Beyond Victimization: Contentious Food Politics in Belgium during World War I

Abstract

Hunger and dependence on aid among broad sections of the population are often used as a symbol of Belgium’s suffering during World War I. However, to view food consumption and politics from the perspective of victimization does not do justice to the complexity of this history. The reductionist nature of such an approach can be demonstrated by an analysis of the many protests in occupied and liberated Belgium to defend claims to food. Far from resignedly accepting the deprivations of war, various groups within the Belgian population repeatedly attempted to defend their claims to food and thus influenced food politics. In the course of these protests, there was a more pronounced return to a seemingly archaic repertoire of actions than was the case in other countries during the war, an indication that Charles Tilly’s unequivocal thesis of modernization and nationalization of social protest is far too linear. Apparently obsolete forms appeared to function again within the specific context of the occupation, in which a number of structural long-term developments were temporarily reversed.