Food Flash: Don't Waste Bread

1945
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Crumbs! Victory celebrations give way to postwar austerity as shortages leave countries short of dough in more ways than one.

The low-carb option proved a necessity rather than a diet trend after WWII. This 'Food Flash' - a short government-sponsored message interspersed in the cinema programme - was an early sign of ongoing shortages in the postwar period. The introduction of rationing for bread on 21 July 1946 was a bitter pill to swallow, since it was one of the few commodities that escaped rationing even during the height of war. The ration was lifted in 1948.

Ministry of Information 'Food Flash' urging the public not to waste bread as there are world food shortages after the war.

Dig for Victory

Keeping the nation fed and healthy was the greatest priority of the Home Front. Women replaced absent farm workers, while ordinary Britons were exhorted to 'grow their own'.

'Dig for Victory' was perhaps the most successful official campaign of the Home Front. Britons in their millions picked up their trowels, and acre after acre of parkland, waste ground - even back gardens - was repurposed as makeshift vegetable plots. Just as the factories were constantly increasing their productivity, great efforts were made to increase agricultural yields, while the 'land girls' of the Women's Land Army enthusiastically took the place of farmworkers fighting overseas.