‘The Housewife's Greatest Standby’: Dried Eggs, Gender and Domesticity During the Second World War

ABSTRACT This article examines the previously underexplored connections between dried eggs, women and domesticity in Britain during the Second World War. It argues that newsprint and advertisements framed the purchase and use of dried eggs, a novel wartime product, as a means for housewives to contribute to the war effort through domestic labour. Dried eggs were presented as nutritious and natural, and this framing carried an implied criticism of women who resisted or distrusted the product. It also argues that women's everyday engagement with dried eggs was a form of ‘kitchen sovereignty’, in which they interpreted and negotiated rationing policy within the home. Finally, it analyses newspaper coverage of women‐led protests following the cessation of dried egg imports. Together, these perspectives illuminate the relationship between food, gender and domesticity in wartime Britain.