Frozen meat and fish, imperialism, and France in the era of World War One.

In the history of industrial freezing in France, World War One is often seen as a watershed. Lacking adequate channels of its own to import frozen meat for soldiers, France became dependent on British supply networks, which later served as a basis for the interwar expansion of French cold chains. However, focusing on the wartime connection to Britain obscures prewar French initiatives to freeze meat and fish notably in the empire. Examining such initiatives, as well as contemporary debates about how to make more animal protein available and whence to draw it, this article emphasizes how imperial freezing initiatives inspired expanded use of freezing in interwar France. Prewar experiments gained little immediate traction and war hindered them in the short term, but in the longer term, they were at least as important as war experiences in shaping the interwar development of frozen food in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]