‘Eat Wheat for Better Health’: Propaganda Posters and the ‘Modern Woman’

By Lara Wijesuriya

If you grow up in certain areas of the world, rice is inescapable. Because it is the staple food in Sri Lanka, rice also plays a major cultural role. Although I have eaten rice every day for my entire life, it’s never been my favourite food— a fact that shocks many people. I know many people, on the other hand, who absolutely need rice in order to function and can’t stomach the idea of a substitute. In times of shortage, however, people rarely have options. During the Second World War, Ceylon (as it was then known) imported around 72% of its rice supply from Burma (now Myanmar). When Japanese forces invaded in early 1942, the British colonial government together with the Ceylonese State Council frantically searched for alternative sources of rice. Ceylon’s demands for rice were given priority over many other colonies, including Bengal, because of the importance of Ceylonese rubber and tea to the Allied war effort. Wheat was shipped from Australia as a temporary substitute; but the question was how to make it appear palatable to Ceylonese tastes?

“How to Prepare Wheat Rice”, English version of trilingual poster. Colombo: Food Controller, 1943. IWM Collections (Art.IWM PST 15928)

The posters produced as part of this campaign were aimed at women. Specifically, they were aimed at a new concept of late colonialism, the modern woman. Scholars have described the colonial division of society into ‘ghar’ and ‘bahir’, or home and the external world. The home was seen as the domain of women, which could be a restraint on women’s activity. First colonial authorities, and then nationalist leaders often attempted to regulate women’s ‘respectability’; but the growing increase in women’s participation in politics and social issues soon led to a subversion of the limits of the home.1 The subject of home science as introduced in colonial India encouraged women to approach domestic labour scientifically. Women were framed as scientists, and the home, but specifically the kitchen, was referred to as a ‘laboratory’.2 In terms of food, naturally, it was women as primary caregivers of the household who would lead the shift in diet. The posters had to take this into account. 

In the ‘How to Prepare Wheat Rice’ poster, we see a woman pointing to the text which appears to emerge from her mouth, almost as if she is speaking directly to the viewer. The instructions in the text are illustrated by a film strip on the right of the poster, which shows the process step-by-step. According to censuses, in 1946 only 43.8% of women in Ceylon were literate; a picture recipe such as this strip included the other 56.2% in the campaign’s audience. The pictures also reinforced the familiarity of the process. In addition to the text referencing traditional implements like vangediya (mortar and pestle) and mirisgala (grinding stone) and measures like chundus, the pictures show familiar scenes; the open hearth, the kulla (winnower) and the labour-intensive processes of pounding and winnowing grain. Proponents of new ‘scientific methods’ in the kitchen frequently drew on both Western and traditional ideas of food preparation, updating methods while maintaining links to local cultures.3  Most importantly, the bottom quarter of the poster is devoted to two slogans; ‘eat wheat and be strong’ ‘wheat is more nutritious than rice’, and a comparative breakdown of the nutritional values of rice and wheat. This quarter is specifically designed to appeal to the modern woman’s desire to provide her family with scientifically-proven nutritional benefits. 

In a similar vein, the poster ‘Eat Wheat and Be Strong’ shows a healthy and strong man surrounded by his proud wife and admiring son. Although the man and his flexed muscles are the visual focus of the poster, the colourful saree of the wife draws attention— and the message of the caption implies that the food she bought and prepared for her family has resulted in a stronger man who can contribute more to the external world. 

“Eat Wheat for Better Health”, Tamil version of trilingual poster. Colombo: Ministry of Information. LK_NA_29/1/1

Although the gendered split of society into home/external world could be, and was, used to restrict women, the scientific approach of Home Science pushed the boundaries of the home and, in situations like the rice shortage of 1942, presented women with the agency to make decisions that could affect the war effort of the colony. The posters of the food campaign used familiar symbols and traditional methods to promote new alternatives to rice. They also drew on the modern ideas of nutrition and a science-based perspective of food to appeal to women, depicting women as leaders in new ideas and methods– as scientists in the ‘laboratory of the home’.


Lara Wijesuriya graduated from the University of Colombo with a BA in History. Although currently working outside the field, she is interested in rice supplies and networks of the twentieth century and WWII propaganda in Ceylon. She has also written about premodern maritime violence and the political use of public spaces. Lara’s interest in recipes stems from her attachment to her grandmother’s copy of the Daily News Cookery Book and its many interesting ads (‘Drink more Milk Board sterilized milk! Like having a cow on your kitchen shelf!’).    

  1. Malathi de Alwis, “‘Respectability’, ‘modernity’ and the policing of ‘culture’ in colonial Ceylon”, Gender, Sexuality, and Colonial Modernities, ed. Antoinette Burton (London: Routledge, 1999), 179-194. ↩︎
  2. Mary H. Rutnam, Homecraft Manual for Ceylon Schools (Colombo: United Society for Christian Literature, 1952), 18. ↩︎
  3. Rutnam, Homecraft Manual for Ceylon Schools, 18. ↩︎

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Melissa Reynolds (October 31, 2024). ‘Eat Wheat for Better Health’: Propaganda Posters and the ‘Modern Woman’ The Recipes Project. Retrieved November 10, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12lj5


2 thoughts on “‘Eat Wheat for Better Health’: Propaganda Posters and the ‘Modern Woman’”

  1. Should not the name of the author of the article also be part of the citation?

  2. Yes! Unfortunately, OpenEdition, our blog host, started including this standard template at the bottom of posts, and we have no way to update it or change its format. The template is pulling Melissa Reynolds as the author because I was the one who input the post into our system. Lara Wijesuriya is the author of the post, and should be cited as such.

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