Hunger Pangs: The Contours of Violence and Food Scarcity in Germany’s Twentieth-Century Wars

Abstract

Benbow and Perry’s opening chapter places the contribution of the volume in the context of existing cultural histories of war, cultural food studies and German studies. The chapter argues that, despite the growth of the interdisciplinary area of food studies, scholars of Germany’s twentieth century have been slow to embrace the analytical potential of food and hunger as a lens for understanding the conflicts and their aftermath. The chapter identifies the continuities and common themes that appear throughout and between Germany’s hot and cold wars, Germany’s recurring “hunger pangs.” As central to the making and enduring of war as to rebuilding and making peace, food, drink and hunger, this ..