A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
VIII. FOOD ITEMS TAKEN DURING A DAY OF THE WEEK
To supplement certain information gained by the Ministry of Food on the diet of whole families, it was suggested that an investigation be carried out to discover what items of food were consumed by different groups of the population during a day.
The main purpose of the enquiry was to collect data which would make possible a comparison of the food items taken by different groups of the population. By such a comparison gross deficiency in the diet of a certain group could be detected quickly, and in this way it could also be decided among which group a detailed dietary survey might prove most useful.
The method used was simple. Each informant selected in a defined way was asked what he had eaten yesterday. After the answers were given the field-worker read out from a complete list of foods (complete in the sense that it contained all foods most commonly eaten in Great Britain) all those foods which had not been mentioned, and the informant was asked whether he had forgotten to mention any of these. It was made sure, however, that the same number of interviews were carried out for each day for each group in the sample.
It was proved experimentally that there was no significant difference between the foods consumed on different days. If 32% of textile workers took green vegetables on Monday, a not significantly different percentage ate them on Friday. If 45% of clerical workers had vegetables on Monday, 43% had them on Friday. On Sunday, however, a greater number of people in all groups ate most of the foods.
By using the same method and sample in a winter and in a summer survey, we were able to introduce objective controls for its validity. It is known that the amount of milk distributed last winter was much smaller than during the previous winter, and it is also known that less vegetable can be used for salads in winter time. If, therefore, the method gave reliable results, it was to be expected that a smaller percentage of people interviewed in the latter survey would take milk and raw salads. This was, indeed, the case.
| Summer 1942 | Winter 1943 | |
| % | % | |
| Raw salads eaten by women working in industry | 25 | 6 |
| Milk taken | 41 | 31 |
| Sample | 1605 | 1517 |
Altogether we carried out five surveys of this kind with special groups of the population. In summer 1942 the investigation was carried out with workers in heavy industry, workers in light industry male and female, and housewives. In 1943 the investigation was repeated with workers in light and heavy industry. Altogether 10,099 people gave information. The next tables which are presented to show in a concrete form what kind of results can be obtained are got from the investigation in 1943.
As was already stated, the main purpose of this inquiry is to give comparative figures for different groups and compare results of the summer and winter survey. The latter was not always possible, as methods were changed somewhat in the second inquiry and, therefore, the data are not altogether comparable. However, where this is possible, any differences or similarities are mentioned.
The main groups compared are: men in heavy and men in light industry and women in industry; age groups; and occupational groups.
The next table shows the food items taken by male and female workers in heavy and light industry. It also shows the food items taken by those under 20. No other age group is given, because no other age differences were found.
Food Items taken by Male, Female, Heavy & Light Industry and the Under 20s
| FEMALE | MALE | MALE | MALE | TOTAL | ||
| Light Industrie Weighted | All Industries Weighted | Light Industry Weighted | Heavy Industry Weighted | All Industries Weighted | Under 20 | |
| Food Items taken | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Meat, offal | 57 | 65 | 64 | 67 | 64 | 62 |
| Bacon, ham | 29 | 37 | 39 | 33 | 34 | 34 |
| Sausage meat | 11 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 27 |
| Stew | 11 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 10 |
| Fish | 14 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 15 |
| Egg | 20 | 20 | 23 | 14 | 20 | 25 |
| Cheese 5 | 20 | 31 | 30 | 33 | 27 | 19 |
| Made up dishes | 6 | 3 | 5 | - | 4 | 5 |
| Soup | 17 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 14 | 12 |
| Potatoes | 77 | 81 | 82 | 81 | 80 | 80 |
| Crisps, chip | 26 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 31 |
| Green vegetables | 46 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 47 | 47 |
| Root vegetables 3 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 |
| Carrots | 14 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 11 |
| Raw salad 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Other vegetables | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | 2 | 1 |
| Lentils, peas, beans | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 |
| Cooked pudding | 34 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 37 |
| Milk puddings | 17 | 22 | 23 | 10 | 20 | 17 |
| Custard, blancmange | 23 | 18 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 27 |
| Breakfast cereals | 20 | 22 | 27 | 10 | 21 | 22 |
| Milk beverages 1 | 31 | 22 | 30 | 19 | 24 | 29 |
| Buns, cakes, biscuits | 71 | 52 | 57 | 43 | 59 | 75 |
| Chocolates, sweets | 6 | 2 | 2 | - | 3 | 5 |
| Fruits | 17 | 11 | 14 | 5 | 13 | 17 |
| Canned meat pies | - | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Meat sandwiches | 6 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 |
| Bacon sandwiches | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Fish sandwiches | - | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Egg sandwiches | - | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Cheese sandwiches | 9 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 7 |
| Fried bread | 6 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| Bread & spread 2 | 94 | 91 | 91 | 90 | 92 | 92 |
| Dry bread | 23 | 34 | 32 | 38 | 30 | 26 |
| Tea | 100 | 98 | 98 | 100 | 99 | 99 |
| Other beverages 6 | 37 | 29 | 34 | 19 | 32 | 30 |
| SAMPLE | 1517 | 2962 | 1435 | 1527 | 4490 | 539 |
Men and Women in Industry
If the food items consumed by men and women are compared, it can be seen that only a few differences exist, the most outstanding being that men take more of the first-class protein foods (all meats and cheese); the only exception is milk, of which women have more. Women eat more of purely starchy foods, such as buns, cakes and cooked pudding; it is not possible to estimate the extent to which men make up for this by eating bigger portions of bread and potatoes, but the survey figures show that more men than women eat dry bread.
Men in Heavy and Men in Light Industry
A comparison of men in light industry (including clerical workers) and heavy industry shows that their feeding habits are similar, except that a greater percentage of light workers took the starchy-sugary foods, such as cakes, buns and breakfast cereals, and slightly more took milk.
Age Groups
Young people under twenty differ from the average only in that a higher percentage took starchy-sugary food, and fewer took cheese. The number who took milk or milk beverages was only slightly higher than the average. A greater number of young people ate chips.
Average Intake
In order to interpret the “total” column it was necessary to make a further analysis of the vegetable, milk, potato and bread figures; in this way, it was possible to find out the percentage of people who had these food items once, twice or not at all on the day of the interview.
Only 48% of the sample had vegetables, but of these a considerable proportion had them twice during the day.
50% had milk drinks or milk dishes; the other 50% had no milk other than a little in tea.
90% had potatoes, and the majority some sort of meat at least once during the day.
98% of the sample ate bread.
The number who had made up dishes was rather small - an average of 4%. This figure seems to indicate quite clearly that the Kitchen Front and other Ministry of Food publicity had not so far been successful in persuading housewives to include “made-up” dishes more frequently in their menu.
Nearly 40% ate cheese.
20% had egg dishes, which must have been made from dried eggs, as at the time of the investigation hardly any fresh ones were available.
Relatively few people ate any form of pulses.
The next table shows the food items taken at different meal times.
Food Items taken by Meal time
The greatest number of food items are taken at the Mid-day meal; the greatest percentage eat their vegetables, potatoes, meat and puddings at this time of the day.
At the evening meal, a greater number eat cakes, biscuits, etc. than at any other time of day.
Tea is most frequently drunk at breakfast, though more than three-quarters of the sample have some in the evening too. One-fifth has cereals for breakfast.
48% of the sample took some first class protein food at breakfast, such as egg, cheese, meat, sausage meat, or offal. Practically everybody had a drink, but only 26% (including those having a milk beverage and cereals) took milk.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon meals mainly consisted of starchy foods and some drink other than milk. About half of the sample take either of these meals.
Two-thirds of the sample took a late evening meal. This, again, consists mainly of starchy foods and drinks, but a quarter of these people took milk drinks, and 11% took cheese, which means that one-quarter of all the cheese eaten is taken at this meal.