What was in those tins?

During rationing we knew one lad who had a father that drove a long distance lorry. His mother asked him what he wanted for his tea and listed turkey, ham, roast beef, etc. He asked for dripping to put on a piece of toast; then pouted when she said that they did not have any!

A lot of the cans of food did not have conventional labelling on them, they had plain lettering indicating what the contents were, and there was one tin that said M&V. This was short for meat and vegetables, a form of stew. Charlie’s mother sent him out to get a tin of “That there VD.” We collapsed in merriment at the remark, whilst we did not know what VD was; we surely knew it was something that one did not want to get.
Eric Brennan