Ginger beer

[Daisy]

I keep meaning to do some serious, extensive research into this subject, Robert.

For example, a child would be limited to three eggs a week. (which was generous, adults were limited to one egg a week). Does it really feel like the Famous Five limit themselves to three eggs each a week? In one book they eat "lashings of hard boiled eggs"!

KEVP

LIke very many families during the war, we kept hens so eggs were never in short supply. Also anyone with land (and we had a reasonable sized garden), grew as much food as possible - not just for themselves but to share as well. I can think of a number of Blyton books where the children go into the garden to pick fruit or get the vegetables ... how often did the Five have plums to take on a picnic?
This is not to say that I disagree that Enid wrote about the best possible world for children to grow up in.... I'm sure she did. Another thought - after the war ended although food was still in short supply and although rationing continued for many years, the end was in sight. Gradually what we read about in her books became more of a reality... shops stocked a wider variety of goods and we slowly got used to having more choice.

[Courtenay]

I think it's definitely true that the Famous Five (and all Enid's other characters!) lived in a parallel universe where war (and rationing) didn't exist.

All except the Adventurous Four, you mean. Plus the war also forms the background to The Valley of Adventure.

[Rob Houghton]

lol - I knew someone would put me right on that!

Yeah - apart from The Adventurous Four and The Children of Kidillin (Enid's first ever war-based book) and aspects of Valley of Adventure. And a few short stories.

[Wolfgang]

And what about Smuggler Ben?

[Rob Houghton]

Very true - I'd forgotten that one.

[Moonraker]

I'm not sure whether the sugar tax will work or not.

The main purpose of the sugar tax is to raise money. If that was not the case, the government would simply pass legislation to severely limit the amount of sugar added to products.

[daanton]

In my time, the only [yes, carbonated] ginger beer I've partaken of is that by Stewart's.

Good stuff! Wherever I can find it.

But apparently it is not English ginger beer, it is Jamaican-style "with a zesty pepper flavor".

So much for being part of the Commonwealth when you're awfully too close to the commercializ/sed juggernaut that is the USA!

[KEVP]

The Famous Five also have a habit of getting their food directly from farmers. I wonder how that worked with rationing, I can't find any information specifically addressing that question. Surely someone would have still needed to use their ration book to buy food directly from farmers. If somehow buying food directly from farmers was "off rations", then everyone in Britain would have bought food directly from farmers (which obviously didn't happen).

But as I say, I would like to find the time to research this thoroughly. How often are the Famous Five portrayed as eating food from their own garden? I would assume that would mean Uncle Quentin's and Aunt Fanny's garden. Is there any evidence that Quentin and Fanny kept their own chickens?

And of course there was a "black market" but surely the Famous Five would never have been involved in that!

KEVP

[Rob Houghton]

Just from asking my dad (who was a boy of 10 by the time the war ended) but who lived on a farm in North Wales, he remembers that his dad had to sell all produce directly to the government - not to shops or individuals. They could keep enough for themselves (and maybe for relations) but couldn't sell the produce to just anyone, only to the government.

[Moonraker]

Surely someone would have still needed to use their ration book to buy food directly from farmers. If somehow buying food directly from farmers was "off rations", then everyone in Britain would have bought food directly from farmers (which obviously didn't happen).

Happily, that never crossed my mind, reading these wonderful stories.

[KEVP]

Thanks for the info, Robert.

So then the government would sell the food to the shops? Is that how it would work? Because obviously people still got their food from their local shops (provided they brought their ration book, of course). Shops like the butcher shop run by Lance-Corporal Jones in the show "Dad's Army". In that show, he is always selling meat and needing to see people's ration book (and yes, occasionally he dabbles in Black Market activity)

KEVP

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - as my dad put it - "it all had to be done officially" - through the government and then I guess the shops had quotas that they weren't meant to exceed, which is why some people bought extra on the black market. Once they had received the government rations for that week, shopkeepers may well be tempted to buy produce from elsewhere (maybe even direct from the farmers if they managed to keep anything back).

[IceMaiden]

The vast amounts of sugar in drinks and other foods (cooking sauces, for example) is the prime reason for rising obesity from childhood onwards. Type 2 diabetes is also at a record high and increasing. It might be fashionable to scoff at some of the warnings we receive these days, but sugar can and is as dangerous as tobacco. Jamie Oliver's campaign for a sugar tax was strongly supported by me, and we were two of the thousands who added our names to the government petition to bring in a sugar tax.

Is this sugar tax just for fizzy drinks or will cakes, sweets, ice creams and just about everything else be affected? I don't drink fizzy drinks anymore, I used to until last September when I realised the link between the stomach pains I was getting and what I was drinking. I stopped drinking the fizzy pop and the pains cleared up overnight, and even more surprisingly I lost 10 inches off my hips and behind . I honestly had no idea that fizzy drinks like lemonade or cola could make you gain weight!

How often are the Famous Five portrayed as eating food from their own garden? I would assume that would mean Uncle Quentin's and Aunt Fanny's garden. Is there any evidence that Quentin and Fanny kept their own chickens?

In five run away together when Julian goes to tackle Mrs Stick, he makes a remark about there being a roast chicken in the pantry and that he "supposed Mr Stick had killed one of theirs as he thought he'd heard squawking". I haven't got the book in front of me so that might not be exactly the quote but it's not far off.

[Katharine]

That's a good point, I just assumed it was sugary drinks that would be taxed, but I would have thought that it would make sense to target all non-essential foods with a high sugar content. I wish I could blame my hip size on fizzy drinks, but I rarely drink them these days, so it can't be that. I do have sugar in my tea and coffee, but I'm trying to cut that out now, but it was only a teaspoon per mug, and I don't normally drink more than 3 cups in a day, so I wouldn't have thought 3 teaspoons was excessive.

[Rob Houghton]

I can't really agree that sugary drinks cause childhood obesity. I can see how high sugar foods could cause type 2 diabetes - but again, it has more to do with lifestyle than high sugar, in my opinion. My dad is 81. He was brought up on farmhouse teas similar to those written about in EB books, and has always eaten cakes and jellies and ice cream and puddings and custard - he doesn't drink fizzy drinks, but does have two sugars in his tea, or on cereal. He has never weighed more than 10 stone and he was tested for diabetes and was easily within the 'safety range' - no high sugar at all.

On the other hand, he has always been active - still goes on long walks, rarely sits down through day until about 5pm, and is always gardening, decorating, mending things, walking, etc.

The main reason kids are obese today is a lack of exercise coupled with the high sugar foods. I'm sure if they were more active, as we were as children, then there would be very few obese children around today.