Concept in Definition ABC

A portion is the part of the food that corresponds to a person, that is, the portion of him. This term comes from the Latin ratio, which means measure.

Generally this word is used in situations where food must be distributed among a large number of individuals. For example, in the army it is used normally. Thus, all the food destined for the troop (the ranch) is individually divided into rations.

Main focus on food issues

While it can be used in a figurative sense when speaking colloquially (those thugs got their fair share of blows), it is in the context of food that it has its true meaning. Keep in mind that to organize the distribution of food for many people it is necessary to calculate well what corresponds to each one in relation to the quantity and, logically, with the purchase price and the weight of the food (This task is known as the scandal of a plate).

The idea of ​​a food ration is related to very diverse areas: diets, gastronomy, the army, animal farms, etc.

Times of rationing and black market

The verb ration expresses the action of distributing and has a special meaning in periods of hunger or shortage, where the food, the Water and basic products must be distributed so that they can reach as many people as possible.

Need for control to maintain balance in catastrophic situations

In some countries in a situation of emergency it has been necessary to incorporate control measures for the basic sustenance of the entire population and "ration cards" have been introduced. These cards are managed by the state to guarantee sustenance in times of deep crisis, humanitarian catastrophes, periods of war, etc. By means of this system, each individual has in his book the list of food that he has legally received. This circumstance was experienced, for example, in Spain when the war ended civil (The primers were valid between 1939 and 1952).

The black market in the face of need

In most cases, when there is a shortage of food and ration cards are imposed, a parallel Commerce illegal or black market. Curiously, in Spain a word is used very singular to refer to him, blackmail him. Black market is a term formed from the names of three scammers (Strauss, Perle and Lowann) who devised a rigged roulette wheel and bribed a string of 1930s politicians to introduce it into some casinos. When the deception was discovered, there was talk of the "black market scandal", and this word was installed in our language as a synonym for illegal trade.