Many of us don’t recognize the similarities between situations we are experiencing today and things that have happened in the past. People feel connected to something if they can relate to it. We can’t relate to something for which we have no frame of reference.
After the pandemic, I think we will have a better understanding of and more interest in what previous generations dealt with, as some of our experiences will be similar to theirs.
Rationing measures caused concern that people would become malnourished. In response, the government designed a guide of what foods people should eat to maintain a healthy diet. These guidelines became known as the Canada Food Guide in 1942.
How things will play out as far as the supply and distribution of food in Canada as the pandemic continues remains to be seen. Will there be mass shortages? How will this issue be managed?
Millions of people around the world were suffering from food shortages because of war and natural disasters before the pandemic. What will happen to them now? Thinking about these issues makes a person pause and think about the future.
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods and services. When I see a sign in a store that indicates a limit on the number of an item I can purchase, the word rationing doesn’t automatically come to my mind even though that is what it is. That is not something I have lived through, so I have a hard time relating to it.
The last time Canada experienced large scale rationing was from 1942 to 1947 due to World War II. The government was responsible for supplying food for the troops overseas, allies in need as well as civilians at home. As the war dragged on, it became increasingly difficult to import items as many merchant ships were being used in the war effort or had been destroyed. Rationing helped manage issues such as hoarding and price gouging. It was a way to distribute food fairly and equally.
Marketers today are savvier than a hundred years ago. Back then, they didn’t sugar coat things to speak to people’s delicate sensitivities. They either withheld information that they thought might panic the public altogether or they just said it like it was. There was a less politically correct middle ground.
Wasting food or hoarding was considered unpatriotic. To manage the available supply, the government issued citizens books of ration stamps. The stamps themselves had no monetary value, but they enabled people to purchase an allotted amount of selected items in a certain time frame. People were required to indicate which store they would shop at, and that was where they had to go.
The number of stamps you received was based on family size and the ages of your children. In September of 1946, while she was attending business school in the city, Mom wrote to my dad, mentioning that she had received her ration book. By then, rationing had become a way of life. If you didn't have the stamp for a rationed item, you simply could not purchase it.
Items such as tea, coffee, dairy products, meat and eggs were rationed. For example, for a week, an adult was allowed to purchase 8 oz of ground coffee, one cup of sugar and a quarter of a pound of butter. Rations for those under sixteen were tailored to meet the nutritional needs of a child. Even if you had a ration stamp there was no guarantee that there would be enough supply.
People consumed more root vegetables like potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots, onions and turnips to fill the gap. Imported fruits were hard to come by so people were encouraged to eat items grown in this country such as apples. Advertising promoted eating an apple a day.
Victory Rationing Spoon
Preserving food was encouraged and anyone who could, had a garden. I think that growing our own food is something people will think about more after this experience. The generations of my family that came before me were farmers and they had cellars with bins full of vegetables and shelves lined with jars of preserves. They also raised their own meat, hunted wild game and fished. This gave them a sense of pride and a feeling of security.
Rationing measures caused concern that people would become malnourished. In response, the government designed a guide of what foods people should eat to maintain a healthy diet. These guidelines became known as the Canada Food Guide in 1942.
It has often been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Recipes for puddings, muffins, cakes, meatless dishes and casseroles were created during this time. Different versions of existing recipes were introduced based on what ingredients were available. Tomato soup cake, which substituted a can of soup for milk was a popular recipe. Many people also remember the colourful jellied salads that were served on special occasions. Kraft Dinner, which most of us grew up eating, came out in stores 1937.
The best cuts of meat were sent to the troops and civilians ate the organ meat - liver, kidney and tongue. A meat item that was eventually found on almost every table at the time was invented. Special Processed American Meat (SPAM) is a canned meat product made from pork. Many of us remember the first time we saw it slither out of the can onto a plate. Mom fried it, baked it with brown sugar on top or served thick slices on homemade bread. When fresh meat was running low, soldiers on base got a one-inch slice of warmed SPAM weekly and two slices on holidays.
I am trying to do my part by discarding less food and making better use of leftovers. I hear myself saying "waste not, want not” to the Hubs.
History is made up of the experiences of individuals and history is lost when we neglect to tell our stories. My grandparents lived through the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic and my parents were young adults during World War Two and the rationing it brought.
Those experiences shaped their perception of many things in life. In turn they tried to teach me to think that way, but because I hadn’t lived it, I found it hard to make it real in my mind. I realize now that at the time I dismissed the possibility that such things could ever happen in my lifetime. Little did I know.
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