Posted on 04/24/2011 8:43:39 PM PDT by Bed_Zeppelin
Like a hand to glove, the Great Depression touched on timeless characteristics. Sacrifice. Economy. Generosity within community.
Booyah has not necessarily stood this test of time.
The hobo-stewish mix of beef shank, chicken, oxtails, rutabaga and more will be served for lunch April 30 at the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance’s “Midwest Eats! Foodways of the Great Depression.” The program runs through May 1 at Kendall College, 900 N. North Branch (west of Halsted).
At 5 p.m. April 29, the Alliance will re-create the “Eight Cent Menu” served on May 7, 1938 at a “relief banquet” in the Gold Room of the Congress Hotel. Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly and other fancy-pants folks attended the dinner to understand how the other half was living.
A stew of chuck, potatoes, carrots, onions and evaporated milk was figured at eight cents by the Illinois Workers of Cook County.
“This meal was for somebody who was receiving what we call ‘welfare’ today,” said Catherine Lambrecht, founder and vice-president of the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance. “They were trying to show what husbands, wives and two children in Chicago would eat on x amount of dollars per month, which equated to eight cents per meal.”
Lambrecht prepared booyah and eight-cent stew and brought them to our meeting at Won Kow restaurant, 2237 S. Wentworth. The stew was served with two pieces of white bread.
“The real diner only got two half-pieces of bread,” pointed out Chicago food historian Peter Engler.
Lambrecht and Engler wanted to meet at Won Kow because it is one of two remaining restaurants (the Berghoff being the other) in John Drury’s 1931 restaurant guide Dining In Chicago . Drury was a writer for the Chicago Daily News; his book featured more than 200 restaurants.
In the foreword, Carl Sandburg wrote, “Cooking skill and kitchen science has drifted to Chicago from the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa and the archipelagoes of the seven seas.”
Of Won Kow, Drury wrote, “It is as Chinese as your laundry slip in cuisine, appointments and clientele, but Americans come here, too, judges, city officials, newspaper people and theatrical folk . . . .”
Lambrecht got the idea for the Depression-themed program after attending a library talk on the Works Progress Administration writers’ project in Highland Park, where she lives.
She also cited the Pat Willard book America Eats! On the Road with the WPA (Bloomsbury, $25.99) as inspiration. In 1935, writers such as Nelson Algren, Ralph Ellison and Eudora Welty hit the road to explore America’s culinary history. Willard used the WPA’s never-published 1935 America Eats! as a template to revisit the sites and the food, which includes a booyah and crackers cook-off in St. Paul, Minn.
“We could do a whole thing on the WPA,” Lambrecht said. “That generation is fading.”
The Depression forced Americans to be resourceful, which is evident in kaleidoscopic recipes from corned beef hash to a bean sandwich served on Boston brown bread that was popular at E.W. Ricks across from the Chicago Theatre.
The “Crown Roast” was a ring of hot dogs made to look festive with cranberries, sauerkraut or a similar condiment in the middle of the ring.
“Ball canning company in Muncie [Ind.] not only sponsored gardens, they allowed gardens on their property. They did mass canning projects,” Lambrecht said. “They made an embossed jar and gave jars to everybody in the community.”
Residents were encouraged to fill the jars with garden produce that could be canned for the winter.
“Nobody had money,” Lambrecht said. “But everybody had a garden. Everybody was willing to can.”
The program also will present 1930s recipes such as corn pudding, harvest cake made with mashed yams (from Indiana) and macaroni and cheese. Lard was a common ingredient back then.
“We’ll have orange cake where they mixed the juice with sugar, then they took the orange and ground it three times through a sausage grinder with some raisins,” Lambrecht said. “You have to have the oven heated and the pans already greased, because you have no time to wait. You add vinegar and baking soda and race it to the oven.”
“Midwest Eats! Foodways of the Great Depression” is timely, given the tough economic times we’ve been through in the last few years.
In St. Paul, Minn., Lambrecht said, “they still have booyah sheds with 50-gallon pots. Someone starts early in the morning and they serve it for four or five dollars. People are trimming back and not eating out.”
It’s surprising what’s edible, isn’t it? Kudzu root tubers are edible. The young leaves too. Definitely an acquired taste but it’s handy to know if it ever comes down to necessity. Kudzu grows in profusion here, you can hardly kill the stuff. The blooms make a nice purple jelly that tastes pretty decent.
CVS
My mom used to make a treat for us kids by buttering
a slice of bread, sprinkling sugar on it, then rolling
it up and putting a couple of tooth picks through it
then toasting it in the oven.
Some times we would eat it just plain not toasted.
Some times with pnut butter. I still make a peanut
butter and butter sandwich, like to put bananas or
raisin on it too.
My father would make snow cream by pouring milk
over snow, he also made parched corn in a skillet,
and his fried apples were the best.
I’m glad he taught me how to do that and make
Fried Cabbage, just wish I had learned how to make
biscuits from my grandma, her’s were heavenly.
If the Government is stocking up on food, it’s doing so in order to feed large numbers of citizens in the event of any shortages. That sort of thing keeps the peace. As for storage for government employees and military personnel, that’s been done all along—for many decades. ...experience.
Hmmm...maybe it’s a hedge against default for welfare recipients, where money for food stamps and the like would go away. Anyway, the Government has also been actually encouraging, for a change, prepping, food-wise, since sometime during the Bush Admin. and still is.
Gardening and storage are good ideas.
PING!!
Treat them like asparagus, use only the tender shoots and cook the same way you would asparagus. We boiled them and served with butter, salt and pepper.
This looks like as good a place as any to put in a plug for canning again.
Hot water bath canning works well for acid foods, but you need a pressure canner for veggies and meat.
All the food in the world isn’t going to do you any good if you can’t save it.
Canning supplies are not exactly cheap and sometimes you can get jars at garage sales ( often over priced, so buyer beware) or find some little old lady and ask her if she used to can. Often they did and still have canning supplies laying around that they just didn’t want to throw out.
Here is a link to something somewhat new. Reusable canning jar lids for the modern (non-bail) canning jars. They work like the old fashioned ones with a separate rubber gasket.
http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/
You can find them on Amazon.
Those DAK hams are a good product. Canned hams, no refrigeration needed.
Plumrose makes a similar thing.
When I see them on sale 2.49-2.99, I generally buy 3 or 4, have about 18 or so in stock.
Thanks. I’ll check that out.
I bought several dozen Tattler reuseable lids this year. We shall see how they do, but I’ve read great reviews!
I also plan on getting a bunch more tuna.
Rumor has it that this years tuna might be in danger of radioactive contamination from Japan.
I figured that tuna can go a long way for a protein source, if you can eat it< and is compact and easy to store.
Have you seen what silver has done in the last few hours??!?!?!?
Right now it’s 48.81, about 20 minutes ago it was 49.80 or so. I know nothing about finance and all that stuff, but even an idiot like me can tell things are going crazy just by looking at what silver has been doing.
I’m also making information binders. If the poo ever hits the air movement device, the net will most likely be unavailable. I’m doing the research now, printing and learning all I can.
The Foxfire books are also great tools.
They’re on my amazon wish list. I’m looking forward to trying them as well. I’ve heard they can be used for pressure canning as well.
When mr. mm and I have enough stuff collected, we put in an order. That should be going in soon.
I have silver currently, and it’s more than doubled in value. I’m just trying to decide if I really want to buy more at these prices, or put the cash into other more “barter-y” type items.
Whenever I open anything I’ve canned I check the lid carefully - if it has no dings or scratches and decent layer of rubber left, I wash carefully and re-use next canning season. I’ve been doing that for quite a few years now and jars with used lids seal up perfectly. I probably have 100 used lids already saved for this year’s canning. Some I’ve re-used more than once.
That's a great idea. We take so much for granted. If the electric ever goes, all that information stored on the computer will be useless.
Right now, my wish list includes the 2nd and onward Foxfire books, a coffee mill, and MORE ENERGY! lol
I bought a hand crank grain mill recently...I’ll try it out when my first order of spelt comes in.
Yep. And in the event of a “bug out” type necessity, they are very portable. Page protectors offer a certain amount of protection against elements.
I’m going to hang on to what we have - it’s not a lot, we sacrificed to buy it. Saving to see what happens. Actually a few months ago (durn it!) we did sell a little because we were down to the bottom of the barrel $ wise.
My POV is that paper money is going to lose value quickly so we aren’t hanging on to it to save, rather have useful goods that are only going to get more expensive. If silver makes a dip, might get a little bit more.
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