Can We Talk 2

Memories of Other Tough Times

         No matter what else I do, I have to stop and prepare a decent dinner for my 91 year old dad. He fends for himself for breakfast and lunch. He is a retired butcher, and wants meat at dinner. He also likes fresh vegetables. He gets his fruit at breakfast. It's too bad he's had to give up gardening, but I can't plow the raised vegetable bed. I can pull the weeds, but I can't prepare the soil.

         One night recently, I opened a can of Julienne beets. It was a well balanced meal, but the beets brought to mind stories I've never heard him tell before. I knew he liked all kinds of beets. He explained, piecemeal, that during rationing, his mother kept all the canned vegetables under her bed. One night she opened two cans of Julienne beets. He didn't tell me if that was all they had, or where Grandpa was. He just said that he, his little sister-maybe 11 or 12, little brother-maybe six or seven went outside thinking they had just had Christmas dinner!

         My dad is quite hard of hearing, nerve deafness so hearing aids don't help. I have to yell at him to have a conversation. I finally got him to say it was rationing during or before the war. He was only a baby in the depression. They received coupons, not like food stamps, but actual coupons for specific items. Milk, cheese, eggs, cans of fruit or vegetables, meat, booze, etc., they all required coupons. Every citizen regardless of financial status had to get coupons or they couldn't shop. Grandma traded with the neighbors for things they preferred over things they didn't. He didn't know why she kept them under the bed. I think maybe she was afraid someone would steal them. No one locked their doors in those days.

         It brought up a few other little memories that he shared. I've heard lots of his stories repeatedly, but these were new to me. It's funny that one little vegetable could open up a closed corner of your memory.

         I was in awe of the idea. I thought of going to the store the previous week and finding the shelves bare of flour and cornmeal. Who knew that many people still exist who know how to cook from scratch? Then it hit me, there aren't that many, but the ones who do know, are hoarding these products. We all know the shortage of toilet paper, paper towels, Ramen noodles, and certain cleaners. If we had rationing early in this process, no one would be hoarding anything, rich or poor. You'd still have to pay the normal price, but you'd only get what was allowed for your household.

         Everyone who lived through rationing now would be old men like my dad or they would have been babies and have been unaware of what was going on. In those days they didn't ration to prevent hoarding or to ensure that everyone ate. The war effort was the priority. Metal had to be used for aircraft and ammunition. Food had to go to the military first. It's hard for us to imagine rationing when we've lived through such times of prosperity and choice.