Health · Fitness & Nutrition · 2 hrs ago
Letters link wartime food scarcity with health and food waste
Three readers respond to recent writing about food waste, wartime diets and butter.
Roger Wilkinson, born in 1944, says his generation’s experience of food scarcity shaped habits such as scraping bowls clean and avoiding waste.
He points to the contrast between children going hungry in Britain and families throwing away meals.
Helen Keats describes her 98-year-old aunt, who lived in Rotterdam during the German occupation and the “hunger winter” and remains independent.
Keats says her aunt stopped eating potatoes after people were forced to eat raw potato skins because fuel for cooking was unavailable.
Jane Robbins, 78, writes that she has enjoyed and used different kinds of butter throughout her life.
The letters offer personal perspectives on how hardship and food habits can shape people’s lives, but they do not establish that rationing caused better health.
Guardian readers linked wartime food scarcity and rationing with present-day food waste and health.
Roger Wilkinson said his generation’s experience of scarcity made him reluctant to throw food away.
Helen Keats described her 98-year-old aunt, who lived through the hunger winter in Rotterdam and remains independent.
Keats said her aunt stopped eating potatoes after the liberation because people had been forced to eat raw potato skins.
Jane Robbins wrote about her lifelong enjoyment of butter and her habit of bringing it back from Europe.
- Who
- Guardian letter writers Roger Wilkinson, Helen Keats and Jane Robbins.
- What
- They shared personal reflections on food waste, wartime scarcity, health and butter.
- When
- The letters were published on 12 October 2026, referring to articles dated 6 and 7 October.
- Where
- The letters came from Cumbria and the Isle of Wight in the UK, and Saunderstown, Rhode Island, US.
- Why
- The writers responded to recent Guardian articles about food waste, sugar rationing and butter.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Guardian articles on food redistribution and butter were published.
The Guardian published an article about the health of people raised on sugar rations.
The Guardian published the letters.
- Publication date
- 12 October 2026
- Letter writers
- Roger Wilkinson, Helen Keats and Jane Robbins
- Wartime setting
- Rotterdam during the German occupation and “hunger winter
- Aunt’s age
- 98
- Food waste figure cited
- Average family throws away 156 meals a year
What people are saying
My cup of smugness overflows.
She hasn’t eaten a potato since the liberation
Butter is real food and a joy in life.
Sources
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