I was talking to someone today who told me with certainty that food rationing was coming. She made it sound like the end of the world was nigh.I very much doubt it, but if it does, bring it on — with the hope that the government will deny access to sugary drinks and processed food and the country will get healthier.But I think people fear the rationing of all the processed foods more than anything natural.My mother was 10 when WWII broke out, and my father 11. Rationing had been in place for a year in anticipation and expectation of war. In fact, rationing was a way of life until it was relieved in 1956 when they were in their mid-20s.Hard to imagine isn’t it?[A side note here just for the record… I often have to endure people saying, ‘If it wasn’t for us you’d all be speaking German.’ First of all, we all speak German because the English language is 40% German. Secondly, we are German descendants. The House of Windsor is actually the House of Hannover. Thirdly, we were never at war with Germans. We went to war with Nazis. We never had a problem with the average German and never will and neither do they with us. We fought against a regime as did they when they could, not a people or a country.]Okay… now that I’ve got that off my chest… : )In the war, each British family was allowed 4oz of fresh meat and two chops a week… yes, a week!Here’s the full list:· Bacon & Ham 4 oz· Other 2 chops· Butter 2 oz· Cheese 2 oz· Margarine 4 oz· Cooking fat 4 oz· Milk 3 pints· Sugar 8 oz· Preserves 1 lb every 2 months· Tea 2 oz· Eggs 1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg)· Sweets 12 oz every 4 weeksTake a look in your refrigerator and imagine it just has 2oz of butter and cheese and one fresh egg… and you have to create amazing breakfasts, lunches and dinners for a family of four for a week.I am in awe of how they did that.Let’s get some perspective:If my parents were alive today, they would laugh at us. If they saw my decimated grocery store today, they would think they had landed in Aladdin’s Cave. Before anyone points out the irony that they are not alive, the government also recommended 4 cigarettes a day (as did the American Army K rations). My parents were hooked by the age of 12.When I was an infant, they were up to 40 a day. It killed them.Twenty-five years after the war, the UK government released a previously secret survey that showed the population of the UK during and after the war was significantly healthier than prior to it.Why?Because prior to it, most people could not afford 4oz of fresh meat and had all kinds of diseases associated with malnutrition. The government’s rationing inadvertently mandated everyone get (for free) 4oz meat, two chops and vegetables, tea and sugar.The average Briton’s nutrition improved remarkably and so did their health.I visit my grocery store just about every day because we like to cook from scratch. You won’t find a packet or can of food anywhere in our house. Most of the packet and can aisles in the store are decimated. The fruit and vegetable sections are fully stocked… every day.Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?My parents learned to live on very little and made it stretch in unbelievably imaginative ways — delicious ways.I grew up on their experiences of food. Basically, I ate war recipes for my whole youth and until I left home to join the Royal Navy.But don’t feel sorry for me.I was very fit and healthy, a high school first team soccer captain. I jogged 5 miles a day every day. I worked on a farm hauling bales of hay while my mates drank sugary drinks like sodas and ate processed foods like packet chips. I couldn’t afford them so I ate whatever was put on my plate. My mother negotiated ration-like ingredients from the grocer and butcher ‘throwaways’.Some of my mates were overweight and lethargic as a result of what they ate. I’ve never been as fit as I was back then.So if you’re reading this with a fast food burger in one hand, I’d encourage you to  hurry up and scarf all that high fructose corn syrup, propylene glycol alginate and soy lecithin right down before you read on…Better yet, throw it away.Here’s what a famous burger bun (just the bun) contains: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil and/or Canola Oil, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin, Sesame Seed.Yummy… (And that’s just the bun.)You can search online for the detrimental brain effects of any and all of those chemicals. It doesn’t take a genius to imagine the harm they do together.Maybe a bit of rationing is not a bad thing?When my mother thought she was going to die earlier than she wanted, she taught her 3 kids to bake in a kitchen that she ran a bit like a war room. I think she imagined that if we could make pies and cakes we could survive.I still bake exactly the same way with the same basic and rationed ingredients….And guess what?Our guests love it.They say I make the best Crème Brulee (3 natural, organic ingredients), the best Eve’s pudding (5 natural, organic ingredients), and the best Victoria Sponge (4 organic ingredients).Maybe less is more and a little tightening of our belts will reboot our minds about nutrition?

Cheers,Trev