大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Elizabeth Perez of Stockport Libraries on behalf of Jean Siney and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

We all know how hard hit we were by rationing, but few people give a thought as to how we fed our pets.

We had a smooth-haired fox-terrier Judy born in 1934. She had been used to a diet of cooked stewing steak. There was no way we were giving up our 1/2d weekly meat ration for her. A solution was found, horse meat could be sold for dog food, but it had to be dyed green to show that it wasn't fit for human comsumption. A noble householder volunteered to be the depot for the village, and once a week poeope, who had registered with her, could collect their dog food.

As a bicycle rider, it was my task to collect the meat, bring your own paper, at the best of times not a pleasant task. One never to be forgotten day, I arrived to find that our share of the ration was a complete horse's head including the teeth. Somehow this revolting object, bursting out of an inadequate piece of newspaper, was wedged into my biclcye basket. I rode the mile back home to the sound of the horse's teeth chattering every time I rode over a bump. Once home the head was transferred to a special saucepan, where it stewed for hours, the smell pervading the whole house. The dog was the only one who appreciated the end result.

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