FOOD IN GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1939, Page 10

FOOD IN GERMANY

The report of food shortages in Germany is what might be expected now, when practically all the principal articles of consumption, as well as foodstuffs, have been rationed for four weeks. The distribution of ration cards was virtually completed by September 24,' and the issue revealed some significant things. For example, the Nazi leaders had promised that" the weekly ration of butter would be 90 grammes, but the food cards showed it'would be only 80 grammes (3oz). Shopping in Germany today is done with a bundle of coloured cards. Bread cards are red, fat cards are yellow, milk cards green, meat cards (good also for sausage) blue, sugar cards white, and soap • cards brown. The normal weekly ration of bread is 2400 grammes (about s}lb); alternatively, the consumer may have 1900 grammes of bread and 375 grammes of flour. Men doing heavy manual labour, get an extra allowance, in some cases as much as double the normal ration. The fat cards giv.s the consumer his allowance of butter, but if he takes it he cannot have any lard, cheese, margarine, cocoa, oil, or bacon, which are obtained by the same card. Similarly, if he buys jam' his sugar card must be surrendered. Milk cards are issued only for I children, young mothers, and workers in special industries, for example, employees in lead and aluminium works. Foodstuffs obtainable without ration cards include potatoes, fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, onions, and skimmed milk. It has been necessary to stand for hours in a queue to obtain a pound of fish, however, for this has become scarce. One interesting aspect of the queue habit is that people waiting have had some unpleasant surprises. Police lorries frequently appear and take a batch of women off to military barracks, where they are set. to work to peel potatoes and do cleaning. The argument is that people who have time to stand about have time to work for the army.