Thank you to Bombas for sponsoring this video! One Purchased = One Donated, so head to https://bombas.com/tastinghistory and use code tastinghistory20 at checkout for 20% off your first purchase.

Support the Channel with Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/tastinghistory

Recipe at https://www.tastinghistory.com/recipes

Order the TASTING HISTORY COOKBOOK: https://amzn.to/42O10Lx

Merch ► https://crowdmade.com/collections/tastinghistory
Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/tastinghistorywithmaxmiller/
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/TastingHistory1
Tiktok ► TastingHistory
Reddit ► https://www.reddit.com/r/TastingHistory/
Discord ► https://discord.gg/d7nbEpy
Amazon Wish List ► https://amzn.to/3i0mwGt

Send mail to:
Tasting History
22647 Ventura Blvd, Suite 323
Los Angeles, CA 91364

For more on this topic, check out The Taste of War by Lizzie Collingham: https://amzn.to/3UBNs3R

**Some of the links are from companies from which Tasting History will earn an affiliate commission. These help to support the channel at no cost to you.

Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose
#tastinghistory #worldwar2 #germany

37 Comments

  1. I’ve finally come to one of the Axis powers in this series on World War 2 home front cooking. Definitely a trickier and more sensitive subject to discuss, but it’s fascinating to learn about a side of the war that is rarely covered.

  2. My great grandfather (i think) found a chicken in the street that had escaped front someone’s yard, so he grabbed it and took it home. My great grandmother (i think) prepped and cooked it. They were both arrested and spent some time, a couple of years in think, in gaol.

  3. My father was born in Raunheim Germany in 1940. From what he told me, In that area they got by ok from farming. He said there was lots of farm work to do even for little children like him. Even so, he was still malnourished from hunger. The government sent him and other underweight children to a castle where they were supposed to be given extra food but they had less food there than he had at home. Nearby the castle there was a dairy farmer who would send them fresh milk every day by donkey. The donkey had been doing that job for

  4. This was a really good video, both my grandparent where children in Germany during this time. They tell stories about seeing chocolate for the first time in the hands of American soldiers, german soldiers stealing their crops and always being hungry. It really enlightening to have the context to their stories

  5. The history of China is so vast and deep it's hard to know where to start. I think many of us westerners aren't really taught anything about China besides "Mao bad, big population threaten U.S" but I think the 30s and 40s would be a terrific starting point! In particular because of US pilots fighting for the Chinese in the pre-WW2

  6. A more interesting item which shows just how desperate the situation in Germany became is silage bread. Made from silage (fermented plant matter), chopped up dried grass, sawdust and chopped fermented rye. Allegedly is tastes like a loaf of dark bread but I've never had it myself.

  7. My great grandfather was a prisoner during WWII in Germany and was captured in Northern Africa, taken up through Italy and was kept by a very poor family on a farm. He said that they were so poor that they almost starved themselves making sure he was kept alive and their main food source was various cabbage meals

  8. It is interesting that many Americans seem to forget the Soviet Union also invaded Poland in 1939. Russia's Great Patriotic War versus Germany started in 1941, two years after their co-invasion of Poland, making Stalin, from the Allies' perspective from 1941 onward, "the enemy of my enemy". Couple this with the fact that the Allies only declared war on Germany, and chose not to defend Poland against the Soviet Union demonstrates the complexities of World War Two that led to the Cold War and the Soviet victory over Eastern Europe. That said, I understand that it is very difficult to make these videos, and I appreciate Mr. Miller's presentation of life and meals from this horrible period of history.

  9. I think german style horseradish sauce would be pleasant, just me considering it tricks me into thinking it's heat like chili peppers or foux wasabi…that part were 300k Greeks died of having food requisitioned from them to German ranks and people, I fathom, real wars, not proxy wars, usually demonstrate the brutal apathy of self preservation that one culture or even collective race could do on to another, it may seem unfair, but history reminds those that bother studying that Greeks had their zenith of civilization and I'm sure they did the same during ancient wars, if their is one pattern recognition that is disturbing more than forced starvation or thirst, is that sooner or later, be it karma or the whims of charismatic war monger, the opressed usually become the opressors, but worst outcome is realizing you faught the wrong enemy and the rest of the world misses out on an organic cultural exchange or immersion and gets paris syndrome with forced cultural enrichment. Thanks for a morsel of history pinko school deliberately didn't teach, tis was food for thought and the recipe too.

  10. Great vid, really interesting to see someone tackle this aspect of life under the Axis powers. Hope you can make others, if possible… I know it's a sensitive topic, but focusing on the lives of the actual citizens of WW2 era Germany as opposed to the great events and atrocities is such a rare thing.

  11. Max, the YouTube algorithm is just another way of censorship and freedom of expression regarding the M mentioning ofthis party. That YouTube feels they have the right and the power to control to do. Basically, the pot calling the kettle.The Nazi Party, there I said it. Although this was interesting, I feel you weren't unbiased on presenting this video and had biases toward the people and the events that were involved. In your chosen circumstances, it is inpairetive you keep your personal feelings and views out of the picture. Just focus on the material at hand and how the finished dish tasted. Thank you, Max.

  12. My great-grandparents often told stories about life during the Nazi regime, particularly about the challenges they faced as farmers. One thing they always mentioned was how the NSDAP enforced strict controls on meat production. After butchering, farmers were required to hand over large portions of meat to the state, leaving little for their own families. It was a tough time, and they described how most of the pigs were incredibly meager back then—partly because resources were scarce, but also because farmers needed to underreport the weight of their livestock.

    To get around the inspections, my great-grandparents and their neighbors developed a system. When the inspectors came to check the weight of the pigs, they would bribe them with a share of the very meat they were supposed to report. The inspectors would look the other way, accepting the pigs as lighter than they actually were. This way, my great-grandparents could keep enough meat to feed their family and share with the community. It was a risky but necessary act of quiet defiance in a time when survival often depended on finding ways to outsmart the system.

  13. Reminds me of a way I do potatoes at home. Any flavouring, rather than fennel or caraway seed will do (e.g., onion, grated cheese, tomato flakes, garlic, any herb), and 2 minutes per 100 g of potato in the microwave oven. Easy!

  14. Somewhere in my collection of cookbooks, I have a recipe of an older German potato layer dish that just called for cream, but the recipe was vague about whether it should be soured cream or sweet cream. So I ended up choosing to use sour cream. It was sort of similar to what you made in this video, but no fennel, and with the sour cream in with milk. I found that the sour cream really added to the flavors of the dish because it added a lovely tang. I have tried to like caraway, and I just can't. Sadly, I feel the same way about fennel, but I have used celeriac in dishes like this (when I can get celeriac), and thin sliced brussel sprouts as well. Very tasty!

  15. Thank you for talking about the famine the Axis caused in Greece. It is one of the big World War II crimes, that is rarely talked about outside of Greece. It was so bad, that most Greeks today are obsessed with food, we call it the Occupation Syndrome. Because our grandparents (I was born in 79) have all told us stories about how they searched for nettles etc or they were forced to eat cats, dogs and rats… And my grandparents, both sides, lived in villages in rural areas where things were better than in Athens, where people would die at the streets. One of my grandfathers was a member of the Greek Resistance, the biggest Resistance movement in Europe in relation to the population (about 40% of the Greek population participated one way or another in the Resistance, but most European historians overlook it because the Greek Resistance was organized by communists, so at the end of WW II the Allies, especially the British turned against them and contributed to the Greek Civil War). The Resistance fighters were hiding in the forests in the mountains, where they could hunt, but they also got help and food by the people in the villages. The people who had barely enough bread would share the little food they had with the Resistance fighters. And then there were the traitors, who worked with the Nazis and/or took entire fortunes, houses, gold jewels etc in exchange for a bottle of olive oil…

  16. Fascinating stories as usual. I am the grandson of Norwegians who came to America right before & after the war. I would love to see an episode on what recipes/food was eaten in occupied Norway.

Leave A Reply