Some people weren't as affected by the depression as others so they still ate fairly well, Thins like mashed potatoes and some meats. But others weren't doing so well. One dish that the people that weren't doing so well ate was Russian Thistle Soup. People described eating Russian thistle was the same as eating barbed wire.
Another depression era meal was bulldog gravy. This is associated with coal miners and consists odd a mixture of water flour and grease.
What people that had very little would also do was to take any bread that was really hard and pour boiling water on it in order to soften it up. Another dish was dandelion soup. People would need to go out and pick some dandelion and take off the roots and the flower itself, they just ate the stem and leaves. When people wanted something sweet some things that they would make was water cocoa; it was made by scraping any leftover sugar and cocoa from baker barrels and mixing it with water.
During the great depression, many foods we still have today were invented. Things such as Spam, Ritz crackers, and Kraft Macaroni and cheese were invented during the great depression.
This was a great post. This helped me understand what people who lived in houses during the depression ate, if not at soup kitchens. The fact about Ritz crackers and Kraft mac and cheese was unknown to me, and it's a wonder that food that we eat carelessly today, was crucial during that time period.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post - especially since it gives an understand of just how dire the situation was during the Great Depression. I would say that it's ironic that many workers weren't able to get food while at the same time there was an oversupply of produce created by farmers. Would it have been possible for the government to somehow connect these two issues?
ReplyDeleteThis was super interesting. This helped me to understand just how grim this era was. I thought that it was super fascinating that big brand names today like Kraft, Ritz, and Spam were created during the Depression and they were vital during this time. Did the extensive consuming of these fairly unhealthy products affect the health of the country in any way?
ReplyDeleteInteresting read, reading about the foods like "grease, flour, and water mixed together" certainly sounds like living situations for many people during the Great Depression was extremely difficult to a point where they'd just eat whatever they could. Another way that people made food was by listening to home-economics related radio shows, which taught them how to make less bland meals such as creamed casseroles even if they were on a very tight budget.
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