Substituting less expensive ingredients and serving smaller portions were two common ways of economizing. Lingle said that during the Depression what was important "was the ritual of celebrating rather than the actual ingredients." Or perhaps a crown roast of frankfurters filled - like the one that was on display at the symposium - with spaetzle and sauerkraut. What was a poor housewife during the Depression supposed to do about food on special occasions?Īccording to Whitney Lingle, who has studied oral and written recipes from the 1930s, that was the time for a nice crown roast of Spam. In a subsequent phone conversation, she observed that the recent flurry of articles, books and blogs about home canning may indicate that this domestic skill is making a comeback - "not as a necessity, but more as people turn to home canning for health reasons or as a hobby."Īnother researcher shared insights about holiday food. That was a time before technology allowed for frozen food and affordable refrigerators, she said, and the home canning of garden produce was "a method for feeding your family." Pucciarelli said 1.2 million Ball canning jars were purchased in 1931, the largest amount ever sold by the Ball Bros., which was headquartered in Muncie until 1998. In that make-do era, people lucky enough to have their own fresh produce, whether from farm or garden, preserved it at home. On Saturday, Deanna Pucciarelli, assistant professor of family and consumer sciences at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., took the lid off her research into community canning programs.Īs she described it, with the help of businesses - notably the then-Muncie-based glass manufacturer Ball Bros., as well as church groups, women's clubs and the Junior Red Cross - efforts were made during those dire times to preserve excess farm food and distribute it to the needy.Īccording to Pucciarelli, those early relief networks eventually "solidified" into today's food relief programs.įeeding America, formerly known as America's Second Harvest, she said, "is an outgrowth of the initial organization of relief efforts of the Depression." He also pointed out that members of the black community "basically ate the same as before the Depression" because hard times and unemployment were felt in this population as early as 1926. "I'm pretty sure this food was tasty, but it wasn't healthy," noted Reed. And they were almost always cooked - and cooked - with salt pork. He began by asking how many people in the audience had eaten pigs' ears.Ī few hands went up, and Reed mentioned that this once-humble flap of food has become trendy and is being served now at "tony restaurants."īut back in the 1930s, inexpensive parcels of meat such as beef necks or pork liver would have been part of the frugal fare for African-Americans, especially in Chicago with its many stockyards.Īnd, oh yes, there was chicken - as in chicken feet, he said.īoth beans and greens of various descriptions were popular. The conference got going with a talk on urban, African-American food during the Depression by Christopher Robert Reed, professor emeritus of history at Roosevelt University and general secretary to the Black Chicago History Forum. The Friday dinner was prepared by chef Mitch Cavanah of Kendall College. The purpose of the 1938 meal, sponsored by the Illinois Workers Alliance of Cook County, was to "point to the asserted need for more funds for its members, all on relief," according to a story in the Chicago Daily Tribune at the time.įast forward to April of this year, Catherine Lambrecht, a founding member of Midwest Foodways who helped organize this event, figured that a similar meal would cost about $1.79 per head in today's dollars. Instead, they were treated to an 8-cent relief banquet modeled on a dinner - beef stew and a piece of apple - that was served to the Chicago mayor and other dignitaries on May 7, 1938, in the Gold Room of the Congress Hotel. Charles, Ill.Īnd, no, symposium-goers didn't forget the woes of the world by going out to a fancy dinner on Friday. On the third day, attendees could choose between a walking tour of Chicago's Maxwell Street Market and a wood-fired stove cooking class at Primrose Farm, which is a restored 1930s working farm in St. About 100 food experts and enthusiasts attended the event at Kendall College in Chicago.ĭuring the first two days of the symposium, the presenters - including anthropologists, museum professionals, food writers and historians - chewed on topics ranging from the depiction of food in Depression-era films to the formation of community canning programs. Kraig is president of the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, the group that hosted a weekend symposium, from April 29 to May 1, on the food and the food culture of the Great Depression.
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