Who would have thought that by turning back the pages of history and following guide lines created during the Second World War, we could fight some of the problems caused by the recession?

This book highlights thrifty wartime methods of feeding our families today.

Once war broke out it was not long before the entire nation, including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, became involved in ‘Digging for Victory’. Windsor Great Park became the largest wheat field in Britain and London’s Royal Parks were converted for food production.

Now 70 years on, royalty is setting an example and vegetables are being grown once again in the garden of Buckingham Palace.

Fearnley-Whittingstall outlines the advice given to householders during the war, pointing out that what worked then can work now.

Her gardening advice is followed by hints on how to cook basic meals without using extravagant ingredients by using fresh home-grown herbs to season the food, following wartime recipes she has adapted for fat-free cakes and purchasing cheap cuts of meat such as breast of lamb.

She has also included a vegetable grower’s calendar based on the Ministry of Agriculture’s allotment and garden guides, published after the war, when the Dig for Victory campaign was as vigorous as it had been at the start of the war.

Even if you don’t have a garden and will have to grow your herbs on the windowsill, this book is worth taking seriously.

Don’t worry if you missed her talk at the Oxford Literary Festival earlier this week. The exhibition on which this book is based will continue at the Imperial War Museum in London all year, and the author will give a talk there in June. The museum has given the Ministry of Food its own website, http://food.iwm.org.uk/