Comment

A Square Meal

a Culinary History of the Great Depression
Sep 13, 2017rpavlacic rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Husband and wife food writers, Coe and Ziegelman, take a broad sweep of dietary habits of Americans, from the supply lines of WWI to the outbreak of WWII. The book demonstrates that not all people benefited from the "Roaring Twenties" and "starvation diets" were devised to deal with the nutrition needs of the most poor. It then moves on to the Thirties and how people survived on meagre food supplies - egged on by "home economists" who were charged with coming up with scientific means to ensure people stayed fed properly. At the same time came the revolution of processed and frozen foods, the simplification of the refrigerator with much smaller compressors, and the dishwasher. Too, the Roosevelt Administration came up with make work programs - but more importantly three things that remain with us today - food stamps, free school lunches and the "recommended" daily foods guide, the last of which is a concept adopted by many other countries in different forms. Then the authors make the stunning revelation that when Selective Service was launched in 1940, millions of men flunked the medical, due to malnutrition during the Depression. Finally, the book discusses how the pushback against processed foods led to a Renaissance of regional cooking. A well researched book written in layperson's terms. Highly - uh - recommended.