Adrian and Ethel
Tom Holloway (xuegx@CSV.WARWICK.AC.UK)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 23:28:31 +0100
I don't really remember much about food during the war,
since I was born in 1941. I remember being given the
"red gravy' from the roast meat which we only had on
Sundays. We sometimes had a bit extra meat from the butcher
as he was a parishioner of my father, the local vicar.
I remember my mother handing over the family rationing
coupons to the grocer. I remember Government supplied
cod-liver oil and concentrated orange juice. I remember
the party we had in the middle of the road on VE day. All
sorts of 'goodies' appeared which had been hoarded during
the war. I did not see a banana until 1946. The first
time I saw cornflakes was when my father brought some back
from USA in 1946.
Adrian Cope, Warwick England.
------------------------------------------------------
We received regular small amoumts 0f tea sugar meat amd
bacon each week by producing ration cards but all else we
had to queue for. I can remember whenever we saw a queue
at a shop we just joined it, not knowing what we were going
to get until we arrived at the counter. I have waited
about an hour for a few carots or potatoes. Fortunately
during the summer my father was able to grow a large number
of vegetables so we were better off than some. During the
early stages of the war my mother and auntie and myself
learned to drink our tea without sugar so that `mum` could
make cakes to send to my brothers in the forces. I can
also remember that early on we could get, say two dozen
eggs and preserve them in brine for future use. When
we were reduced to one egg per week or less, dried egg appeared -
it was passable in cakes but not particularly tasty as
scrambled egg. Most of the adults saved their sweet
(candy) coupons for the children. Fruit was in very short
supply so once again whenever a queue appeared one joined
it in the hope of getting perhaps one orange each.
Babies were kept fit by receiving orange juice and codliver
oil. This carried on for several years after the war and
I can remember giving my own children codliver oil - it
smelled horrible so they hadit it while in the bath so that
I could clean up any spillage.
Ethel Johnson