Nearly everyone is a food historian when it comes to the Great Depression. Stories about meager meals are passed down through the years. And handwritten recipe cards are cherished. But memories and mementos are more than just family lore.
According to Bruce Kraig, who is a bona fide food historian, taking a look at how the Depression generation worked through hard times has relevance for today, even though current economic tribulations "are not at the same scale as they were during the 1930s."
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. About 100 food experts and enthusiasts attended the event at Kendall College in Chicago.
During 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. 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. Charles, Ill.
And, no, symposium-goers didn't forget the woes of the world by going out to a fancy dinner on Friday.
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.
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.
Fast 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. The Friday dinner was prepared by chef Mitch Cavanah of Kendall College.
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.
He began by asking how many people in the audience had eaten pigs' ears.
A 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."
But 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.
And, oh yes, there was chicken - as in chicken feet, he said.
Both beans and greens of various descriptions were popular. And they were almost always cooked - and cooked - with salt pork.
"I'm pretty sure this food was tasty, but it wasn't healthy," noted Reed.
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.
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.
As 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.
According to Pucciarelli, those early relief networks eventually "solidified" into today's food relief programs.
Feeding America, formerly known as America's Second Harvest, she said, "is an outgrowth of the initial organization of relief efforts of the Depression."
In that make-do era, people lucky enough to have their own fresh produce, whether from farm or garden, preserved it at home.
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.
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."
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."
Another researcher shared insights about holiday food. What was a poor housewife during the Depression supposed to do about food on special occasions?
According to Whitney Lingle, who has studied oral and written recipes from the 1930s, that was the time for a nice crown roast of Spam. Or perhaps a crown roast of frankfurters filled - like the one that was on display at the symposium - with spaetzle and sauerkraut.
Lingle said that during the Depression what was important "was the ritual of celebrating rather than the actual ingredients."
Substituting less expensive ingredients and serving smaller portions were two common ways of economizing.
Lingle noted that holiday-themed dinners, even with frugal fare and simple homemade decorations, helped to keep people from "being discouraged by empty cupboards."
Food historian Kraig said that frugality in food preparation often came by way of simplified recipes with just a few ingredients.
He sees a similar stripping down to basics in the recipes found in today's supermarket magazines such as Women's Day. He said, for instance, that the many pasta recipes popular today help stretch dollars.
And he encourages people to preserve the passing times, "the oral histories, the lives of our parents and grandparents before they disappear."
Greater Midwest Foodways holds heirloom recipe competitions at state fairs in the region. Lambrecht said it's hoped that the Wisconsin State Fair will begin participating in 2012.
Alliance studies Midwest food culture
What we eat and why - that's the focus for the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, which got its start about three years ago in Chicago.
As the website puts it, they are "dedicated to celebrating, exploring and preserving unique food traditions and their cultural contexts in the American Midwest."
Bruce Kraig, president of the group, explained that "foodways" is an anthropological term referring to "everything to do with food" from growing and production to the "meaning of food in our culture."
The Southern Foodways Alliance is a long-established food society with similar interests.
For more information about Greater Midwest Foodways, visitgreatermidwestfoodways.com. Annual membership for individuals is $75.
The following recipes are adapted from several sources. The corn pudding tied for third in the heirloom recipe contest at the 2010 Illinois State Fair. The yeast rolls won the same spot in the 2010 Indiana State Fair. The corn pudding recipe is attributed to Amy Wertheim of Bloomington, Ill., the yeast rolls to Deborah Green of Fortville, Ind. The sewn-together Crown Roast of Frankfurters is a recipe of Catherine Lambrecht's devising.
"It's representative of something my grandmother, who was German, would have made," she said.
Heirloom recipes
Aunt Lynd's Infamous Corn Pudding
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Kernels from 2 ears of sweet corn (or a 15- to 16-ounce can of corn, drained)
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a buttered 9-by-9-inch pan, mix ingredients in order listed. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and thickened, about 30 minutes. Remove and let sit 5 minutes before serving.
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Favorite Yeast Rolls
Makes about 20 rolls
2 packages dry yeast
½ cup warm water
½ cup sugar (divided)
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups hot water
2 eggs
7 cups flour
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and about 1 teaspoon sugar in the warm water. Let it rest until it foams.
During this time, in a large bowl, combine remaining sugar, salt, butter and hot water. Let this mixture cool to lukewarm. Add yeast mixture, eggs and 2 cups of the flour to mixture in large bowl. Beat 2 minutes with a mixer or 200 strokes by hand. Gradually add remaining 5 cups flour, eventually turning dough onto a floured surface and kneading it until it is spongy. Place dough in a greased container and let rise until doubled in bulk (Dough can be put in refrigerator if it is covered and greased well for a slow rise. It will keep several days).
Make rolls into desired shape: crescent, Parker House, cloverleaf, pan, etc. Place rolls on a well-greased baking sheet.
Let rise until doubled in size.
Bake at 400 degrees 5 minutes, and then reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake about 5 more minutes.
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Crown Roast of Frankfurters
Makes 6 to 12 servings
2 pounds frankfurters (24)
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, cut into medium dice
1 tablespoon salt
Spaetzle (see recipe)
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
½ to 1 cup sauerkraut, lightly drained, plus extra for decoration
In a skillet set over medium-low heat, melt butter and then add onion. Cook slowly to caramelize, which may take as long as 30 minutes.
Fill a 6-quart pot with water, add a tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, prepare your spaetzle batter.
If you do not have a spaetzle maker, you can either spread spaetzle batter on a plate or cutting board, and then, using the tip of a rubber spatula, cut of bits of batter into the boiling water. Alternatively, you can use a wide-holed grater or colander to press batter with a rubber spatula into the water.
Spaetzle cook quickly, needing only a few minutes per batch. Lift cooked spaetzle from the boiling water into a colander and allow to drain and dry.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together spaetzle, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, sauerkraut and, later, any sliced trimmings from the frankfurter assembly.
To assemble:
Line up frankfurters on a cutting board with the tips lined up against a large knife. If the sausages have a curve, then nestle them together to match curves, if possible.
Measure off butcher's string about 50% longer than the frankfurters lined up, then string it through using a trussing needle. Your trussing needle should enter the frankfurter about an inch below the upper tip, and then slowly make your way through. Repeat this process on the bottom edge of the frankfurters. If frankfurters are uneven or you want to shorten the roast, you may trim the sausages evenly before stringing them together. Any sliced trimmings may be added to the spaetzle mixture.
Gather strings and tie bottom and top strings together. Arrange "crown" of frankfurters on a rimmed baking pan. Lightly fill the center with spaetzle mixture, spreading any remaining mixture in the pan around the frankfurters.
Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes.
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Spaetzle:
2 eggs
½ cup water
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
In a medium mixing bowl, beat together eggs and water. In another bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder, and then add to the eggs and water. Stir until incorporated.
