Food
One of the biggest difficulties with cooking during the 1930s was affording the food in the first place. During this time when many people were out of work or barely scraping by and farmers were driven from their land by the Dust Bowl, many of them had to make do with whatever they could afford, often eating less than they really wanted or needed or lower-quality food than they would have otherwise used. Nothing was wasted. Many people were living hand-to-mouth, never quite sure where their next meal was going to come from, so they had to make the best use of whatever food they had and make it last as long as possible.
People who lived during this time period often carried their habits about using and conserving food with them for the rest of their lives, something that I noticed in my own grandparents and have heard annecdotally from other people about their grandparents or other relatives. My grandmother always cleaned her plate whenever she could, and she actually used to worry about restaurants serving her more food than she could eat. She once remarked that she could only imagine what her parents would say if they saw the food still left on her plate, and at that point, her parents had been dead for well over 20 years. If she brought home half-eaten leftovers, she worried about who would eat them and when they would get eaten, often offering them to the rest of the family, even though nobody else wanted them or we had leftovers of our own to eat. When we went to a buffet, she always warned us against taking more food than we were really going to eat and would insist on us clearing out plates, and she was very disapproving of people whose plates were piled with what looked like way too much food to her. I've also heard stories about people whose grandparents lived during this time period and even years later would do things like eating food past its expiration date (not actually that bad, although it depends on what the food is - dry foods just likely get a bit stale), eating food that actually had mold on it (like bread or cheese, just cutting off the bad parts), and picking up food that fell on the floor and eating it because they couldn't bear to see any food wasted.
This need to conserve food and to make best use of available ingredients led to some changes in the types of food being served. A video blogger on YouTube, emmymadeinjapan, has made a series of videos, demonstrating some of the dishes that evolved from food scarcity during the Great Depression and other periods of hardship in history, along with demonstrations of how to make them. Another YouTube Channel, Great Depression Cooking, is hosted by an elderly woman, Clara, who lived during the Great Depression and demonstrates recipes that her family used to make during the Great Depression. She offers some anecdotes about life during the 1930s while she cooks. Some foods and recipes from the 1930s which are still known and liked today are:
- Miracle Whip (1933) - Developed to be a cheaper version of mayonnaise. Miracle Whip contains similar ingredients to mayonnaise, but more water, less oil, and some additional sugar and spices (Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip: The Differences)
- Mock Apple Pie - In 1934, Ritz Cracker boxes were printed with a recipe for Mock Apple Pie on the back. As the video in the link explains, how expensive and available apples were depended on where you lived and possibly the time of year. For those who found crackers more available or affordable than apples. In the video, which also includes the recipe in the information section, emmymadeinjapan demonstrates how to make a mock apple pie.
- Cheese Dreams - An open-faced variation of the grilled cheese sandwich popular in the previous decade, although the concept might actually be older than the Great Depression.
- Spam - Canned ham with a long shelf life and requiring no refrigeration. The product was launched by Hormel in 1937 and became an important source of protein for troops overseas during WWII.
Among the desserts and candies created in the 1930s:
- Hostess Twinkies - The first appeared in 1930.
- Three Musketeers bars were created in the 1930s and were originally were sold in packs that included three pieces of candy with fillings in three different flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. However, because of sugar rationing during World War II, the company started selling them with only chocolate filling, which is why they only come in one flavor today.
Resources
Documentaries
This YouTube channel has a series of videos where an elderly woman who grew up during the Great Depression describes recipes that her family made during that time.
Websites
34 Recipes That Got Us Through the Great Depression
From Taste of Home.