JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Images displaying collective consumption over a long period of time, put together and arranged in one place to display the largeness of it all are pretty dramatic. (Like seeing a lifetime supply of butter consumed, or toothpaste used, or gasoline pumped, or sleep hours combined). Nothing quite succeeds like excess, even when here isn't any--collecting discretely-used stuff used in bits and pieces over the short-term can add up to quite a lot if collected and displayed in its long-term use. As in the case of this relatively modest consumption by "an average family of three" over a four month period in 1949. It just looks like a lot, when gathered together--more so, when you consider that this is a third of a year's consumption, which means that if the full year was displayed it would probably encircle the family.
Understatement alrt: Great Britain suffered food and material shortages for years after the end of WWII, a difficult peacetime in victory. That said, this four month assortment of food looks to be pretty spare, especially for fruits and cheese.
Source: The Illustrated London News, 26 March, 1949.
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