Valentine serves up memories of our food from a world at war

Ration Book Britain is a new, one-hour documentary marks the 70th Anniversary of the start of food rationing.

In the documentary for digital TV channel Yesterday, Valentine looks at this period of austerity in British history and the impact that rationing had.

"Not many people seem to realise that rationing went on for nine years after the war ended," says Valentine.

"While they managed to cook up some tasty meals on their meager rations you can't imagine the drudgery of having to eat them for 14 years."

Valentine's father was in the Second World War and he says his grandmother always cooked as if food were still rationed.

In Ration Book Britain Valentine recreates some of the dishes which kept the country going – some more tasty than others.

As he attempts to faithfully recreate a wartime menu in a 1940s kitchen, Valentine also looks at the hardships faced by the nation and the ingenuity with which this was tackled.

He reveals the tips and tricks that millions of housewives used to make what little food they had taste delicious. He will unearth recipes that show the creativity of home cooks as they struggled to feed their families.

He also tells some of the stories behind each recipe and ingredient with interviews from the people involved in the food movement.

"One of the most exciting parts of this for me was meeting Marguerite Patten," says Valentine.

Patten was the BBC's choice as the country's first television cook.

One of the things that came across to Valentine was the fact that nothing ever went to waste.

"When you think we all eat more than we need to survive and then we throw away a third of what we buy, it's a bit shocking."

He says that cooking with powdered egg isn't too bad, although the smell isn't great.

"We do have something to learn from those days. There was such a sense of everyone helping each other which we seem to have lost."

Valentine is deeply passionate about food, ingredients and cooking and this is something that runs in the Warner family. He comes from a food-obsessed family with both his mother and grandmother being serious cooks. His grandmother compiled her own recipes books throughout the 1930s and 40s.

"My dad used to say to us 'boys get in the kitchen, you have to learn how to cook'." Dad is Sir Frederick Warner former British Ambassador to Laos and then to Japan and now a Tory MEP.

Valentine is an unlikely celebrity chef. Discovered by the woman behind Jamie and Gordon, he is refreshing in the fact that it is the food that is important to him rather than the fame.

"I still know what is important to me – my friends and family – and my fishing. The problem is I don't get to spend as much time doing them as I would like. A bit of the glitz of television and fame is OK, but it's not very me. My friends laugh at me when I talk about the good old days.

He is working on another cookery book, due out in 2011, this time not associated with any TV tie in.

"It will be nice to be able to drop a few brand names in to help people which you can't do when you are writing a BBC book," he says.

Ration Book Britain is on Yesterday on January 15.