One of the main dangers to Britain during the Second World War was the
possibility of the country being starved out of the war. Indeed, it was
what Churchill feared the most. Before the war, Britain was hugely
dependent upon foreign imports of food and supplies, but with
unrestricted submarine warfare these lifelines were in danger of being
cut and the amount of imports hugely reduced.
Britain was not unprepared. Lessons had been learned during the First
World War, when people had been encouraged to grow more of their own
food. The Ministry of Food, in particular, had detailed plans in the
event of a future war and the 'Dig for Victory' campaign rightly went
down in history as one of the great successes of the British Home
Front.
For the farmers of Britain the war meant a massive upheaval, as the
government ordered them to plough up millions of acres of land to grow
valuable arable crops. Meanwhile, with rationing a daily and inescapable
part of life, the people of Britain had to get used to different
foodstuffs, including powdered egg, Spam and even whale meat.
Incredibly, the diets of many British people actually improved during
the war and the fact that the country avoided starvation demonstrated
not only the success of government planning, but also the determination
and ingenuity of the wartime generation.
