thewartimekitchen.com

Dig for Victory

With the start of the Second World War in 1939, Britain imported nearly 70% of its food. This included nearly 80% of fruits and about 70% of grains and cereals. The supply chain had been cut off due to the  Nazis sinking ships bringing imports to the country. The result was: Britain needed to grow more of its own food. The ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was set up within a month of the start of  WWII by the British Ministry of Agriculture. The start of rationing meant men and women across the country were encouraged to grow their own food to supplement their meager rations. Empty spaces, including backyards, public parks, and even the lawns outside the Tower of London were turned into vegetable patches.  A massive propaganda campaign was created to ensure that people had enough to eat, and that morale was kept high. The Dig for Victory campaign proved very successful, and by 1943 over 100 million tons of fruits and vegetables were now being grown in Britain!

Above: Girl Guides at work on their hospital allotment producing vegetables in November 1942; propaganda posters promoting the “Dig for Victory” campaign.

Imagine never having seen, or eaten, a banana? If you were a child born in the days of World War II in Britain, this would not have been uncommon. Imported fruits were hard to come by due to rationing; the unavailability of “exotic” fruits due to the wartime bombing of ships prevented these items arriving safely at their destination. When, and if, these fruits became available, there were long queues to get those priceless bananas and oranges.

With the onset of rationing, oranges and bananas disappeared from the shops.Fresh oranges did occasionally arrive safely by ship from America — but they were rationed and restricted to children only.

The British government and the Ministry of Food were concerned that people, especially children, had essential quantities of basic foods to stay healthy, and that staying healthy was an important part of the war effort.
Doctors were regularly sent to schools to check the nutritional needs and general good health of children. Schools were supplied with Virol (formerly Virolax), a liquid laxative made from sweetened bone marrow, that was given weekly to children to “keep them regular.” Virol was eventually discontinued during the war as it was too costly to manufacture. Even in the days of rationing, poor children were guaranteed meals to keep healthy. To avoid the onset of scurvy and rickets, children under five were given doses of cod liver oil; those under three got daily portions of regular or instant dried milk, and the all important orange juice. Mothers were able to get bottles of cod liver oil and concentrated orange juice (both shipped to Britain by the United States) that were distributed at British Welfare Centers.