InRangeTV
Published on 27 Jan 2018At the end of British Ration Week, Karl joins Ian for a hearty slice of Woolton Pie and a discussion of everything learned through the project!
Want to know more about rationing and Lord Woolton? We strong recommend William Sitwell’s Eggs or Anarchy: The remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war: http://amzn.to/2Dpjxph
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April 25, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 8: Conclusions (with Karl)
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April 24, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 7: Black Markets and Luxuries
InRangeTV
Published on 26 Jan 2018One would expect a strict rationing program like the British instituted to create a massive black market – as indeed happened in France and Germany at the same time. Remarkably, this did not happen. There were of course violations of the rationing and people who either cheated or exploited the system, but no organized substantial black market ever developed. This can be seen as a credit to the British population’s sincere willingness to sacrifice for the war effort, but it is also deeply rooted in the several key decisions and successes by Lord Woolton and his Ministry.
The rationing was enforced across class lines (even the King and Queen legitimately participated), and being seen as truly egalitarian reinforced public willingness to obey the rules. In addition, the Ministry of Food was able to successfully ensure that the rations promised were always available. One did not have to rush to get a share of a shipment of bacon or eggs or sugar – there was always enough to meet the needs of the ration, and the significance of this cannot be underestimated.
Day 7 Menu:
Breakfast: Skillet Biscuits with cheese, tea
Lunch: Fried Vegetable Fritters with leftover gray
Tea: Tea, leftover skillet biscuits
Dinner: Pheasant, sweet potatoesInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 23, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 6: Cafeterias & Restaurants
InRangeTV
Published on 25 Jan 2018One of the Food Ministry’s programs during the war was the creation of the British Restaurants – cafeteria like establishments which offered a hot 3-course meals for just a few pence and without the use of any ration coupons. More than 2000 would be established by the end of the war, and eating out exploded in popularity among the British population because of them. The food was often not exciting, but it was hot, cheap, and readily available.
Private restaurants were able to remain open and in business through the war, but were restricted in several key ways to ensure that they did not become a loophole in rationing for the wealthy. A restaurant could serve only 3 courses, only one could include meat, and a limit was put on what could be charged for a meal.
Day 6 Menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with jam, tea
Lunch: Liver, onions and kale
Tea: Leftover Peach Clafouti, tea
Dinner: Lamb Pasties with GravyInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 22, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 5: Woolton Pie
InRangeTV
Published on 24 Jan 2018The Minister of Food who was really the heart of the rationing program was Frederick Marquis, Lord Woolton. A prominent businessman who entered government as a political novice when the war began, Woolton took his responsibility as a charge not simply to ensure that Britain survived the war, but as a mission to use the opportunity to improve public health, particularly among the lower classes. He was a refreshing example of a political figure who eschewed personal power and political strife in favor of the betterment of his society.
The head chef of the Savoy Hotel created a wartime dish which they named Woolton Pie after the Minister of Food, and which has become an excellent example of the whole rationing program in microcosm.
Woolton Pie (makes 1 pie):
½ lb potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled and cut into chunks
½ lb carrots, washed and sliced
½ lb cauliflower, broken into chunks
½ lb swedes (rutabagas), peeled and cut into chunks
3-4 green onions (we used a quarter leek, both white and green), sliced
1 tsp vegetable extract*
1 tsp oatmeal **Preheat oven to 350. Add all vegetables to a saucepan and just cover with water. Simmer until tender, approximately 10-15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Put vegetables in a pie plate and add half the reserved liquid. Cover with a pastry or potato crust and bake until crust is golden brown.
Use the remaining liquid to make a gravy for serving: in a saucepan, bring liquid to a boil; in a separate cup, mix about 2 T flour with ½ c water and slowly add mixture to boiling liquid whisking constantly. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
* I don’t know what vegetable extract is, but I’m assuming something similar to bouillon cubes. We didn’t have those, so I just used turkey stock instead of water to cook the vegetables.
** This is supposed to thicken the liquid into a gravy. It doesn’t.Day 5 Menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins, tea
Lunch: Beans with Bacon, Skillet Biscuits
Tea: Bread Pudding, tea
Dinner: Woolton Pie, aleInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 21, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 4: The National Loaf
InRangeTV
Published on 23 Jan 2018One of the major initiatives of the Ministry of Food was ensuring the availability of bread and the supply of wheat to the British Isles. To help stretch the use of wheat, a national bread recipe was instituted, using minimally processed brown flour. This was not a particularly appealing item to most of the British populace, used to highly refined fluffy white bread – but they accepted it as a necessity of war. Interestingly, the National Loaf was not that unlike today’s whole wheat breads which are so popular for their better nutritional value than WonderBread.
Day 4 Menu:
Breakfast: Cheese toast, tea
Lunch: Cheese and Tomato Sandwich, pickle, leftover split pea soup
Tea: Beetroot pudding, tea
Dinner: Leek and Hamburger Gravy over toastInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 20, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 3: Creative Cooking
InRangeTV
Published on 22 Jan 2018Much of the popular media about wartime rationing spends a lot of time looking at the crazy examples of weird and frightening recipes that appeared during this time – because that’s what attracts audience attention. In reality, the strange recipes are not attempts to make terrible foods palatable, but rather attempts to make repetitive ingredients more interesting. Today’s Welsh Eggs, for instance, are a way to use powdered eggs in a way that hides their lack of texture.
Day 3 Menu:
Breakfast: Potato, Bacon and Green Onion hash, tea
Lunch: Split Pea Soup (made with Spam instead of bacon)
Tea: Peach Clafouti, tea
Dinner: Welsh Eggs on toast, sauteed kaleInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 19, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 2: Food for the Week
InRangeTV
Published on 21 Jan 2018What does a week’s worth of food for two people in World War Two London look like? We bought the whole week’s groceries and we will explain what the rations entailed and what we have to work with (this episode was actually filmed the day before the experiment began).
Of course, the typical British family during the war did not have a refrigerator, and the wife would have been shopping for groceries on a daily basis.
Day 2 Menu:
Breakfast: Whole Grain Pancakes, tea
Lunch: Split Pea Soup, bread
Tea: Pumpkin Spice Cookies, tea
Dinner: Spam, Vegetable Mash, aleInRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 18, 2019
British Ration Week Episode 1: Introduction
InRangeTV
Published on 20 Jan 2018Did you know that under World War II rationing, the health of the British public improved by virtually every objective measure? Caloric intake increased, lifespan increased, and infant mortality decreased. Despite being an island nation under severe submarine blockade, the United Kingdom managed to not just provide food for its millions of inhabitants, but actually build and maintain the public trust in government rationing. How did this happen? We will explore the question all week, while Ian eats a diet of only what a typical British family would have eaten during the dark days of the Blitz.
Day 1 Menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal Porridge, tea
Lunch: Leek & Potato Soup, bread & margarine, water
Tea: Vanilla Depression Cake, tea
Dinner: Cottage Pie, aleFor the recipes for today’s dishes – and lots of other details about the experiment – please see our data page at InRange.tv:
http://www.inrange.tv/british-rationi…
InRange is entirely viewer supported:
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April 7, 2019
Germans and British make their way to the North – WW2 – 032 – April 6 1940
World War Two
Published on 6 Apr 2019While China gets a new government, or at least in the eyes of Japan, the British are trying to cope with the rationing of meat and dairy products by trying out some new recipes. More importantly, Germany seems to be very serious about invading Norway. However, the British also plan to move closer to Norway.
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tvFollow WW2 day by day on Instagram @World_war_two_realtime https://www.instagram.com/world_war_t…
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: EastoryColorisations by Norman Stewart
Eastory’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEly…
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.comA TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
2 days ago (edited)
The war seems to be heating up. As both the Germans and the Allies move towards Norway, the Soviets commit a big war crime in Katyn. We have made a ‘War Against Humanity’ episode in which we explain how Stalin and Beria ordered the mass murder. You can see that right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd5YhhNcC44 And a friendly reminder for the existence of our own discord server: https://discord.gg/D6D2aYN.Cheers!
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March 26, 2019
Food Rationing – How to Make Woolton Pie – WW2 Homefront 001 – April 1940
World War Two
Published on 24 Mar 2019Rationing of goods in Europe started immediately when the war broke out. Lord Woolton, British Minister of Food came up with one of the first substitute dishes… a vegetable pie that was promptly named after him. Our team chef Joram shows you how to do it. To find out how it tasted go here: https://youtu.be/quB0yH8Qhlo
Recipe can be found here: https://the1940sexperiment.com/2016/0…
Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tvHosted by Joram Appel and created by Wieke Kapteijns
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH
In about a month’s time (yes, I have my 1:00am and 2:00am posts lined up that far in advance), there’s an eight-part video series from Ian at InRangeTV on British rationing in WW2 that includes a slightly different Woolton Pie recipe.
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March 12, 2019
9 British Dishes Everyone Should Try – Anglophenia Ep 2
Anglophenia
Published on 22 May 2014British food has a bad reputation, but Siobhan Thompson’s here to set the record straight, offering nine tasty U.K. dishes that will quiet the naysayers.
Visit the Anglophenia blog at http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia
Photos via Fotolia.
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July 16, 2017
QotD: The value of price controls in World War 2
In World War II price controls [in the United States] were administered by the Office of Price Administration (OPA). I have been present at discussions where serious attempts were made to assess the OPA’s damage to the Allied cause, measured in terms of the equivalent number of German panzer divisions. The estimates tended to be large.
Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist, 2012 revised edition.
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August 21, 2016
QotD: Price controls and other forms of rationing
Of the numerous and occasionally contradictory techniques used to ration demand and supply [when monetary prices are not used], perhaps the most common is past behavior: persons already in apartments are given preference under rent control, or past acreage determines current allotments under agricultural price support programs. Another common technique is queuing or first come – first served: taxicabs, theater tickets, medical services, and many other goods and services are rationed in this way when their prices are controlled. Of course, discrimination and nepotism are also widely used; the best way to get a rent-controlled apartment is to have a (friendly) relative own a controlled building. Other criteria are productivity – the least productive workers are made unemployed by minimum wage laws;…. collateral – borrowers with little collateral cannot receive legal loans when effective ceilings are placed on interest rates.
Each rationing technique benefits certain groups at the expense of other groups relative to their situation in a free market. Price controls are almost always rationalized, at least in part, as a desire to help the poor, yet it is remarkable how frequently they harm the poor.
Gary Becker, Economic Theory, 1971.
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May 30, 2016
The greatest German philanthropist you’ve never heard of
At the Cobden Centre, Alasdair Macleod explains how the sensible reforms of one man rescued the West German economy from rationing, inflation, and deprivation:
Anyone who favours regulation needs to explain away Germany’s post-war success. Her economy had been destroyed, firstly by the Nazi war machine, and then by Allied bombing. We easily forget the state of ruin the country was in, with people in the towns and cities actually starving in the post-war aftermath. The joint British and American military solution was to extend and intensify war-time rationing and throw Marshall aid at the problem.
Then a man called Ludwig Erhard was appointed director of economics by the Bizonal Economic Council, in effect he became finance minister. He decided, against British and American misgivings, as well as opposition from the newly-recreated Social Democrats, to do away with price controls and rationing, which he did in 1948. These moves followed his currency reform that June, which contracted the money supply by about 90%. He also slashed income tax from 85% to 18% on annual incomes over Dm2,500 (US$595 equivalent).
Economists of the Austrian school would comprehend and recommend this strategy, but it goes wholly against the bureaucratic grain. General Lucius Clay, who was the military governor of the US Zone, and to whom Erhard reported, is said to have asked him, “Herr Erhard, my advisers tell me what you have done is a terrible mistake. What do you say to that?”
Erhard replied, “Herr General, pay no attention to them! My advisers tell me the same thing.”
About the same time, a US Colonel confronted Erhard: “How dare you relax our rationing system, when there is a widespread food shortage?”
Erhard replied, “I have not relaxed rationing, I have abolished it. Henceforth the only rationing ticket the people will need will be the deutschemarks. And they will work hard to get those deutschemarks, just wait and see.”
The US Colonel did not have to wait long. According to contemporary accounts, within days of Erhard’s currency reform, shops filled with goods as people realised the money they sold them for would retain its value. People no longer needed to forage for the basics in life, so absenteeism from work halved, and industrial output rose more than 50% in the second half of 1948 alone.
Erhard had spent the war years studying free-market economics, and planning how to structure Germany’s economy for the post-war years. It goes without saying that his free-market approach made him a long-standing and widely recognised opponent of Nazi socialism, a fact that enhanced his credibility with the military authorities tasked with repairing the German economy. He became an early member of the Mont Pelarin Society, a grouping of free-market economists inclined towards the Austrian School, founded in 1947, and whose first President was Hayek.
Erhard simply understood that ending all price regulation, introducing sound money and slashing the burden of taxation, were the basics required to revive the economy, and that the state must resist the temptation to intervene and had to reduce its role in the economy. He remained a highly successful finance minister for fourteen years, before succeeding Adenauer as Chancellor in 1963.
Erhard not only allowed unfettered free markets to rapidly turn Germany around from economic devastation, but being publicly credited with this success he presided over the economy long enough to ensure that bureaucratic meddling was kept at bay subsequently. His legacy served Germany well, despite the generally destructive actions of his successors.
The contrast with Britain’s economic performance was stark, where rationing was not finally lifted until 1954, and her post-war socialist, anti-market government was nationalising key industries. The contrast between Germany’s revival and Britain’s decline could not have been more marked.
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January 9, 2015
QotD: Britain in the “New Elizabethan Age” of the 1950s
The euphoria of the New Elizabethan Age was all the more striking when set against the backdrop of the deprivation and austerity of the immediate post-war years. For many people, things had actually got worse after the war. The shortages — of food, of fuel, of housing — were such that on the first anniversary of VE Day, as Susan Cooper later recalled, “the mood of the British was one not of festivity but of bleak resignation, with a faint rebelliousness at the restrictions and looming crises that hung over them like a fog.” “We won the war,” one housewife was quoted as saying. “Why is it so much worse?” The winter of 1947 was the coldest of the century: there were shortages, and strikes, and everyone shivered; and in the spring the floods struck, closing down the London Underground, washing away the crops of thirty-one counties and pouring into thousands of homes. By the following year, rationing had fallen well below the wartime level. The average adult in 1948 was entitled to a weekly allowance of thirteen ounces of meat, one-and-a-half ounces of cheese, six ounces of butter, one ounce of cooking fat, eight ounces of sugar, two pints of milk and one egg. Even dried egg, which had been a staple of meals in wartime, had disappeared from the shops. Children at the beginning of the 1950s still wondered what their parents meant when the reminisced about eating oranges, pineapples, and chocolate; they bathed in a few inches of water, and wore cheap, threadbare clothes with “Utility” labels. It was just as well that the British prided themselves on their ability to form an orderly queue; they had plenty of opportunities to prove it. Not until July 1954 did food rationing finally come to an end.
Austerity left its mark, and many people who had scrimped and saved through the post-war years found it hard to accept the attitudes of their juniors during the long boom that followed. As one housewife later commented: “It makes you very careful and appreciate what you have got. You don’t take things for granted.” Caution, thrift, and the virtues of “making do” had become so ingrained during the long years of rationing that many people never forgot them and forever told each other, “Waste not, want not”, or reminded themselves to put things aside “for a rainy day”, or complained that their children and grandchildren did not “know the value of money.”
Dominic Sandbrook, Never Had It So Good: A history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles, 2005.
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