YOUNG chefs at Wisbech Grammar School were able to tuck into some tasty wartime fare when they appeared in a television film marking the 70th anniversary of the start of rationing. Five members of year seven demonstrated their culinary skills for viewers

YOUNG chefs at Wisbech Grammar School were able to tuck into some tasty wartime fare when they appeared in a television film marking the 70th anniversary of the start of rationing.

Five members of year seven demonstrated their culinary skills for viewers of Anglia Tonight for the piece compiled by reporter Emma Baker and cameraman Seb White, which coincided with the publication of a report in Cambridge investigating how nutritionally sound the 21st century diet really is.

The film showed how the Second World War generation consumed less processed food, while modern eating habits involve more salt, more sugar, and more fat and less fibre.

The children rustled up some relics from the old recipe books, including air raid shelter bread, made with baking powder and no yeast, and Monday jug, which consisted of leftovers from the Sunday roast with dumplings. Also on the menu was a wartime fruit cake, which had to be baked without using eggs.

Head of food and nutrition Alison Sloan explained that the visit by the television crew was set up through her freelance contacts.

She said: "The pupils did enjoy the wartime food. They ate the whole lot of the Monday jug.