"Serve apples daily and you serve your country too.”

The Canadian government tried to alter the consumption habits of Canadians so as to produce surpluses of foodstuffs that would be needed by Britain and allied troops. Food and food production were described to the people as, "weapons of war".

Government intervention in the food production and sales markets was extensive. Producers and consumers were under strict production controls and price controls and rationing. The people were also encouraged to change their diets and to consume "patriotic foods". This meant eating less beef and pork which freed those products for export.

Lobster was considered a patriotic food. It is a high priced commodity right now but in the '40's lobster was considered a poor man's meal. My brother-in-law is a Cape Breton Islander from modest means and even in the '50's he recalled being sent to school with a lobster roll or sandwich in his lunch bag. He doesn't really enjoy lobster very much anymore.

Apples were branded as a patriotic food as well. The European export markets were gone by 1940 and there was concern over the surpluses of fresh fruit like apples. What to do with them then?

Quote:. Dept of Agriculture, Dec. 1939

By 1941, Canada was providing 77% of the wheat and flour used by Britain but with the advent of Lend-Lease, the government reduced the number of acres dedicated to wheat. Still by the end of the war, Canadian wheat growers supplied 57% of Britain's consumption. The government reduced wheat acreage through subsidies and incentives because it was felt that more land had to be dedicated to feed crops, hogs and flaxseed. Apparently these were needed overseas.

I still do not know whether Britain provided a shopping list of items of which they were short but certainly Canada's farm economy was altered to reflect what was needed for export.

Hog production increased by 250% from the pre-war years. During the war, Canada provided 39% of the bacon that Britain consumed. Was pork more readily available as a rationed commodity than chicken or beef in Britain during the war? Did our soldiers eat bacon? I really do not know.

In French. It says, "One little pig stays home". And "four out of five are going overseas".



Colin mentioned jam as a commodity that was rationed in Britain. I assume that it was a popular food item. That prompted Canadians to participate in Red Cross sponsored activities like, "Jam for Britain" projects and thousands of pounds of jam were put down and shipped to Britain.



So our economy was heavily influenced by government controls and coercion. As in Britain it seems that the nutritional and overall health of the nation actually improved because of rationing of food and the shift to healthier consumption including reduced meat consumption.

As for our service people, it seems that many of them ate well while overseas. As an example, one RCAF study indicated that while the airmen were not always enthralled with the food presented, they had plenty of it. RCAF service people received 3900 calories per day which is a lot. Now I don't know whether this applied to the RCN or the Canadian army and I certainly don't know whether it applied to British forces.

I do know that my Dad always wondered why the Canadian army was eating British style rations when in a combat area. They knew that the Americans were eating much better rations and that Canada had the means to provide a similar diet. I suppose that by eating the same food that the Commonwealth forces were showing some sort of unity within the Empire. Or perhaps it was too costly to produce and ship better quality rations.

How did the British government alter agricultural production during the war? Did the Ministry of Food exert control over what was produced and the quantity produced?

It would be interesting to know just how much the farmers in Britain produced. I believe that too often the propaganda machine makes it sound as though Britain relied totally on food from the Commonwealth and the US.

Cheers,

George