I was a starving 11 year old Brit in 1940 and our family was ready to kill for food..any kind of food...it is amazing what you will eat when you are starving!
We ate horsemeat, whalemeat, some stuff laughingly called dried egg, and a repulsive looking fish called Snook, along with another gross fish refered to as Rock Salmon.
But the meal we loved the most was when a ship got through the blockade from the good old USA containing Spam. My god we loved that stuff!!
I still eat it now and then for old times sake..although I would hazard a guess there is much better meat in it now as there was during the war!
My sister and I used to sit on the sidewalk outside a US army base near where we lived and beg for candy and food..most of the troops were black servicemen and they were very kind to us...one guy even went back into the camp and bought us some tinned food in a box.
I guess seeing two skinny kids with ragged clothing covered in dirt sitting on the curb chanting “got any food chum” really got to them. Anyway I still think of them kindly and thank them profusely for the tins of Spam and candy they gave us.
What a sad but beautiful story.
Some of my mother’s older family members still like to go out and pick wild greens on occasion, for a similar reason. They were thrilled to get an orange and a peppermint stick apiece, for Christmas back then.
When my Dad got back in 1946, after serving in both theaters, he was haunted by the memories of children digging in the base garbage cans for food. I went through a period where I refused to eat stewed tomatoes or anything that contained them, so I heard the stories a lot from ages 6-9. I think a lot of American soldiers told those same stories. Of course, as spoiled American kids, we rolled our eyes and giggled. I am embarrassed now that I had that reaction.
I hope nothing like that ever happens here and for those who experienced it, I hope it never happens again.
We are so very blessed here and now.