Chapter 5: ‘Go Easy with Bread, Eat Potatoes Instead’ – Food Rationing Behavioural Change Campaign of the UK Government (1940–1954)

The rationing of food in the UK lasted from 1940 to 1954. The rationing campaign does not sit in isolation; it forms a part of the early behavioural campaigning of the UK Government in the early 20th century when the Government successfully launched several campaigns focussed on behavioural change, such as ‘Coughs and Sneezes’ campaign tackling the use of handkerchiefs to stop the spread of germs, dental and milk campaigns, waste collection campaign and also, rationing campaign, the latter was the widest, the largest and the longest lasting campaign, which included both food and fashion. In this chapter, original archival materials were analysed tackling food rationing such as campaign posters and documents of the UK Government that promoted rationing and offered guidance on how to eat during the rationing period. The rationing campaign is analysed within its context of wartime Britain, historical changes to food consumption in the UK, as well as the wider context of the 20th-century behavioural campaigning.