The World War II Diet That Saved Britain
Daily Beast,
by
Clive Irving
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
9/8/2019 9:54:55 AM
When the British went to war exactly 80 years ago they swiftly lost the individual freedom to make fundamental choices over the way they lived.
Freedom of travel, freedom to choose work, freedom to remain where they lived, freedom to choose a school for the kids, freedom to buy the clothes they wanted, even the freedom to decide how many books were printed, how many movies were made, and what kind of news could be reported and what could not—all gone.
That’s what being on a war footing meant. The state became all powerful. In order to survive, we were told, individual choice was a luxury Britain could no longer afford.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Planononna 9/8/2019 10:32:38 AM (No. 174529)
Very interesting article.
10 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
poliposter 9/8/2019 10:49:16 AM (No. 174555)
Love the historical posts. Thanks, OP.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
mc squared 9/8/2019 11:02:34 AM (No. 174571)
I will also be eternally grateful for the nutritionist who discovered the basic desert groups.
6 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
bgarrett 9/8/2019 11:07:11 AM (No. 174579)
What, exactly,was the diet? The article only hints at a few things
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Catfur27 9/8/2019 11:23:05 AM (No. 174598)
...when I look today at the incredible sacrifices made by the British citizens ...and especially the RAF... during WWII to avoid being taken over by foreigners called the National SOCIALIST Party ( aka the Nazis) ..it is sad...
...The UK in the past 25 years has basically become a second -rate country...mostly because it surrendered itself to massive third world foreign invader- hordes ( better to turn over your country to them than be called a "racist"!!) ...who get there to vote for- you guessed it - The Socialists....where everyone there has now his hand out ... sad
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jhpeters2 9/8/2019 11:25:06 AM (No. 174601)
The British in WWII seemed to be very resourceful. They didn't miss a stitch. A thing I found odd about the article was the description of the murders versus the photograph describing the location of the bodies. Evidently the family was not in the car when murdered.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
earlybird 9/8/2019 11:29:38 AM (No. 174607)
This is in praise of Drummond, who is said to have discovered some vitamins. He decided the English diet was unhealthy. It still is. They envy what they call our “American teeth”. The photo of the Drummond family shows a rather aged looking 53 year old man, a woman who already has swollen legs and looks far beyond 39. The child is the only healthy-looking one.
The Brits I knew who got through the war did so hungry. They were always hungry. They ate to fill their stomachs. To keep them going. Citrus fruits were treasures if they could be found at all. Everything was in short supply and not of the best quality. They truly suffered. They survived. (Not all of them.)
Drummond had a plan. I’d never heard of it. Would be interested to know of someone who followed it.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
lakerman1 9/8/2019 11:42:38 AM (No. 174629)
I recall reading that adult-onset diabetes effectively disappeared in England during WWII because sugar was eliminated from their diet.
Not sure where I read it, but it makes sense.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 9/8/2019 12:54:49 PM (No. 174685)
Very interesting article. I'd never heard of this guy. I know Britain was in dire straits during WWII. This is how Rick Atkinson described the situation in 1944, in his excellent book "The Guns At Last Light":
"Rationing had begun in 1940 and would not end completely until 1954. The monthly cheese allowance now stood at two ounces per citizen. Many children had never seen a lemon; Vitamin C now came from 'turnip water.' The Ministry of Food promoted 'austerity bread', with a whisper of sawdust, and 'victory coffee,' brewed from acorns. 'Woolton pie', a concoction of potatoes, carrots, onions and flour, was said to lie 'like cement upon the chest.' For those with strong palates, no ration limits applied to sheep's head, or to eels caught in local reservoirs, or to roast cormorant, a stringy substitute for poultry."
Tough times. They were tough people then. Wonder what happened to them? My guess is socialism.
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 9/8/2019 2:09:48 PM (No. 174739)
"Saved Britian"?? Touring London today. I would say that 3 in 10 people on the subway are related to anyone who was living in the country in 1945, the other 7 are from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and all the Middle Eastern women are pregnant with a baby in a carriage and a 2 year old in tow.
They won, and then surrendered to the third world.
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Norgay 9/8/2019 2:45:13 PM (No. 174768)
For those that want to know more about the British ration system in WWII. Go to inrange tv on YouTube, Ian (of Forgotten Weapons fame) has a full week of videos on it where actually uses the ration plan. It is very informative.
2 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
jorgecito 9/8/2019 2:57:18 PM (No. 174777)
#4, article mentioned importing dried eggs from USA, I believe as part of lend-lease. It was a new product and very useful. Also noted was whole wheat bread with some fortifications.
Wow, that was an interesting and well-written article! Complete with unexpected twist:
horrible murders at the end - still not definitely resolved.
0 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Imright 9/8/2019 4:01:34 PM (No. 174813)
Thanks for posting...Very interesting.
0 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Zarin 9/8/2019 11:21:48 PM (No. 175017)
Ah, the horrors of 'central planning'! Mind you the Brits & the USA 'had' to have it during the war - but it was not ideal nor efficient. It worked well enough tho' that the Labor Party was able to convince most subjects that 'central planning' would work in peacetime too! This false narrative was the reason Friedrich Hayek wrote The road to Serfdom. The Brits did not heed him and so had rationing & a huge recession well into the 1950's. However somebody (Ford?) in the US knew he was a truth teller and our grandparent's generation actually read the book - in the 7 million printed Reader's Digest magazines. If you get a chance - look on You Tube for a Hillsdale College lecture by Dr. Larry White of Mason University - on Hayek - it is fascinating.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Ebenezer 9/9/2019 11:40:30 AM (No. 175390)
this is from a Jared Diamond book: "Almost all foods apart from vegetables and bread were rationed by August 1942."
1 person likes this.
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