Rationing in the United States Book Number One, or the "Sugar Book"—on 4 May 1942, through more than 100,000 schoolteachers, PTA groups, and other volunteers. A national speed limit of was imposed to save fuel and rubber for tires. Later that month volunteers again helped distribute gasoline cards in 17 Atlantic and Pacific Northwest states. To get a classification and rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local War Price and Rationing Board which reported to the OPA (which was jokingly said to stand for "Only a Puny A-card"). Each person in a household received a ration book, including babies and small children who
Rationing in the United Kingdom children between five and seven years old had become used to wartime restrictions. When questioned about bananas, many did not believe such items existed. Game meat such as rabbit and pigeon were not rationed but were not always available. A popular music-hall song, written 20 years previously but sung ironically, was "Yes! We Have No Bananas". During the food rationing, British biologists ate laboratory rats. Most controversial was bread; it was not rationed until after the war ended, but the "national loaf" of wholemeal bread replaced the ordinary white variety, to the distaste of most housewives who found it mushy,