When John was in the car chatting with Captain Wilson about the food supply in London. In Downing Street www.biquge.info Churchill was also discussing the issue with others.

Churchill and Sir Woolton, Secretary of State for Agriculture, were discussing the progress of Operation Dig-on-for-Victory over freshly baked beef carrot pies.

Sir Woolton told Churchill that the response to the campaign had been high in the months since the operation was launched. In order to have more food, citizens began to use all the open spaces around them, including their own backyards, community meadows, and even the pits blown up by German air raids to grow vegetables.

"Now the yield of vegetables is a little better than the previous two months, but the lack of vitamins, protein and iron is still common in the country." Sir Woolton wiped the oil from the corner of his mouth with a napkin and said: "Some communities have not only helped the residents to cut off the roses in their yards and replace them with lettuce, but also organized them to raise pigs from kitchen waste. When the pigs are raised, they are slaughtered in the public in the presence of a notary public and distributed to the residents who contribute to the pigs. ”

"However, because raising pigs is much more difficult than growing vegetables, there is no effect yet, and the shortage of meat is still very serious." Sir Woolton said worriedly: "To this end, the Department of Agriculture has organized nutritionists to compile a wartime recipe to guide the people in a healthy diet and to maintain a balanced diet. ”

"Is it the Wartime Cookbook? Randolph showed it to me, and it was a very useful and good book. Churchill was pleased with Sir Woolton's work, "I liked the potato stew bacon (bacon was a relatively readily available meat in 1940 because there was a lot of canned bacon in the previous strategic reserve), but the canned bacon was a little too salty." I suggest that the recipe should be followed by a sentence: bacon is rare, please cook it carefully. If you are using canned bacon, reduce the frying time and especially do not add salt. ”

After expressing his views on cooking, Churchill advised: "The cultivation of vegetables should continue to be promoted, especially potatoes." This little thing provides both starch and vitamin C. It is difficult to ensure the proper supply of fruit now, and potatoes are the most important source of vitamin C when there are no oranges to eat. I saw that the Wartime Cooking Guide advocated that potatoes should not be peeled, and that was good. Potato skins have a lot of nutrients in them and should not be wasted. ”

In 1865, the British economist Jevons proudly described it: "The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields; Chicago and Odessa are our breadbaskets; Canada and the Baltic Sea are our forest farms; Australia and West Asia have our shepherds; The western steppes of Argentina and North America have our herds; Indians and Chinese grow tea for us; And our coffee, sugar cane and spice plantations are spread across the Indies......"

Now, as the prime minister of the British Empire, Churchill has been reduced to the point of worrying about a little potato skin. This is really a poignant thing that makes "the listeners sad and the seeers cry".

However, Sir Woolton did not care about Churchill's sorrow at this time, and he had more important matters to report to Churchill.

"The most problematic thing right now is not meat, but the serious shortage of eggs. Despite the egg stamps we give to families with children, the eggs in the London market have been out of stock for almost a week. ”

"Adults can tolerate not having meat to eat in the short term, after all, this is a special time, let the media guide it a little more, they will understand. But the egg quota is for children, and if there is a long-term shortage, parents will be dissatisfied. The media and the public will not be on our side either. ”

In a democracy like the UK, no politician dares to offend such a powerful group as the "parents". As soon as any problem is related to the child, it is immediately not ordinary. For example, the shortage of eggs mentioned by Sir Woolton now.

To put it mildly, isn't it just that children eat fewer eggs, and there are many countries where children can't eat eggs at all. But in a big way, this is a big problem that affects the growth and development of an entire generation of the British Empire, and has a bearing on the overall physical condition of the "future masters of the country".

Churchill knew they had to go all out to settle the matter. Even if it can't be solved, it must be done sufficiently, and those parents must not feel that they are inactive. Otherwise, the people will definitely be dissatisfied with the government, and if they let the hostile media such as "Your Excellency" hype it up, it is likely that there will be a big mess.

However, Churchill was not a hen and could not lay eggs. In desperation, he had to call Roosevelt himself and ask him to help deliver some eggs.

Roosevelt was also speechless about Churchill's request. He really wanted to ask the fat man on the other end of the phone, how much common sense does a person have to think of importing eggs from the United States to the United Kingdom.

With the current transportation situation of the Atlantic route, a boatload of eggs has been bumpy at sea for more than 20 days, even if it reaches Britain safely and is not broken on the way, it should almost become a rotten egg. Of course, if the temperature in the cabin is right, it is not impossible to hatch the chicks directly.

Eventually, though, Roosevelt agreed to call the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration and ask them to help Churchill figure it out.

In fact, this problem is not difficult to solve, and both Churchill and Roosevelt forgot that there is a thing called egg powder in this world. This is actually a powder made by spray-drying the egg mixture, which is usually mixed with flour to increase the protein content of food. Although it is not as nutritious as fresh eggs, it is much easier to transport after all. A week later, a cargo ship loaded with tens of thousands of canned egg powder departed from the United States.

In the UK, the ration booklet was soon filled with "egg powder". Every child aged 5-16 can buy a small jar of about 250 grams of egg powder a month, and half the price for children under 5 years old.

At the same time, the wartime cartoon characters "Potato Pete" and "Dr. Carrot", who were popular among children, began to introduce the "correct way to eat" egg powder in the media.

Of course, all of this has nothing to do with John. No matter how strict the British food rationing system was, it could not affect him. In fact, this doesn't affect the wealthy in Britain either. After the ration runs out, they can also go to a restaurant to eat. You can eat there for as long as you spend money, but the dishes are less and much more expensive than before the war.

The reason why John talked to Wilson about this topic all the way was simply because it reminded him of the memories of food stamps, oil stamps, and cloth stamps when he was a child in his previous life. At that time, he was an only child, and his parents were both workers in the arsenal, so his own food stamps were not enough to eat, but his parents would still be careful to save the food stamps to help those relatives who had a large number of people in the family.

A similar experience made him sympathetic to the current British. He couldn't bear to tell them that even after the war ended, the food shortage would not get better anytime soon. Historically, Britain's food rationing system has not been abolished after the war, but has become more stringent. It wasn't until 1953, eight years after the end of the war, that the economy of Europe had recovered relatively well that they could say goodbye to their ration manuals.