During World War II, handing over cooking fat to the
government was doing your patriotic duty. The American Fat
Salvage Committee was created to urge housewives to save all the
excess fat rendered from cooking and donate it to the army to
produce explosives.
Fats are used to make
glycerin, and glycerin is used to make things blow up.
Homemakers were asked to give their bacon grease to the local
butcher, who turned it into the government, because it was
needed for the production of glycerin.
One pound of waste fat
equaled 1/10 of a pound of glycerin.
1/10 pound of glycerin equaled 1/5 of a pound of nitroglycerine.
1/5 of a pound of nitroglycerine equaled 1/3 pound of gunpowder.
1/5 of a pound of nitroglycerine equaled ½ pound of dynamite.
“A skillet of bacon
grease is a little munitions factory,” announced a booming voice
in a Disney propaganda cartoon. “Every year two billion pounds
of waste kitchen fats are thrown away, enough glycerin for ten
billion rapid-fire cannon shells. Making a roast? Don’t throw
out those lovely puddles of grease drippings, save them for our
boys on the front line." Housewives were directed to strain
their leftover fats and store them in a wide-mouth can. Once a
pound or more was collected, the fat was to be handed over to
any one of 250,000 participating butchers and retail meat
dealers or 4,000 frozen food plants who would then turn the fat
over to the army. The donor received four cents a pound for the
fat.