Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Food Cuts in Famous London Restaurants, 1939 UK poster: A pictogram sheet compares weekly use of eggs and sugar

Food Cuts in Famous London Restaurants

A pictogram sheet compares weekly use of eggs and sugar at Claridge's, meat at Simpson's, and butter and cream at The Ritz, before the war and 'now', with figures in dollars and pounds. The tell is selection: three luxury establishments are offered as 'a few examples' of rationing's reach, with no denominator or figures for ordinary kitchens, so the pile reads as one shared sacrifice.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Card stacking
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Issuer not named on the sheet; printed in London by Chromoworks Ltd. (G.P.G./AM series), as a British wartime information sheet
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Foreign public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Themes
Home front, Economy and finance
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Source
Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
Source
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (printed in England 1939-1945; issuer not stated on the sheet)
Chromoworks Ltd., London (printer), National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-348b.

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

FOOD CUTS IN
famous London restaurants

Claridge's
EGGS AND SUGAR USED (per average week)
PRE WAR  9,100 Eggs  700 lbs. of sugar
NOW  378 Eggs  180 lbs. of sugar

Simpson's
VALUE OF MEAT USED (per average week)
PRE WAR  $1200 worth
NOW  $70 worth

The Ritz
BUTTER & CREAM USED (per average week)
PRE WAR  392 lbs. of butter  40 gallons of Cream
NOW  77 lbs. of butter  Only SYNTHETIC Cream. (10 galls.)  NONE

A few examples taken
from three of London's well known
luxury hotels and restaurants

[stamp:] INCLOSURE 8 TO REPORT No. 52225 MILITARY ATTACHE, LONDON.
G.P.G./AM./6.
[imprint:] PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY CHROMOWORKS LTD., LONDON 51-2968

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