Some of the most delicious recipes were invented out of necessity. When faced with a lack of certain ingredients, creative bakers scraped together whatever was in their larder so they could still put bread – or cake – on the table. Resourceful wartime cooks used both their rations and imaginations to come up with delicious meals, making each scrap of food stretch as far as possible. Here are some of the best dishes that were born from hardship and are now firm favourites.

Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the fabulous foods created in hard times – counting down to our favourite of all.

We've based our ranking on the enduring popularity of each dish, and on the opinions of our well-travelled (and well-fed) team. This list is unavoidably subjective.