Is garlic scarce during WWII in Singapore?

Question

During Syonan-To(Singapore) World War 2.

Answer 1

Not that I know.

Answer 2

Garlic was widely used in Syonan-To, both as a flavoring for otherwise tasteless food (such as Tapioca), and as a medicine.

Food of all types was scarce in Syonan-To, at least for non-Japanese. The Japanese occupiers, both military and civilian, had privileged access to food supplies. Food for everyone else was rationed: and as Allied submarines sank more and more Japanese cargo ships, less and less food was available to feed the population, so rations were reduced to very low levels.

By 1944, it was impossible to survive for long on just the official food ration. So people did whatever they could to provide more food for themselves. Typically, they used every possible piece of land to grow food crops. The main crop grown was Cassava, whose roots were used to make Tapioca. The Cassava plant gives the highest yield of food energy per cultivated area per day among crop plants, except possibly for sugarcane. Cassava roots are very rich in starch, and contain significant amounts of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C.

Tapioca became the subsistence food for every meal for the ordinary people of Syonan-To. But Tapioca by itself has no flavor at all. Very boring food! So people found other food to put some flavor into their Tapioca meals. Garlic was one of these flavorings.

Just as the Japanese occupiers monopolized all the best food for themselves, so they also monopolized medications. The ordinary people of Syonan-To had no access to medical treatment. This, along with starvation, was one of the main reasons why the population of Syonan-To fell during the Japanese occupation: more people died than were being born.

Garlic has a very long folk history of use as a medicine in treating a wide range of ailments. The people of Syonan-To could not get other medicines, so they used Garlic in the hope of curing or at least relieving their illnesses.

Answer 3

Why don't you give us the whole shoppinglist, so we check it out?