Processed sugar was rationed as recently as WW2 in America.
My mom told me about how her uncle bought a 5lb bag on the black market and hid it in his closet. She was threatened with an ass whuppin' if she told anybody about it.
My grandpa owned a bakery in Burns Oregon during the war. He was selling baked goods to an army outfit near there. As such he could get sugar (and yeast) when it was rationed. He sold some to local bootleggers. The army muckity-mucks looked the other way for a cut of the finished product..
