In these days of financial turmoil and worry, the Great Depression of the 1930s is mentioned a lot. Thankfully, for most of us, times are not that tough yet, but there are still lessons to learn from that era. After all this borrowing and credit card debt, maybe some frugality is what we need.
The Chicago Sun-Times recently published an article about how people were able to feed their families during the Depression on sometimes just pennies per day. Stews and soups were a popular choice, made with whatever people could get their hands on (sometimes the cheapest cuts of meat or bones available, or even “Depression Soup” consisting of 1/3 ketchup and 2/3 boiling water).
The best part of the article was the pointer to a series of “Depression Cooking” videos on YouTube from “93 year-old cook and great grandmother” Clara Cannucciari. In the six episodes currently available, she demonstrates a recipe her family used at the time and discusses what it was like growing up during the Great Depression. The first episode, “Pasta With Peas” is embedded below:
