EXCERPT :

This book first appeared in 1950, when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable.
To produce the simplest meal consisting of even two or three genuine dishes required the utmost ingenuity and devotion. But even if people could not very often make the dishes here described, it was stimulating to think about them; to escape from the deadly boredom of queuing and the frustration of buying the weekly rations; to read about real food cooked with wine and olive oil, eggs and butter and cream, and dishes richly flavored with onions, garlic, herbs, and brightly colored southern vegetables.