Know your onions
Food-conservation poster: a smiling cartoon cook in a chef's hat holds an onion in one hand and a paring knife in the other, with the headline 'Know your onions' and the banner 'Make all the food go all the way'. A yellow shell-casing disc reads 'Food is ammunition, don't waste it', moving the weight of ammunition onto kitchen waste.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Government (Food Is Ammunition campaign; issuer not named)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Government. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1230 (NAID 514836).
Text on the object
KNOW YOUR ONIONS FOOD IS AMMUNITION DON'T WASTE IT MAKE ALL THE FOOD GO ALL THE WAY [imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943--O--546993]
