On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 3:10:03 AM UTC-7, wrote:

> On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:03:13 -0400, Dave Smith
>
> > wrote:
>

> >My father spent a few years in the UK during the war. Judging by the
> >photos of him from the war years he was pretty slim. He lost a lot of
> >weight during the week or so that he was in Denmark after being shot
> >down and had to walk across Sjaelland from Korsor to Copenhagen. He
> >eventually made contact with Resistance and was smuggled over to Sweden
> >where he spent a couple weeks. He had a lot more and much better food
> >there that he had been getting in England. Their special meal before
> >heading out on bombing operations was eggs and chips.

My first trip overseas was to Ireland. The dollar was being pounded, and
we were trying to save money. One restaurant we ate at featured
egg and chips, notably egg peas and chips.

I ordered a hamburger, peas, and chips, but to my surprise the hamburger
was a bunless patty.

>
> I think it made them very inventive - true one had ration books but
> that only meant you could buy something, if you could find it to buy!
> I remember a birthday cake made with stale bread because there was no
> flour available.

Maybe food shortages/rationing was the genesis of the ritz cracker mock
apple pie.


> Somehow she got hold of a piglet and raised it, I loved it and named
> it Snow White. When my father was home on leave he shot it in the
> head and they butchered it. I think that's most of the reason I am
> not fond of pork,bacon or ham, I didn't like Snow Whites fate
>

Raising a pig was how many of our ancestors made it through the winter,
especially with energy dense foods like salami and bacon. You didn't need
much to provide a balanced diet with fermented foods like sauerkraut or
sour turnips, perhaps dried apples, and bread.

When the Irish came to America a century and a half ago, they surprised
their tenement landlords by trying to raise a pig in their kitchen, mostly
on scraps, as they had done in the old country.

>
> I can't see a war time diet for the purpose of losing weight though,
> way too starchy. The difference was activity. Starch in but plenty
> of calories used up by walking (no gas, so cars were permanently in
> the garage) buses few and far between and kids who were expected to go
> out and play with neighbourhood kids.

The current consensus is not that we eat too much but that we move too
little.