Rationing in WWII (British Homefront)

At the start of the war, German U-boats began to destroy merchant ships in the Atlantic and the British Government needed to take action to ensure the nation could survive in such times of shortages so that its armed forces and civilian population could continue to be fed.
It therefore introduced - Rationing.

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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner

Narrator:

Chris Kane

Music Credit:

Sources:

Jose Harris, ‘War and Social History: Britain and the Home Front during the Second World War’, Contemporary European History, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1999), pp. 17-35.

Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

[branden]

Essentials: Tea

*Laughs in British*

[Bottomprem]

My great grandma is still alive at 98 and she still remembers knitting in the underground during the blitz.

[wesleywebb]

The distaste for spam after having to eat so much of it during the war eventually led to many survivors of the war swearing never to eat it. This led to in 1970 when the surrealist comedy group Monty Python created a skit in which spam was a part of practically every dish in a restaurant which an old couple complained about. Over the course of two minutes the word spam would be said 132 times, including with vikings chanting it. Then during the days of usenet and later the early internet junk email would be sent to email. People started calling it spam because it was repetitive and undesired much like the singing of the vikings in the Monty Python skit. And that is how war time rationing made the name of a salted meat product from the US to also be the name of unwanted emails. The public consciousness works in strange ways.

[silakkalaatikko]

Peacetime: Green Eggs and Ham
Wartime: Powdered Eggs and Spam

[stevenaudet]

1939: Ministry of Food needed
2020: Ministry of Toilet Paper needed

[piotrekszczepanski]

It's amazing how the British got used to the Blitz so quickly; In fact by the end of the Blitz many were able to sleep through it.

[todortodorov]

Fun fact: While WW2 rationing limited people to 1 fresh egg a week it also limited Churchill to 1 bottle of premium Cognac/Brandy a day, somewhat below his daily consumption target.

[dhruvmaslekar]

7:00 Commentators in early 1940s be like: "It's Manchester United vs Liverpool in the most important game of the year,
We will find out who harvests more carrot in 90 minutes"

[wheneggsdrop]

Preserve essentials.
Normal people: water
British people: TEA

[samuelandrews]

My grandma told me that during the war her father bought her a bicycle on the black market. It was a racing bicycle which was the only one available so she took a wrench and flipped the handlebars upside down so it would be more comfy to hold onto the handlebars.

[djsalad]

Britain: Store essentials only

Everyone: Wait tea is essential right

[ffphantomii]

Meanwhile in the USSR: We don't need no food men! We are powered by the will of the workers!

[thecrippledpancake]

My grandma has a good rationing story. Her and her older sister were out shopping and the store had a policy of 1 bag of sugar per family. When they got to the checkout the clerk asked if they were sisters. She looks her dead in the eye and cooly says, “Never seen her before in my life.” The clerk believed her and they bought two sugars.

[IntrepidMilo]

I have had the chance to speak with a gentleman who served in the home-guard his name was Jack. When Jack moved from England to Canada in 1950's he said that England was still rationing food, clothes and other goods. He crossed on a Cunard liner and he said that there was so much food that he could hardly believe it.

[OregonDX]

I can remember my great grandma. She survived the Great Depression as well as the war. Anytime we went out everyone had to finish their meal or else you’d hear about it from her lol. She would reuse anything she could. Including washing and reusing straws, and plastic silverware, and plastic microwave trays. Events in the lives of people from those years changed them forever!

[ezioleonardo]

British people: Oh no we can't get French cheese 🧀
Soviets: You guys get food?

[jewishspacelaseroperator]

My grandfather grew up in Scotland during the war, he says the candy ration for children is the only reason he still has his teeth

[door-to-doorhentaisalesman]

1942: Psst you want spam?

2010s: Psst you want crack?

2020: Psst you want toilet paper?

[rasdread]

Food inspector: this is a fine meal
Also food inspector: now that, was a FINED meal

Restaurant manager who wasn't told earlier: *LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SH--*

[newhorizon]

At 6:15 gotta love that guy. He consumed the fish & steak, then fined them. 7 dollars says he didn't even pay his bill.