited
primarily by higher income families and single adults
wereproven.Inwomen’smagazinestherewasnodis‐
cussion about restaurants and bars. This could have
beenbecausereadersofthesemagazineswerenotreg‐
ularvisitorstosuchplacesorthatthissimplywasnota
topicthejournalwasinterestedinwritingabout.
The content analysis of eight women’s magazines
revealed the main topics within these articles. These
resultswerecomparedwithstatisticsrelatingtocon‐
sumptioninordertodrawinferencesaboutwhatpeo‐
pleactuallyconsumed(andiftheadviceandarticlesin
the magazines are based on the real market). A pro‐
blem in achieving this lies in a lack of statistical evi‐
denceforconsumptionofvariousfoodsforeveryyear
Figure2.PublishedtopicsintheCzechwomenmagazines, 1918– 1938
118
OURGRANDMAS…
inthesampleperiod.ThestatisticiansoftheCzechsta‐
tisticalbureau(Českýstatistickýúřad)havemadeat‐
tempts to calculate consumption figures according to
those relating to industrial and agricultural produc‐
tion,supplies,importsand exportsfrom1920to1992,
but many figures remain unavailable. There are no
detailed statistics about food consumption before the
year1938anditisalsonotcleartowhatextentpeople
were self‐sustainable in their sourcing of food provi‐
sions.Nonetheless,itisknownthatin1936theaver‐
age food consumption reached barely 2500 kcals per
person a day, less than 85% of the medically‐recom‐
mendeddailyamount(BartošandTrapl,2001:69).
Accordingtotheavailablestatistics,themostconsu‐
medcommoditiesweregrain,wheatflourandryeflour
andofcoursebread,meat(mostlyporkandbeef),pota‐
toes and sugar. These were also the most used
ingredients in recipes. It is interesting that coffee was
drankalmost10timesmoreoftenthantea,althoughin
mostcasesthiswassubstitutecoffee(fromchicory,rye,
etc).Breadwasmadetraditionallyfromryeflour;wheat
flourcamelaterundwasusedmostlyforbakingpastries
andyeastdough.
Source: Český statistický úřad, Demografická
příručka‐dlebilančnímetodyna1obyvateleČSR1936,
Bartoš and Trapl, 2001: 68, ročenka Československo
1918–1937,ročenkaSpotřebapotravin1920–2010
The chart shows that in the ‘Golden years’ (1924 –
1930) the most popular basic ingredients were wheat
flour, potatoes and sugar, and the most popular
expensive foods were meat and fish. Meat, sugar and
cereal dishes formed the most substantial part of daily
foodintake.Peopleweren´tusedtoeatingvegetablesand
fruits and these were also quite expensive. From the
second‐half of the twenties, food magazines (mostly
Ženský svět – Women´s World) began printing articles
abouthealthynutritionandtheneedforashiftfromthe
typicalCzechcombination–meat,dumplingsorpotatoes
and sauce – to lighter, more expensive and time‐
consuming meals, often boasting that such meals were
easiertoprepare.
Chart1.Foodconsumptionin1920–1937inCzechoslovakia(kg/person/year)
Commodity/Year
1920
1921
1924
1928
1929
1933
1935
1936
1937
Grains(incostofflour)
‐
‐
110,4
‐
111,2
107,8
111,1
121,1
‐
Wheatflour
Ryeflour
Bread
Wheatpastry
Rice
Meat
Fish
Potatoes
Sugar
‐
‐
‐
‐
1,8
‐
1,1
66
21,5
‐
‐
‐
‐
3,8
‐
0,8
57
20,8
60,1
41,7
72,8
‐
3,6
25
1,5
83
25,5
62,3
‐
77,3
8,3
3,6
30,4
1,6
106
25,9
62,9
41
77,9
9,2
3,3
29,7
2
131
25,6
57,1
43,8
78,5
11
3,9
26,3
1,4
98
24,7
56,1
48,6
80,9
11,2
4,4
28,4
1,7
87
25,1
62,6
53
84,7
11,7
3,6
34
2,1
118,9
23,2
‐
‐
‐
‐
4
‐
2,2
123,5
26
119
КУЛТУРА/CULTURE,9/2015
VI. LOOKINTHEKITCHEN
The post‐war society was even more structured by
socialclassandaccordingtonationality.Fromthesecond
halfofthe19thcenturytwodifferentcommunitieswere
developing–CzechandGerman.Bothethnicgroupslived
alongside each other in cities and villages, with some
degreeofinter‐marriage,butinthepoliticalandcultural
realmsthesegroupshadbeenconstantlyrecedingfrom
the other, leading to increased competition, especially
after World War I (Fialová et al., 1996: 267). A third
influentialgroupwastheJewishcommunity.
Thesegroupswerespreadmoreorlessevenlythrou‐
ghout the country, but in the northern and western re‐
gions90%ofinhabitantswereGerman(seeFialováetal.,
1996:316).
Thecensuscollectedrecordsrelatingtothenational,
religiousandoccupationalstructureofCzechsociety.Th‐
ereweretwocensusesintheFirstRepublic–inFebruary
1921 and 1930. In 1921therewere 13,612,424 inhabi‐
tants,whilenineyearslatertherewere14,009,614inha‐
bitants(Československástatistika,1935:10,Kučeraand
Srb, 1962: 31 and Srb, 2004: 28). In this paper I focus
onlyontheeatinghabitsoftheCzechinhabitantsinur‐
banareas,asthesepeoplewerethemainreadersofthe
magazinesatthattime.
IntheAustro‐HungarianEmpireCzechoslovakiaser‐
vedastheheartofindustry,andafterWorldWarImost
of the industry stayed in the country. The employment
rate was almost 50%: one‐third of women and two‐
thirds of men were employed. Half of the working
population made their living as labourers, while a
quarter made their living in the agricultural sector, 12‐
13% ran their own small businesses, and about 4‐5%
wereownersoflargebusinesses.
Chart2.NationalityinCzechoslovakiain1921and1930(in%)
Nationality/Year
Czech
1921
68
1930
69
German
30,8
29,6
Jewish
0,2
1,3
RussianandUkrainians
Polish
unknown
1
3,8
0,86
Slovak
unknown
2,49
Hungarian
unknown
4,8
Source: Český statistický úřad; Československá statistika, 1935: 10;
Kárník,2000;Fialováet.al,1996:314;KučeraandSrb,1962:31;Srb,
2004:131.
Labourerslivedmostlyincities,dependingonmarket
conditions. Such people were quite poor, and as a result
their menu was at the mercy of food prices, something
which was reflected in the content of the magazines
Rozsévačka (Sower) and Ženské noviny (Women News‐
papers). The ingredients in many classic dishes were
slightlychangedforcheaperones,forexamplebutterfor
margarineanddumplingsforpotatoesorrice.Freshvege‐
tablesandfruitswererare,exceptforcucumbersalad.For
breakfast,theymostlydrankblackcoffeesubstituteswith
breadandjamorbutter.Womentendedtopreparelunch
athome,whichmostlyconsistedofsoup,cookedpotatoes,
noodles, rice, sometimes cooked or fried cabbage and
mushrooms.Fried(wheat)foodsorsweetmealslikefilled
fruit dumplings, cakes or omelets were very common as
well. Dinner was smaller, consisting simply of soup and
breadortheleftoversfromlunch.Meatwasquiteexpen‐
siveandscarce,especiallybeef,porkorhorse,whichwere
eatenperhapsonceortwiceaweek.Howtheaveragela‐
bourerateonadailybasiscanbeinferredbythecontents
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OURGRANDMAS…
ofRozsévačkamagazine.Fromtheretheworkingwomen
could write correspondence outlining her own weekly
menu. As an example, one reader from Prague claimed
that she would cook potato soup on Sunday, pork ribs,
cabbage and dumplings. On Monday, because she would
do thelaundry,shewouldn’tcook– so thefamilywould
eat leftovers from the weekend with bread. On Tuesday,
she might prepare soup and pasta with poppy seeds or
cheese.OnWednesday,shecouldcooksoup,pasta,pota‐
toes and cucumber salad. On Thursday, she might serve
horse goulash and potatoes, and on Friday mushroom
soup and yeast pancakes. The reader in question
complainedthatthepriceoflivinghadbecomemoreex‐
pensive, even while household income stayed the same.
Thiswomanwouldspend¼ofherincomeonfoodalone,
andinherviewachangeinthissituationhadtocomesoon
(Rozsévačka,1935).
Themiddleclass–consistingofcraftsmen,clerksand
theself‐employed–enjoyedmorefoodandmorevariety.
Theirhigherincomeallowedthemtoaffordmoreprod‐
ucts and to go out more often to restaurants and bars
(perhaps for weekend lunch or on Christmas Eve). The
middle class consisted mainly of single men or families
withadoubleincome–thewomenoftenworkinginthe
men´s family business. Especially in big cities, various
household employees assisted with the cleaning and
cooking.Athree‐coursemenuforlunchanddinnerwas
quitenormal,withmiddleclassmenusuallygoinghome
forlunchandhavingasmallrestbeforeafternoonhours
intheoffice.Themealsweresimilartothoseofthework‐
ing class but with a wider variety and higher quality.
Theyusedbutterinsteadofmargarineandatevegetables
and fruits, although these were often boiled or baked.
CzechandAustrianwinewascommon.Women’smaga‐
zines for these more affluent audiences offered various
tips to some degree but these mostly related to festive
dinnersordining.
Highsocietyatealmostidenticallybutwentoutto
restaurantsor bars and organized house partieswith
dinnersmoreoften.
VII. CONCLUSION
TheanalysishasdemonstratedthatCzechwomen’s
media addressed and were interested in the gastrono‐
myofthenation.Thesemedia,accordingtotheirideo‐
logicalpositionsandaudienceshare,reflectedthecon‐
temporary situation – for example, the labour press
emphasizedpoverty‐relatednews,overpricedfoodand
themalnutritionofthelabourclass.Women’sjournals
were filled with plenty of recipes, tips and hints on
housekeeping and eating and were often also devoted
todiningandinnovationsincookingandgastronomy.
It has been shown that typical Czech cuisine, as we
now know it, can be traced back to the 1920s. At that
time most of the ingredients currently used in con‐
temporarycookingwerewell‐known;chefsandwomen
at home used ginger, capers, asparagus, black root and
others that have seen a resurgence in recent years as
tastyandpopularingredients.Atthattime,too,tomatoes
andnoodlesbecamewidelyused.Technicalinnovations
like milk pasteurization, conservation and gas cookers
madefoodpreparationeasier.
Reading these old magazines and cookbooks helps
us to understand the past and national cuisine, which
thereby allows us to rediscover and contextualise
currenttrendsinfoodpreparation.
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КУЛТУРА/CULTURE,9/2015
ENDNOTES
This text was produced with financial support from the project
Specifický vysokoškolský výzkum SVV267 503IKSŽ UK FSV,
proofreadingwasfinancedfromtheprojectGAUKnr.1638314.
11PhD.CandidateintheFacultyofSocialSciencesatCharlesUniver‐
sity in Prague focusing on Czech Lifestyle in Czechoslovakia be‐
tween 1918 and 1938. Project website available at
www.facebook.com/retrovareni.
1
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Petr,1948
RočenkaČeskoslovensko1918–1937,1938(n.k.)
RočenkaSpotřebapotravin1920–2010(n.k.)
Českýstatistickýúřad.Spotřebapotravinanealkoholickýchnápojův
letech 1920 až 1946, from http://notes3.czso.cz/csu/2008 edic‐
niplan.nsf/p/3014‐08,cit.1.11.2013
Český statistický úřad, 2008, from http://www.czso.cz/csu/2008
edicniplan.nsf/p/3014‐08,cit.2.12.2011.
Českýstatistickýúřad–fromhttp://www.czso.cz/csu/redakce.nsf/i/
obyvatelstvo_hu,cit.2.12.2011
Demografickápříručka‐dlebilančnímetodyna1obyvateleČSR1936
fromhttp://www.czso.cz/csu/redakce.nsf/i/statistika:_
od_historie_po_soucasnost/$File/historie_csu.pdfcit.1.11.2013
MAGAZINES
ČeskáŽena(1909–1927),laterNašedomácnost(1927–1932)
Kalendářpaníadívek.Československážena
(1923‐1936)
Rozsévačka(1926–1938)
Žena(1919‐1925)
Ženskénoviny(1922,1930,1931a1935)
Ženskýlist(1920‐1922)
Ženskýsvět(1918–1930)
Ženskélisty(1918‐1926)
122