During war, the diet of civilians and soldiers changed based on the availability of food. This article claimed that for Germans, bread was starting to become a controversial topic. German soldiers were able to eat wheat bread as they were living on the food stuffs of France and Belgium. This was not the case for German civilians, who had to eat “K” bread, or potato bread. “K” bread, “K” meaning kavtoffeln, German for potato, was even being eaten by the Kaiser and the kings of Saxony and Bavaria. This bread’s nutritional value was sub-par compared to wheaten bread as potatoes are pure starch. All this extra starch would create a strain on the stomachs of German citizens. An article printed in the Berlin Daily Telegraph stated the hatred German citizens now had for Britain came from this bread as it caused irritation, depression, moodiness, and despondency.
“German War Bread A Cause of Hatred,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, May 8, 1915.
