WWII rationing of butter and sugar. The people were told that it was so they could feed the troops but it was a political ploy to keep people in the war effort. Dad was in the navy and assigned to a sub chaser doing convoy escort duty out of Florida. He told me that they were sent to escort 2 barges loaded with butter and sugar 200 miles out to sea where the barges were then sunk. The butter and sugar were called 'surplus' while the rationing was in affect.
About that margarine...years ago I had an old beater of a camp trailer that we used for a storage shed for 10 years. I know it was 10 because of the license plates. I decided to clean it up and sell it. When I got to the ice box, I found a pound of margarine that I'd overlooked the last time I used the trailer. 10 years old and it hadn't molded, dried up, or anything. It was as good as when it came off the grocery store shelf. Anything that can last 10 years without deteriorating isn't food, it's plastic. I haven't knowingly eaten margarine since.
