A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression
By Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe
3.5/5
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About this ebook
James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner
From the author of the acclaimed 97 Orchard and her husband, a culinary historian, an in-depth exploration of the greatest food crisis the nation has ever faced—the Great Depression—and how it transformed America’s culinary culture.
The decade-long Great Depression, a period of shifts in the country’s political and social landscape, forever changed the way America eats. Before 1929, America’s relationship with food was defined by abundance. But the collapse of the economy, in both urban and rural America, left a quarter of all Americans out of work and undernourished—shattering long-held assumptions about the limitlessness of the national larder.
In 1933, as women struggled to feed their families, President Roosevelt reversed long-standing biases toward government-sponsored “food charity.” For the first time in American history, the federal government assumed, for a while, responsibility for feeding its citizens. The effects were widespread. Championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, “home economists” who had long fought to bring science into the kitchen rose to national stature.
Tapping into America’s long-standing ambivalence toward culinary enjoyment, they imposed their vision of a sturdy, utilitarian cuisine on the American dinner table. Through the Bureau of Home Economics, these women led a sweeping campaign to instill dietary recommendations, the forerunners of today’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
At the same time, rising food conglomerates introduced packaged and processed foods that gave rise to a new American cuisine based on speed and convenience. This movement toward a homogenized national cuisine sparked a revival of American regional cooking. In the ensuing decades, the tension between local traditions and culinary science has defined our national cuisine—a battle that continues today.
A Square Meal examines the impact of economic contraction and environmental disaster on how Americans ate then—and the lessons and insights those experiences may hold for us today.
A Square Meal features 25 black-and-white photographs.
Jane Ziegelman
Jane Ziegelman is the director of the Tenement Museum's culinary center and the founder and director of Kids Cook!, a multiethnic cooking program for children. Her writing on food has appeared in numerous publications, and she is the coauthor of Foie Gras: A Passion. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Reviews for A Square Meal
39 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The subtitle of this book is a little misleading. Ziegelman and Coe reach all the way back to the World War I era to lead into a culinary history of the Great Depression. With the U.S. entry into World War I came a rapid industrialization of the nation's food supply and the rise of expert professions such as nutritionists, dietitians, and home economists. The authors explore the effects of the Depression and food relief programs in different states and regions, from New York to California. The audio version is a more challenging listening experience than the average nonfiction audiobook because of the number of menus and recipes included in the text. Fortunately, the narrator was up for the challenge. Her expression and clear enunciation made it a pleasure to listen.This review is based on a complimentary audio CD provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A lively story of the Great Depression, a time with which I am largely unfamiliar. Forays into some kind of nutrition science occurred in and around this time, and are discussed, along with their relationship to relief efforts during the depression. Like the potato famine in Ireland, there was no scarcity of food, just a scarcity of money to buy the available food. This was a tricky problem politically, as presumably it was in Ireland. The authors do not inject an overt viewpoint into their narrative. They quote from a number of original sources. The persons who administered the various relief programs were concerned and stated so very clearly, that too much relief over too long a period would make a person permanently dependent. A very reasonable fear, but it would probably be political suicide to state this so clearly now.It's hard not to think that Hoover was right, and that Roosevelt was just lucky to get a war.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We listened to this during a long road trip and my entire family enjoyed it. It's focused on changes in American eating habits during the Great Depression, with side trips into the burgeoning field of home economics and food assistance programs. There were some fascinating stories, some told with a bit of humor or irony. Overall, a very engaging book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The subject matter of this book is intriguing--the culinary history of the Great Depression--though in the end, it wasn't quite what I hoped it would be. The book starts out strong, detailing how World War I changed American's outlooks on food, and how that continued to evolve through the 1920s with major shifts to delis and cafeterias and corporation-driven food trends. Unfortunately, I found that where the food faltered was on the Depression itself. It became much more of a social history, emphasizing the growth of public school lunches to keep children alive and focused, and how Hoover and Roosevelt handled (and didn't handle) the crisis. I wanted to see more examples of foods and recipes of the period, and how different regions adapted in specific ways. Major emphases is on the starvation and malnutrition of people who were without work, but I wanted to see more of how employed people adapted to these tough times. This feels like a time and subject that still has a wealth of material to be explored.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I got this audio book as part of Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. I had heard about this book on "Fresh Air" on NPR and was led to believe, by the interview that this was going to be an account of what I like to call "unfortunate food." - food that was nutritious, cheap and, ultimately unappetizing. It was that, but it was also much more.What this book really is is a history of American cuisine from World War I through the Great Depression, as well as a look at the attitudes of America towards its poor citizens and its remedies to alleviate hunger during the country's hardest times.At the end of World War I, America was still a largely rural nation, centered on farming and fueled by a meat and potatoes diet that was high in calories. It was surprising to learn that the average American consumed close to 5000 calories per day! This, of course was mitigated by the strenuous life on a farm where there was little mechanization or electricity well into the 1930's.The 1920's brought a great migration to the industrialized cities of the north. People moved from ample farm houses to small apartments and rising incomes led to the adoption of modern appliances like electric refrigerators. Convenience foods and meals eaten in restaurants like Child's and the Automat also changed the way Americans ate.The Depression, of course, sent the country into a turmoil. City dwellers lost their jobs and had few resources to fall back on. Farmers, while being hit with a drastic decline in commodity prices, could feed themselves - at least in the beginning. The government's attitude that it was morally wrong to help people survive in the face of economic disaster seems especially cruel, until one realizes that the attitude of the population at large was that being poor was somehow a moral failing and that if relief was to be offered, it should be at a minimal level. People felt that if the poor got "too comfortable" they would never want to work.the election of FDR changed things as his administration offered direct relief and then works projects like the CCC and WPA, but the economy never really recovered until World War II gobbled up several million men for the armed forces and shifted the country into a war production mode.This book is not only an interesting social history, but also a cautionary lesson for how we treat our poorer citizens here in the 21st century.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book provided an interesting historical look at how food preparation and sources changed during the early part of the 20th century, with a specific focus on the 1930s. The descriptions of the food-relief programs and how they came about were particularly fascinating as were the hints of what some of those programs have morphed into in today's society. I would agree with previous reviewers that the book, while interesting and engaging, was more a history of food relief programs rather than a culinary history.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A study of the last 100 years of American idea of food. Starting with the myth of American abundance during the pre-wwi era and moving forward into the scientific era. Recent discoveries of vitamins and nutritional requirements has totally changed the American food landscape. Also addressed are issues of government assistance. Just how much responsibility should the U.S. government take in insuring its citizens are well fed? What are the guidelines for a healthy diet and who's going to administrate them? These thorny questions are only more relevant today.A fascinating journey through the evolution of food culture that puts the modern day into perspective.