Funy you mention that, after a story Mike told Sunday to friends over supper. Americans did indeed experience rationing during WWII, and there was black market sellng of certain commodities.
He tells the yale of a crooked relative, now deceased, who supposedly moved cattle through without detection, slaughtering them on the family farm, by putting boots on their feet, so it looked like men had been walkng there instead. I insist that this is an Andy Griffith episode trick, but he swears he was told this uncle used that trick to scape detection as a black marketeer of beef.
I have a vintage cookbook or two, of rationing recipes. They hark back to the Civil War ones, when Southern cooks had to learn to be really creative. In fact, I think some processed products today were originally introduced as substitutions for whole foods that were in short supply.
We are removed so far from those times of true want due to scarcity. I guess most folks would just order takeout....
