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To celebrate National Potato Day on 30 January and the remember the importance of potatoes as a stable part of the national diet during the ration years of the Second World War, the Museum of Welsh Life is delighted to welcome Marguerite Patten to the Museum for a day of potato master classes and debates on the merits of the Home Front diet and how to live by its healthy principles today. When war broke out in 1939, farmers were told to increase potato production by ploughing up grasslands and the quantity of potatoes produced increased significantly as the war continued. As a result of this careful planning and planting, rationing potatoes was not necessary during the war.

Marguerite and her colleagues at the Ministry of Food Advice Bureau urged the nation to eat potatoes twice a day. Not only are the humble spuds a fantastic source of energy in the form of carbohydrate, but they are also rich in Vitamin C. To encourage consumption, a cartoon character called Potato Pete was invented with his very own song, cookbook and leaflets. Cake and pastry mixes could be bulked out with potatoes to save fat. Marguerite recalls "Home-grown vegetables were a very important part of our diet. We were encouraged to eat plenty of potatoes in place of bread, which used imported wheat, and for the valuable vitamins they contain. Carrots, parsnips and swedes were also used in a variety of recipes and green vegetables were very important and great emphasis was placed on cooking them correctly". Cooks were advised to always scrub potatoes, not peel them, as up to a quarter of the potato and essential vitamins could be lost in this way.

Scalloped potatoes, champ, potato fingers and potato Jane were all popular war time recipes, promoted widely by the Ministry of Food's Advice Bureau. Although the food was monotonous with meagre rations of meat, eggs and butter (and the total absence of many foods that we know take for granted), the health of the nation was surprisingly good despite the physical and emotional stresses that so many endured. Infant mortality declined and the average age of death by natural causes increased. For many poorer members of the community, this enforced rationing introduced more protein and vitamins to their daily diet, whilst for others a significant reduction in the consumption of meat, fats and sugar was a major benefit to their health.

Home gardeners added to potato production in a response to the "Dig for Victory" campaign. However, the Ministry of Agriculture urged home growers not to grow too many potatoes at the expense of other vegetables, and to stick to the official cropping plan. Varieties such as Arran Pilot, Duke of York and King Edward were recommended and are still as popular today. Austerity gardening, as it became known is demonstrated to perfection at the Museum's B2 prefab garden with vegetables, fruits and herbs all grown using the techniques and cropping plans recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture during the 1940s.

John Williams Davies, Director of the Museum of Welsh Life emphasises the importance of the work of the Food Advice Bureau and the simple spud during this pivotal period in our recent history in Wales " Whilst the potato had been a staple ingredient of the diet of the poor and rich alike in Wales for years, the Second World War and its strict rationing changed many aspects of cooking, gardening and our national diet forever. As part of our interpretation of the lives of everyday Wales, the gardens at the Museum and their historical content are vital in telling the full story of how the Welsh grew, tended and cooked their foods. I am extremely pleased to welcome Marguerite Patten to St Fagans on this most fitting of days to celebrate an invaluable but often over-looked ingredient of our diet, the potato and to remember with our visitors and staff the essential role it played in feeding the nation during the Second World War".

Entry to the Museum of Welsh Life is free thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.