8 January 1940: food rationing is introduced in Britain

On this day in 1940, the Ministry of Food introduced rationing in the UK to ensure there was enough food to go round during the war.

When Britain entered the Second World War in 1939 it relied on the rest of the world for a large proportion of its food – 20 million tons of food a year was imported. With almost a fifth of our meat, a quarter of our butter and half our cheese imports coming from New Zealand, for instance, there was clearly great potential for the enemy to cut Britain's food lines and starve the country into submission.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.