As I understand it, the war was also the root of British people's dislike or love/hate of Spam. (Remember the Monty Python skit -- before the ironic song about "lovely Spam, wonderful Spam" it was about a woman ranting how she hates Spam, in a restaurant where that's all they sell. But in Britain, where war rationing didn't completely end until the mid-1950s, a lot of Baby Boomers and their parents remember a long long loooong time where Spam was the main meat or meatlike substance they'd get to eat).
The war rations weren't *entirely* as limited as in my last post. In addition to those rations, you got a certain number of "points" every month -- the number varied based on what was actually available -- and those points could be applied toward various canned goods, including Spam shipped from the US. Lots and lots and LOTS of Spam, even with the Germans sinking cargo ships. I gather the way it worked was, buying Spam or other canned meats cost some of your points, but did not count against your "4 oz. ham or bacon, 1s2p of other meat" ration.
There was also a canned fish called snoek, which was either low-points or NO points, yet it was so nasty that even a lot of protein-craving wartime British people could not bring themselves to eat it, no matter how cheap it was and how many clever snoek recipes the government suggested. And even the ones who did force themselves to eat it never liked it very much. IIRC, after the war there was so much canned snoek left over that the prices were slashed to a tiny fraction of before, and it was re-sold as pet food.
Infants and young children had smaller rations than adults, but they did get extra m*ilk, plus some orange juice every week, and cod liver oil. Which presumably is a useful nutritional supplement for a growing child who otherwise has a limited amount of food, but I can definitely see that adding to the unpleasantness of British children's wartime memories.
But, regarding the Fat Acceptance folks -- yes, they'd go on a fatphobic rant if they had to live on a British ration diet, or even a modern version of it. (In wartime Britain, for example, fresh fruits and berries weren't rationed, but that's because they weren't usually available, at any price. But if you followed a "British WW2 rationing diet" today -- which is not the same as "actual British wartime diet" -- you could eat as much fresh fruit as you wanted. And use more and better spices too. And while you're at it, go ahead and use fresh eggs rather than powdered, but still no more than 16 per month.)
The "sweets" ration -- chocolate and other candy -- 3 ounces a week for adults. A standard-size
American Hershey's chocolate bar is 1.55 ounces. A standard-size
British Cadbury Dairy M*ilk chocolate bar is 45 grams (1.59 ounces). A total weekly candy ration of less than two Hershey or Dairy M*ilk bars? One 16-ounce jar of preserves/jam every
two months? Most of these FA people eat more than that in a day,
every day.
It is a very interesting book, and you're welcome! You might also be interested in the companion piece
Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations. That one is British wartime government booklets on how to get by on limited rations of non-food items, including clothes, metal items, soap, electricity, and cooking fuel, plus almost anything else you might possibly want or need.
ETA: In both cases, there are later editions of the books than the ones I linked to. I don't know if those editions have additional material compared to earlier versions.
