Evening star., 1941-07-30
Third OF a SerieS.)
BY ALLAN NEVINS,


NEW YORK, July 80 (N.ANA).
Everybody in Great Britain talks
about food 1t is as much basic
theme of conversation today as
liquor was in America during the
prohibition years.
Yet any Briton would burst into
a hearty laugh if asked whether he
were undernourished. The general
testimony of physicians is that
public health was never better. Peo-
pie are no worse for eating less red
meat and sugar, and if workman
lacks a suff1ciency of good hearty
food it is usually because he is
spending too much on beer, tobacco
and movies. Lord Woolton. Minister
of Food. said on May % that after
20 months of war Britain was "as
strongly secured in her food supplies
as a year ago"
There's reason for profound
Thanksgiving in this. and Britons
know it. The population to be fed
in the United Kingdom had risen
between 1917 and 1889 from 41,000,-
900 to 47,75O000. while the extent of
arabic land had fallen by 4,500 900
acres. 1t was imperative in 1889
to begin a campaign for enlarged
farm production. So successful has
this been that very nearly 100000
acres of pasture have been brought
under the plow. Greatly increased
crops of wheat, potatoes, legumes
and other foods are being grown
to ease the strain on shipping. More
than a thousand pig clubs have
been formed in England, one by
the royal household at Windsor.
Food Divided in Three Parts.
Foods in Great Britain are divid-
ed, like All Gaul, into three parts:
Those available in any reasonable
quantity, those doled out in rationed
amounts, and those almost totally
absent. The government boasts
that anybody can buy all the bread
he wants at low prices. Oatmeal.
wholeWheat flour, dried beans and
peas, rice, packaged cereals, car
rots, potatoes (the 1940 crop was
the largest ever harvested and
cocoa can also be had in any
quantity needed for current use.
Purchases for boarding would be
discouraged, but they are so plentl-
full that no one is tempted tc hoard.
Into the category of rationed
foods fall meats (but not poultry or
fish, butter, oleomargarine, cooking
fats, sugar, tea, jams and cheese.
Milk occupies a special position.
1t is not rationed, and this spring
declared that conSump-
ton ran about 20 per cent above the
pre-war level. But its distribution
has lately been restricted by Is per
cent, based on the amounts bought
by consumers in the first week OF
March. This is to provide surplus
for the manufacture of cheese and
condensed milk to use next winter.
AS for the third category, that of
foods almost wholly unavailable, it /
has included oranges, bananas and
other tropical fruits; onions, toma-
toes and other sea-imported vege-
tables; nuts, fruit juices, deep-sea
fish, chocolate and a wide range of
canned commodities from abroad.
What does all this mean in terms
of meals? 1t means that people
who like a good deal of red meat,
sweets, butter and fresh fruit suffer
q certain hardship. Most families
and most of the oxford colleges
served red meat at perhaps three
meals weekly during February and
March; by May and June they
served it only twice week. The
portions were small.
Britons have forgotten what
real steak or large-sized chop looks
like. Tea, sugar and butter are
jealousy guarded by all housewives.
Cheese Rationing Bad.
Englishmen who liked to lunch
on bread, cheese and beer found
the cheese rationing a sore trial,
for they were restricted to one ounce
a week each (niners, farm laborers
and vegetarians alone got more).
Britons who liked marmalade for
breakfast were similarly irked by
the jam rationing, which restricted
them to half a pound each per
month. Most people ate their por-
ridge and drank their tea with little
sweetening save some saccharine,
though restaurants served a lump
or two of sugar on demand.
The arrival of rhubarb and Eng
lands magnificent gooseberries pre-
sented housewives with a terrible
dilemma. Here was something to
satisfy the craving for fruit, but
how could it be made palatable
without sugar. In the end a great
deal of unsweetened rhubarb and
raspberry tart was eaten.
Yet the hardships are far from
serious. A family of 1ve In Britain
this past winter was allowed about
r po,1nds of beef or mutton a week,