State-sponsored communal dining in Britain in the early twentieth century: the National Kitchen and the British Restaurant compared

This article explores the British experience of state-supported commensality between 1900 and 1950, focusing on the major wartime initiatives: National Kitchens (1917-1919) and British Restaurants (1940-circa 1954). In both cases, British urban authorities could apply for central government funding to establish a social eating venue which would employ a paid staff to serve price-capped, nutritious meals to the public. These venues were required to break even. This marked an important departure in British social history and in the history of public feeding. This article compares these two episodes in mass dining on a national scale. It scrutinises the experiment in government-led public feeding against five questions. Does the British example constitute radical commensality? What was the role of women in these schemes? What were the nutritional considerations? Were they genuinely popular, and what was the impact on morale? Why did stateled communal dining in Britain decline?