Text 38078, 78 rader
Skriven 2010-05-22 15:52:10 av Lee Lofaso (3:800/432.0)
  Kommentar till text 37887 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: Recipes to Die For
==========================
Hello Janis,

>LL>I get a newsletter for antique enthusiasts, and the people
>LL>who get this newletter would probably get really excited
>LL>over these recipes, that's for sure!  People who have
>LL>subscriptions to it are often asking for recipes just like
>LL>these :)

>LL>This is a Depression-era cookbook, as reflected by the recipes.

JK>Yes, indeed.

One can learn lots from old cookbooks...

>LL>I find it fascinating what people could do with very limited
>LL>incomes, as well as rations on what food items they could get
>LL>hold of.  Many people grew their own foods, even on land that
>LL>was unsuitable for farming.  What we take for granted today

JK>Vinegar pie was one of the examples of something someone
JK>had asked about in the newsletter I get.. Until I saw some
JK>of the expamples you posted from that gov't cookbook, I
JK>didn't realize how prevalent recipes like that were during
JK>the era.

What I found surprising, but really should not have, was how
creative folks could be with very limited ingredients.  Today,
when one goes to the supermarket, one finds a whole smorgasbord
of items, from everywhere around the world.  In those days folks
had to use what was available, usually from local sources.
Vinegar was cheap, and widely available just about everywhere.
But even some common items, such as sugar, was not as available.
And during WWII, was rationed.

>LL>was not so readily available decades ago.  Nor was food nearly
>LL>as affordable as it is today.  But then, these are different
>LL>times.  In some ways better, in other ways worse.

JK>My parents talked quite a bit about what the 30's were like
JK>for them.. As a child, my dad was a shoe-shine boy,
JK>surviving on his own for quite a while. After they were
JK>married, my mom and dad would tease each other about who's
JK>family 'had been on the roll' and who's was not <g>.

Not everybody had a job, or was able to work.  In those days
there was no such thing as food stamps.  It was either sink or
swim.  And generally speaking, one could support oneself and
his/her family on one income.  Except for women, who as a rule
stayed in the home (women's lib and the idea of equal rights
had not yet arrived).  But times were hard for everybody back
then (both men and women).

>LL>If you go back in history, man has gotten larger and larger.  For
>LL>example, William Shakespeare was an itsy bitsy fellow. A genius of a
>LL>writer, but a pee-wee of a man, just over four feet tall.  At the
>LL>turn of the century (1900) man was not much bigger, maybe five feet
>LL>tall. Today, a century later, man is approaching almost twice the
>LL>height, and almost three times the weight, of William Shakespeare.
>LL>I wonder how big man will become within the next one hundred years?
>LL>We could become a Land of the Giants.  A nation populated by 500
>LL>million men the size of Shaquille O'Neal.

JK>I dunno.. I'm 5'6".  My kids are all shorter than I am (so
JK>is my mom being just 5').  Ron is 6'2", but that didn't
JK>make it into the mix.. :(

Maybe it just seems that way (people getting bigger/fatter).  In
this fast-food, microwave, soda-pop world of ours, with everybody
getting anything and everything they want whenever they want, it
is hard to imagine anybody being slim.

--Lee


 * SLMR 2.1a * We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.

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 * Origin: Xaragmata / Adelaide SA telnet://xaragmata.mooo.com (3:800/432)