Eat to Live: Wartime Recipes
Episode 5: Food of the Imagination
*For English subtitles please turn on captions on the menu bar
Following the British surrender, more than 100,000 military personnel and European civilians were moved into prisoners of war (POW) camps. The former ruling class was deprived of their usual luxuries and forced into a life of hardship. This episode explores the living conditions and practices of European and Australian POWs through diary entries, oral history interviews and a focus on the Adam Park POW camp where a research and excavation project is taking place. Food persisted within the memories and imaginations of POWs when they were starving; they would gather to talk about food and dined sumptuously in imagination. One of the POWs' dream dishes, lobster bystander, is demonstrated in this episode.