--- title: 'WW1 food posters: Food Administration, wheat, sugar and garden posters' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/ description: 'WWI food posters from the US Food Administration, Canada, Bulgaria and Lublin: pledges, wheat, sugar and gardens, with sources and rights shown.' section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # WW1 food posters: Food Administration, wheat, sugar and garden posters WWI food posters from the US Food Administration, Canada, Bulgaria and Lublin: pledges, wheat, sugar and gardens, with sources and rights shown. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. [WW1 propaganda posters: who made them and how they worked](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-propaganda-posters/) 4. WW1 food posters [![Members of U.S. Food Administration: America Has Promised to Feed the Hungry Millions of Europe, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/america-food-pledge-20-million-tons-1917-1919-640.jpg)Members of U.S. Food Administration: America Has Promised to Feed the Hungry Millions of Europe, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/america-food-pledge-20-million-tons-1917-1919/) [![Główny Komitet Ratunkowy w Lublinie, appeal to hand over surplus grain and potatoes, 17 May 1917](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lublin-main-relief-committee-appeal-1917-640.jpg)Główny Komitet Ratunkowy w Lublinie, appeal to hand over surplus grain and potatoes, 17 May 1917](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lublin-main-relief-committee-appeal-1917/) [![Canada's egg opportunity (Canada Food Board)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-egg-opportunity-1918-640.jpg)Canada's egg opportunity (Canada Food Board)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-egg-opportunity-1918/) [![Hunger Breeds Madness: America's Food Must Save the World](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hunger-breeds-madness-americas-food-must-save-the-world-1918-640.jpg)Hunger Breeds Madness: America's Food Must Save the World](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hunger-breeds-madness-americas-food-must-save-the-world-1918/) [![The Spirit of '18: The World Cry Food. Keep the Home Garden Going](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/spirit-of-18-the-world-cry-food-1918-640.jpg)The Spirit of '18: The World Cry Food. Keep the Home Garden Going](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/spirit-of-18-the-world-cry-food-1918/) [![United States Food Administration General Orders for Public Eating-Places, Notice No. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/food-administration-general-orders-public-eating-places-1918-640.jpg)United States Food Administration General Orders for Public Eating-Places, Notice No. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-administration-general-orders-public-eating-places-1918/) [What were WW1 food posters?](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#what-were-ww1-food-posters) [The pledge and the slogan](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#the-pledge-and-the-slogan) [Wheat, sugar and the ration](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#wheat-sugar-and-the-ration) [Fear, shame and enforcement](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#fear-shame-and-enforcement) [Gardens](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#gardens) [Other nations](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-food-posters/#other-nations) ## What were WW1 food posters? WW1 food posters were sheets issued by governments and their agencies from 1914 to 1919 asking civilians to eat less of certain foods, grow their own, hand over grain or pay controlled prices. The best-documented set in this collection comes from the United States Food Administration, led by Herbert Hoover from 1917. Others come from Canada, Bulgaria and occupied Poland. ![Poster, 1917: Herbert Hoover's signed slogan Food will win the war above a text on conserving wheat, meat, sugar and fats](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/food-will-win-the-war-conservation-of-food-hoover-1917.jpg) ## The pledge and the slogan The Food Administration relied on volunteers rather than a ration book. Its sheet signed by Herbert Hoover pairs a portrait and a signature with a very small ask (a few savings in wheat flour, meat, sugar and fats) and a picture of hungry children in Belgium: [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) joined to [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/). ![Window card, 1917: Member of the United States Food Administration, a shield ringed by a wheat wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/member-of-united-states-food-administration-window-card-1917.jpg) ![Poster, 1918: a hand slices a loaf of bread beneath the words Save a loaf a week, help win the war](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/save-a-loaf-a-week-help-win-the-war-1918.jpg) Explain moreShow less Households that signed the pledge got a card to hang in the front window. It makes no argument; it is a public badge of participation, a case of [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/). A flag-draped woman on another sheet makes the same request as a test of patriotism ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). "Save a loaf a week" attaches a small household act to the large goal of winning the war, with no figures on supply: [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/). ![Poster, 1918: ships labelled Sugar spiral away from a woman sipping a drink toward a shore marked War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sugar-means-ships-1918.jpg) ## Wheat, sugar and the ration Sugar was framed as shipping. "Sugar Means Ships" gives one figure, 400 million pounds imported for beverages, and no wider supply data ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). A shop card compares the American sugar allowance of 2 lb a month with the lower allowances of England, France and Italy; the selection of voluntary against compulsory rationing is the argument. ![Poster, 1918: a boy swears off ice cream in a child's misspelt oath, a small dog behind him](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-solemnly-swear-an-heroic-sacrifice-1918.jpg) ![Poster, 1918: US infantrymen with fixed bayonets charge across a snow-white ridge above a request for wheat](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/they-are-giving-all-will-you-send-them-wheat-1918.jpg) Explain moreShow less A cartoon puts the sugar pledge in a child's mouth ([Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)). Wheat posters link the soldier to the bread bin. This one sets the troops' sacrifice against a household food choice ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)), and a wall chart for bakers, "Victory Bread" (four fifths wheat flour, one fifth substitutes), is mostly measurement with a name that carries the war aim. ## Fear, shame and enforcement ![Poster, 1918: a woman collapses over a child in a ruined city while a man stands over them with a torch, under Hunger breeds madness](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hunger-breeds-madness-americas-food-must-save-the-world-1918.jpg) "Hunger Breeds Madness" shows starvation producing violence and ties American exports to preventing it ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). "Blood or Bread" sets blood given by others against food saved at home. ![Poster, 1918: a heavy man in a dinner jacket smokes over a laden table beside a headline addressed to Sir](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sir-dont-waste-while-your-wife-saves-clean-plate-1918.jpg) "Sir, Don't Waste While Your Wife Saves" shames a type of household member into joining the majority ([Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)). Voluntary did not mean unenforced: a blank "Closed" notice, issued by the Enforcement Division, was posted on a business shut for breaking the rules. ## Gardens ![Poster, 1918: a woman in a stars-and-stripes dress scatters seed over a ploughed field beneath Every Garden a Munition Plant](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sow-the-seeds-of-victory-war-garden-1918.jpg) The National War Garden Commission's poster by James Montgomery Flagg turns vegetable-growing into war work with the line "Every Garden a Munition Plant", and offers free books on gardening and canning. ![Poster, 1918: three men of different ages stride across a field above the word FOOD and the line Keep the Home Garden going](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/spirit-of-18-the-world-cry-food-1918.jpg) The Food Administration's "Spirit of '18" adds a generational tradition to the same request ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)). The Department of Agriculture's instruction sheet goes the other way: it shows ordinary households as the model, in photographs. ![Poster, 1918: a dense instruction sheet with photographs of a fenced garden, a woman among hens and a man hoeing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/help-feed-yourself-back-yards-vacant-lots-1918.jpg) ![Poster, 1918: a man in a CANADA shirt scratches his head beside a giant hen over drawn eggs scaled to dozen counts](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-egg-opportunity-1918.jpg) ## Other nations The Canada Food Board's egg chart shows Britain's shortage and Canada's past small sales, and only those, so the verdict "Canada must do better" follows ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). ![Leaflet, 1917: a text-only Bulgarian appeal to farmers signed by a general](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bulgaria-appeal-to-farmers-1917.jpg) ![Poster, 1917: a dense Polish-language text poster demanding that grain and potatoes be handed over](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lublin-main-relief-committee-appeal-1917.jpg) ![Poster, 1918: a photograph of two women hauling a plough with chains, under Heroic Women of France toiling to produce food](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/heroic-women-of-france-toiling-to-produce-food-1918.jpg) Explain moreShow less In Bulgaria, a state directorate under Maj.-Gen. Aleksandar Protogerov told farmers in June 1917 that the enemy hoped to break the nation by hunger and that unharvested grain was a sin and a betrayal of the troops ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). In Lublin, a relief committee under the Austro-Hungarian military administration demanded grain and potatoes, warned the cities "will perish of hunger" and called profiteers "robber and Cain" ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). The same American agency used French women ploughing as the yardstick for American effort, with quotations from Alonzo Taylor, Hoover and Wilson ([Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)). ## What differed, and what did not Every sheet above asks the reader to give up food or labour for a war aim, and each uses fear, flattery or shame to do it. The difference lies in the instrument. The American sheets ask and say so ("the Food Administration merely ASKS"), backed by fair-price lists and closure notices. The Bulgarian and Lublin sheets are orders from military or state authorities to hand grain over. The sugar card makes that contrast itself. ## What the collection does not hold - **Not here:** British food-economy posters, the German turnip-winter and bread-card material, and French or Italian food sheets. The collection is heavily American for this topic. - **Not here:** a ration book or coupon, or any measure of how far posters changed behaviour. Food Administration statistics on savings are not reproduced. Sources and further reading ## Sources National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Food Administration posters (4-P series), as cited on each item. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, World War I Posters (Canada Food Board, item 2005696901). Wikimedia Commons and State Archives of the Republic of North Macedonia (Bulgarian notice), and National Library of Poland, Polona (Lublin poster). Each item in the grid carries its own source and rights note. ## WW1 food posters in the collection Showing 31 of 31 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - [Members of U.S. Food Administration: America Has Promised to Feed the Hungry Millions of Europe, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/america-food-pledge-20-million-tons-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion) - [Food Will Win the War: The Conservation of Food (Herbert Hoover)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-will-win-the-war-conservation-of-food-hoover-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Testimonial, Fear appeal) - [שפייז וועט געווינען דיא קריעג! (Food Will Win the War!), Yiddish edition](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-will-win-the-war-yiddish-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Transfer) - [Hunger: For Three Years America Has Fought Starvation in Belgium](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hunger-america-has-fought-starvation-in-belgium-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Fear appeal) - [In Who's Cup?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-whose-cup-sugar-soldier-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Transfer, Name-calling) - [Member of the United States Food Administration (Window Card)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/member-of-united-states-food-administration-window-card-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Transfer) - [Główny Komitet Ratunkowy w Lublinie, appeal to hand over surplus grain and potatoes, 17 May 1917](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lublin-main-relief-committee-appeal-1917/) (Austria Hungary · May 17, 1917 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - [Позивъ към земледѣлското население (Appeal to the Farming Population)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bulgaria-appeal-to-farmers-1917/) (Bulgaria · Jun 7, 1917 · Transfer, Fear appeal) - [300 Million Hungry People Are Watching Your Plate: Eat Less, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/300-million-hungry-people-are-watching-your-plate-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Card stacking) - [Americans: Short Wheat Crop Needs Careful Distribution](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americans-short-wheat-crop-hoover-letter-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Card stacking, Testimonial) - [Be Patriotic: Sign Your Country's Pledge to Save the Food](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/be-patriotic-sign-your-countrys-pledge-to-save-the-food-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Blood or Bread](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/blood-or-bread-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [Canada's egg opportunity (Canada Food Board)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-egg-opportunity-1918/) (Canada · 1918 · Card stacking) - [Closed: Public Notice for Violation of the Rules of the United States Food Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/closed-public-notice-food-administration-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal) - [Eat More Corn, Oats and Rye Products, Fish and Poultry, Fruits, Vegetables and Potatoes; Eat Less Wheat, Meat, Sugar and Fats](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eat-more-corn-oats-and-rye-eat-less-wheat-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Glittering generalities) - [Feed a Fighter: Eat Only What You Need, Waste Nothing, That He and His Family May Have Enough](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/feed-a-fighter-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Transfer, Identity fusion) - [Help Feed Yourself: Make Back Yards and Vacant Lots Productive](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/help-feed-yourself-back-yards-vacant-lots-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Plain folks, Transfer) - [Heroic Women of France Toiling to Produce Food: Are You Doing Your Part?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/heroic-women-of-france-toiling-to-produce-food-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Hunger Breeds Madness: America's Food Must Save the World](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hunger-breeds-madness-americas-food-must-save-the-world-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Testimonial) - ["I Solemnly Swear That I Won't Eat No More Ice Cream" (An Heroic Sacrifice)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-solemnly-swear-an-heroic-sacrifice-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Plain folks, Testimonial) - [Save a Loaf a Week, Help Win the War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/save-a-loaf-a-week-help-win-the-war-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Glittering generalities) - [Save Food for World Relief](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/save-food-for-world-relief-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Card stacking) - [Sir, Don't Waste While Your Wife Saves: Adopt the Doctrine of the Clean Plate, Do Your Share](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sir-dont-waste-while-your-wife-saves-clean-plate-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Bandwagon) - [Sow the Seeds of Victory! Plant and Raise Your Own Vegetables](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sow-the-seeds-of-victory-war-garden-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [The Spirit of '18: The World Cry Food. Keep the Home Garden Going](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/spirit-of-18-the-world-cry-food-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Glittering generalities, Plain folks) - [Sugar Means Ships](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sugar-means-ships-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Card stacking, Fear appeal) - [They Are Giving All. Will You Send Them Wheat?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/they-are-giving-all-will-you-send-them-wheat-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Transfer, Fear appeal) - [You Are Lucky! The "War" Bread That You Get Would Seem Like Cake to the Children of Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/you-are-lucky-the-war-bread-that-you-get-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [Your Sugar Ration Is 2 lbs. per Month](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/your-sugar-ration-is-2-lbs-per-month-1918/) (United States · 1918 · Bandwagon, Card stacking) - [Victory Bread: Four Fifths Wheat Flour, One Fifth Substitutes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/victory-bread-four-fifths-wheat-flour-1918/) (United States · Sep 1918 · Glittering generalities) - [United States Food Administration General Orders for Public Eating-Places, Notice No. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-administration-general-orders-public-eating-places-1918/) (United States · Oct 21, 1918 · Transfer, Disclosure theater)