Introduction

‘ The word rationing,’ began a Dutch public radio broadcast in October 1939, ‘has an unpleasant ring to it, especially for those of us who can remember the mobilization period of 1914-18.’ The broadcast continued, the tone slightly lighter now: ‘… current rations no longer impose any grave limitations, as they did during the first weeks, when a mere 500 g of sugar per head were available every two weeks. Since then, one can have a kilo every two weeks, which is in accordance with normal average consumption (…). Still, it is an average, and families with many young children occasionally find themselves short’.

This passage is a telling one for a number of reasons. In the first place, the First World War served as a point of reference, not, as described in Chapter 2, among bureaucrats and politicians, but in a programme for and by housewives. Secondly, the quote provides an insight into the richness of the diet of the interwar years. The kilogram of sugar mentioned above, notably, did not include the sugar added to other products in the production process, only loose sugar. It is indicative of prewar patterns of consumption as they existed in Denmark and the Netherlands alike: both were nations of big eaters. Potatoes, whole milk, sugar, meat, lard and margarine were consumed in large quantities, constituting an average diet considerably richer in calories than would be deemed healthy today. These diets were supplemented with copious amounts of tea and coffee, and – for men – tobacco, gin and beer.

The rich diet of the Danes and the Dutch was made possible by the close integration of their countries into the global economy. Sugar and vegetable fats were imported from abroad, not least from North America and the tropics, as was, crucially, fodder for cattle. After the German invasion, such imports obviously could not continue. The same problem affected large parts of the continent: Nazi-dominated Europe as a whole had to nourish itself on indigenously produced food. The area under German control, however, was densely populated, and regions where the German leadership had expected to find food for its population, notably the Ukraine, yielded far less than had been anticipated.