Food rationing concentrates the mind in Britain

14th August 1941 : The new national obsession overtakes the weather as the primary topic of conversation

This photograph shows the amounts of milk, sugar, bacon, cheese, butter and chocolate received by two people per week in Britain.

Britain had been heavily dependent on imported food before the war, much of it sourced from countries in the British Empire - notably Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The German U-Boat war was aimed at starving…