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W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-08-22 Letter #8
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slug-Fat Persons-4 Passed for Publication 22 Aug 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter No. 8) London--(Air Mail)--It's more than a coincidence that on the streets of London today--and I presume the same is true of all other British cities--you almost never see a fat person. There's a reason for it and that reason is that Britain during these past 5 years hasn't been eating enough to make anybody fat. And, heaven knows, she isn't now. Those who eat at hotels and other public places, of whom I am one, probably fare some better than do those more stringently under Britain's food and ration system. But even these delegates at large find themselves severely limited, both as to amount and variety. Tonight, for example, it was sausage or fish. Potatoes are present in plenty--thanks to those wartime gardens I referred to in another letter recently. Beans are plentiful too, I take it, since it's the one and only vegetable that I've seen in my first half week here. I'm disappointed. I was all set for Brussels sprouts. Whether the coffee here is a casualty of war or of the English chefs, I don't know. But I do know that it doesn't taste like any coffee I've had since I was in England last nearly 20 years ago. Those who wait on you are forthright. It's "Any milk in your coffee, sir?" Cream has not only gone off the British menu but out of the British vocabulary. And the sugar portion is so infinitesimal that it would take a professional wine-taster to sense it. Eggs have an important place in the British diet--in dehydrated form. All right for cooking, but not tasty scrambled or in any other form. The ration now allows for one (1) egg a month. And that's an occasion balling for celebration. English emotions concerning dried eggs are a bit mixed.. Being broad-minded, they concede that this food, indelectable as it is, has been a mighty factor in saving Britain from hunger and malnutrition. For that they're duly grateful. At the same time, however, they hope inwardly that they never have to take a bite of powdered egg after this war is over. They want their eggs from biddy to belly from now on. Steaks? Some of the older residents here think they recall having had one once. But it was so long ago they can't be sure. Veal and mutton? Some but not much. Pork--some of it from Iowa? More but not enough. A limited supply of spiced meats have developed the thinnest slicer know to man. What I thought was a pink lettuce leaf in my ham sandwich one day turned out to be the ham. Bread is dark, heavy and coarse, mmm This, I've been told, is on suggestion, if not order, of health authorities who have sought scientifically to have provided in bread some of the essential vitamins, etc., which are missing in the remainder of Britain's wartime diet. It's a fact verifiable statistically, as well as by casual observation, that neither British health nor British spirit has drooped under the impact of a wartime bill of fare that hasn't been too pleasant for a people who traditionally has been a fancier of good things to eat. -- 30 --
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slug-Fat Persons-4 Passed for Publication 22 Aug 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter No. 8) London--(Air Mail)--It's more than a coincidence that on the streets of London today--and I presume the same is true of all other British cities--you almost never see a fat person. There's a reason for it and that reason is that Britain during these past 5 years hasn't been eating enough to make anybody fat. And, heaven knows, she isn't now. Those who eat at hotels and other public places, of whom I am one, probably fare some better than do those more stringently under Britain's food and ration system. But even these delegates at large find themselves severely limited, both as to amount and variety. Tonight, for example, it was sausage or fish. Potatoes are present in plenty--thanks to those wartime gardens I referred to in another letter recently. Beans are plentiful too, I take it, since it's the one and only vegetable that I've seen in my first half week here. I'm disappointed. I was all set for Brussels sprouts. Whether the coffee here is a casualty of war or of the English chefs, I don't know. But I do know that it doesn't taste like any coffee I've had since I was in England last nearly 20 years ago. Those who wait on you are forthright. It's "Any milk in your coffee, sir?" Cream has not only gone off the British menu but out of the British vocabulary. And the sugar portion is so infinitesimal that it would take a professional wine-taster to sense it. Eggs have an important place in the British diet--in dehydrated form. All right for cooking, but not tasty scrambled or in any other form. The ration now allows for one (1) egg a month. And that's an occasion balling for celebration. English emotions concerning dried eggs are a bit mixed.. Being broad-minded, they concede that this food, indelectable as it is, has been a mighty factor in saving Britain from hunger and malnutrition. For that they're duly grateful. At the same time, however, they hope inwardly that they never have to take a bite of powdered egg after this war is over. They want their eggs from biddy to belly from now on. Steaks? Some of the older residents here think they recall having had one once. But it was so long ago they can't be sure. Veal and mutton? Some but not much. Pork--some of it from Iowa? More but not enough. A limited supply of spiced meats have developed the thinnest slicer know to man. What I thought was a pink lettuce leaf in my ham sandwich one day turned out to be the ham. Bread is dark, heavy and coarse, mmm This, I've been told, is on suggestion, if not order, of health authorities who have sought scientifically to have provided in bread some of the essential vitamins, etc., which are missing in the remainder of Britain's wartime diet. It's a fact verifiable statistically, as well as by casual observation, that neither British health nor British spirit has drooped under the impact of a wartime bill of fare that hasn't been too pleasant for a people who traditionally has been a fancier of good things to eat. -- 30 --
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