page_title: Turnip Winter
section_title: The Turnip Winter
hierarchical_section_title: Turnip Winter / The Turnip Winter
caption_attribution_description: English: A root of rutabaga (Brassica napus subsp. rapifera) Deutsch: Eine Steckrübe Français&#160;: Rutabaga Español: Un nabicol o rutabaga Svenska: En kålrot
context_page_description: The Turnip Winter of 1916 to 1917 was a period of profound civilian hardship in Germany during World War I.
context_section_description: The Turnip Winter occurred during the winter of 1916–1917 in Germany. Continually poor weather conditions led to a diminished harvest, most notably in cereal productions.  Additionally, an Allied blockade first instituted in 1914 contributed to reduced food supplies from Central Powers by 33 percent. Food shortages were also attributed to a seizure of one million horses for the army, the deteriorating maintenance of agricultural machinery, and a shortage of farming fertilizers.  Furthermore, German transport shortages compounded problems of a poor harvest.
  In response, the German government initiated a food rationing campaign. The campaign began with the establishment of the War Food Office on May 22, 1916. The office was responsible for “the perception of the Chancellor to create and uphold the military and nation's food supply.”  In the summer of 1917, the food allocated only offered 1,560 calories daily diet.   However, the Imperial Health Office (renamed "Reich Health Office" in 1918) required a daily caloric intake of nearly double the calories, 3000 for a healthy adult male. The Health Office also set maximum prices to ensure the nutrition of Germany’s poor. Current historians attest that national figures regarding the event are misleading stating farmers and soldiers ate better than common folk. The government also worked to combat cereal shortages by making bread baked with potato. The rise of a potato famine in 1916, a German culinary staple, the government substituted the item with turnips hoping to make up the difference.  In turn, German soldiers, “increasingly relied, for sheer survival, on one of the least appealing vegetables known to man, the humble turnip.”   During this time, the black market became a prominent means of obtaining otherwise scarce foodstuffs. Historian Avner Offer suggests that approximately “one-fifth to one-third of food could only be obtained through illegal channels.”
caption: Rutabaga – usually used to feed pigs
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