Great Depression cooking with Clara

[Libertytree]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuMkW35BwK8

[BrewTech]

Good find... reminds me of my folks, who were born in the midwest and were kids during the depression...

Thankfully, some of that frugality rubbed off on me (not enough, but oh well)...

I really like simple meals like these, and it is a pleasure to watch her make them. Thanks for posting!

[Still Barbaro]

I think millions of Americans better learn this recipe. We're entering a new paradigm.

I actually looks good.

[Libertytree]

I thought it was a good find too, especially since I stumbled onto it watching some basketball film on UCONN, lol. Needless to say I wound up hangin out with Clara the rest of the night. Real life knowledge from someone who lived it and what I think is invaluable info. I'm going to plan some preps based around these recipes and also use them for my normal diet as they're cheap, filling and nutritious. She also has a book out in case anyone doesn't want to sit and copy each one.

[lapis]

Good video! It's very interesting to talk to people who lived through this time (I know a few).

The only quibble I have with the recipe is that it was probably not made with olive oil in the 30s; before the anti-meat/fat propaganda got a hold of the American public we were quite the lard/bacon grease users back in the day, at least if we lived in the country and kept a few pigs.

On another note, it was this sort of low-nutrient diet that led to a huge increase in dental problems in the 30s. An Ohio dentist named Weston A. Price was alarmed by this increase in his own patients, and was puzzled as to what was causing it.

One of his nephews was a National Geographic photographer, and wrote letters extolling the health and excellent teeth of native peoples in isolated parts of the world (who were just being discovered due to air travel).

Intrigued, Dr. Price traveled around the world finding the world's healthiest peoples, and found out that they all followed similar dietary philosophies. Every single one of them ate meat, fat, and tried very hard to obtain seafood (even if they were living far inland from the ocean). Their teeth were in excellent condition, despite not brushing them or having dentists to "take care" of them.

Although a few of the people ate grains, they weren't the nutrient-deficient white grains that were eaten during the Depression. They were whole grains that were soaked in an acidic solution (like buttermilk), and fermented for a long period of time.

Indeed, it was the popularity of white pasta and bread that led the health authorities of the time to start fortifying (http://www.muehlenchemie.de/downloads-future-of-flour/FoF_Kap_17-1.pdf) these "foods" with vitamins. Eating them was leading people to become extremely malnourished.

After his travels, Dr. Price came back to his practice, and using the dietary knowledge he had gleaned from the native peoples, fed some of his patients a nutrient-dense diet that reversed their tooth decay.

http://www.ppnf.org/catalog/ppnf/price.htm