Food waste in the United Kingdom Meanwhile, in the United States (where shortages were hardly comparable), legislators considered laws restricting the distribution of food in order to cut waste, breaches of which might be punishable by fines or imprisonment. During World War II, rationing was imposed almost immediately. Restrictions were immediately more stringent than in the Great War as with effect from 8 January 1940, ration books were issued and most foods were subject to ration. By August 1940, legislation was passed that made the wasting of food a prisonable offence. Posters encouraged kitchen waste to be used for feeding animals, primarily swine but also poultry.
Food in England writer's huge enjoyment of her subject, her immense curiosity about everything to do with the growth, preparation, preservation and eating of food in this country since the Middle Ages." The cultural historian Panikos Panayi describes the book as a tour de force, seminal, and richly illustrated; and he notes that "Food in England" is partly a recipe book, partly a history. He contrasts it favourably with Philip Harben's "Traditional Dishes of Britain", published a year earlier, which he criticises as accepting the "stereotypical stalwarts of British food", whereas Hartley rightly accepts (Panayi quotes) that "foreign dishes ... like the foreigners,