In this last episode of season 1 of the Comfortably Hungry Podcast I wanted to take a slightly different approach to the theme of austerity.

I’m sure many with you are familiar with the ‘Make Do And Mend’ initiative launched by the British government in 1941. New clothing was rationed from June of that year so people were encouraged to repair or repurpose clothes (you can hear one of my earlier guests Liz Trigg and her mother Val talking about this on the Original Home Economist podcast). I’m not going completely off piste but the concept of ‘make do and mend’ did get me wondering about how it can be applied to the kitchen. Whether it’s a canny use of leftovers or utilising vegetable offal (more on that later), I want to explore how we can make the most of what we have available in our kitchen cupboards.

I could of course have focused on the war years in Britain when food rationing was place but I‘m particularly interested in how other cultures approach this idea of making do. To help me answer this question I have two guests with me today of Gujarati heritage. Now we talked for a very long time so I have split this final episode into two parts. The second part will be released in a couple of weeks.

Useful Links

Biting Biting: Snacking Gujarati-Style by Urvashi Roe

https://urvashiroe.com/

Follow Urvashi on Instagram & Twitter

Kitchen Press

Urvashi will be appearing at the following food festivals:

Rangeelu Gujarat 1st - 3rd September 2023

Ludlow Food Festival 8th - 10th September 2023

Dartmouth Food Festival 20th - 22nd October 2023

If you’d like to try making Dhokra ENO Fruit Salts are available here

Philosophy of Curry by Sejal Sukhadwala

Whoever heard of Vegetable Offal? by Sejal Sukhadwala

Follow Sejal on Instagram & Twitter

Original Home Economist Podcast ‘Make Do and Mend’

The British Food History Podcast ‘Tinned Food with Lindsey Middleton’

Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe