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Vodka and cigarettes are not necessities. Different times, obviously. If the vodka was being made either from potatoes or grain, even if of lower quality, those would be better put towards adding extra available calories for people.
p.s
This made me remember being told there was a time, my country being at war then, where cigarette packs were distributed to soldiers with a banner stamped on it that stated "Have a cigar and relax".
They weren't starving, most fresh produce wasn't rationed at all and was readily available. The items you see here are the just what was rationed due to supply.
Neither is meat or butter
Philosophical options aside, meat and butter are very energy dense food sources.
But it would make sense replacing that cooking oil with a large tub of universal purpose vegetable based butter: it would introduce more available calories, both for cooking and direct consumption.
are very energy dense food sources.
Doesn't mean that it's a good idea. When you feed food to food, you waste a lot of food. That's the meat, dairy and eggs industry. Conversion ratios vary, but they're terrible and, by the simple laws of physics, can't beat just eating plants.
universal purpose vegetable based butter
That is what did happen, but it turns out that hydrogenation causing trans fats isn't good for health. Fun fact: ruminant milk, especially from "grass fed", can contain up to 10% trans fats because the bacteria inside can do a natural hydrogenation too.
Vegetable oil is the best option for calories, but it's also boring, so the staples for food security have been: grain flour + vegetable oil + sugar.
Here's some relevant history: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/naval-blockade-of-germany/
and a more modern article tied to the same topic: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/troy-vettese-do-not-let-them-eat-meat/
I lack the appeal to invest myself into a conversation that will return a zero sum outcome.
It's the College of Cardiologists, in my country, that actively recommends the use of vegetable based butter as a source of safe fats.
This isn't a body easy to get public suport from and false advertising is severely punished in my country, so I risk I'm fairly well informed and safe to eat my vegetable based butter and recommend it to others. And it is vegan safe.
I don't disagree, I'm just pointing out that hydrogenated fat ("margarine") is a problem.
https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-01961-2/figures/1
Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of total and cardiometabolic mortality for 1-tablespoon/day increment in cooking oil/fat consumption. Forest plots show the multivariable HRs of total (a) and cardiometabolic (b) mortality associated with 1-tablespoon/day increment in butter, margarine, corn oil, canola oil, and olive oil consumption. HRs were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, race, education, marital status, household income, smoking, alcohol, vigorous physical activity, usual activity at work, perceived health condition, history of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer at baseline, Healthy Eating Index-2015, total energy intake, and consumption of remaining oils where appropriate (butter, margarine, lard, corn oil, canola oil, olive oil, and other vegetable oils). Horizontal lines represent 95% CIs
meat and butter are very energy dense food sources.
As is vodka. Ounce for ounce ethanol has the same calories as butter.