Food lessons from the Great Depression

[pollypurebred39]

Interesting article, reminds me of my Grandmother's stories about how they fed "travelers"


Food lessons from the Great Depression - latimes.com

[imagine]

Sour grass soup Reminds me of two things

1) the either a Duggar boy or a Bates boy picking grass and eating it saying Bates grass is better than Duggar grass.

2) My father sitting in the back my back yard with my children. Gathering acorns that had fallen from the oak tree. Cutting htem open while taking to the children dropping them into a bucket of water. The treating the children.

They thought it was grand food since it was special from their grandpa.

Then him secretly pulling me aside with the biggest loving smile and telling me to remember this in case I ever needed to know it. I miss the man so much

[pollypurebred39]

*smiles* What a nice memory Imagine. I miss my Dad too.

My Grandmother used to take a teaspoon and dig up wild onions in the yard. She'd wash them with a garden hose and wrap them in bread and eat them.

Here's a great link from food.com with tons of depression era recipes. As I read through them I realized my family made and still makes a lot of these.

Depression Era Recipes Cookbook - Food.com - 225279

[imagine]

A neighbor of mine was talking about canning.
I mentioned my Grandma would make Choke Cherry jelly. She would pick them out in the wild for free.

She said she does the same thing but with wild blueberries.

She talked about picking asparagus in road ditches. She said she grew up not knowing you could buy it at the store. She said they still go pick the wild asparagus in the road ditches and she cans them.

Another neighbor was upset with us when they came home one day and found that the city had cut down a tree of our trees. The city had called it a trash tree when they asked permission to cut it down.
It was a mulberry tree and they were going to miss eating our mullberries.

[wanderlusting]

thanks! One time I was at the doctors office and realized someone had left a stack of Good Old Days magazine. When my appointment finished, I went back and read the rest of them!

[pollypurebred39]

I just got done reading an article about self-sufficiency. In it they stated that we are about 5 to 6 generations removed from self-sufficiency. Boggles the mind.

[pollypurebred39]

I love this! It has some interesting text on the Depression along with many recipes.

Depression Era Recipes!

[hotprincesscm]

Lots of neat recipes!

[Spirit Deer]

When I was a kid, we also harvested wild asparagus, chokecherries, gooseberries, and other wild foods. Chokecherry has always been my favorite jelly.

Picking wild blueberries is a huge deal in this area every year. People come from all over to hunt the elusive wild blueberries, and the locations of patches are zealously guarded.

We also have wild raspberries and wild strawberries all around our house.

[pollypurebred39]

Now that's awesome!

[shoiji]

Definately a fun read. I remember my grandmother talking about picking young dandelion to make salads and wine. Also that one of my great uncles was able to go into the woods and pick wild mushrooms. Which she always added, "but you really need to know your mushrooms to be sure to pick the edible ones."

[ravenmaniac]

I miss my grandmothers so much. I loved hearing the stories they would tell about self-suficiency.

Thank you so much for sharing Polly!

[cab54]

I miss my grandmothers so much. I loved hearing the stories they would tell about self-suficiency.

Thank you so much for sharing Polly!

I feel the same way, raven. I miss them, and wish I had told them how much they meant to me, while they were still alive.

[cab54]

Along the same vein...I love Clara's depression cooking.....she's a sweetie!

YouTube - DepressionCooking's Channel

[Imarachne]

People then didn't eat massive quantities like we do now--a lesson learned.