ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the organization of the food rationing system; the development of alternative distribution networks, and consumer strategies to obtain food for survival. When German food shortages reached a crisis point in 1942, France and Ukraine were to be the key sources for additional food. A number of legal alternatives were available to supplement rations, including purchasing unrationed goods, bartering, growing one's own food, obtaining goods from friends and family in the countryside and direct purchase of goods from producers. The demand for scarce goods and the premium for risk priced many black market goods beyond reach for those of modest means. The legitimacy of the rationing system is critical in determining whether production and distribution favour official markets or to alternative supply networks. Residents of cities in rich agricultural regions could draw on regional produce, black markets, and weekend foraging trips to the countryside and could arrange for family parcels.
