I know Britain instituted a system of rationing during the World Wars, but I'm wondering how equally it was applied. Were the nobility really limited to x amount of butter, y amount of flour a week like the vast majority of the population or were they allocated more? Also, I know that black market food was pretty common. Would an upper class person be less likely to be prosecuted for buying foodstuffs off the black market than would a lower class person?
As a starting point I would research landowners and farms. This might go back a millenium.