Beurre, œuf, fromage

Beurre, œuf, fromage (butter, egg, cheese; BOF)^[1] is an old French acronym by the food trade from the central food halls of Les Halles^[2] to creamery retailers that sold the three staples of the French diet—butter, eggs and cheese—and were referred to as Les BOF.^[3] Its meaning became a pejorative term in France during the German Occupation in World War II and the following years after the war, when ration cards were much sought-after on the black market.^[4]

By extension, BOF came to designate a person making money on the black market during this period. The Jean Dutourds novel The Best Butter (Au bon beurre), considered the best known and most-cited work on the black market in occupied France,^[5] features the satirical adventures of a BOF couple, the Poissonard family^[6] who work in a Paris dairy shop during the German occupation and think only of getting rich.^[7]

In the immediate post-war period, the black market's capture of food shortages continued, triggering demonstrations throughout 1947, notably that of November 12 in Marseille,^[8] during which a young 19-year-old worker, Vincent Voulant, was shot dead^[9][10] and four other demonstrators, also victims of gunfire from the same night bar, were seriously wounded, two of whom underwent surgery and were still in critical condition the following day.