A Lesson from a Woman in her 90s
Writing Inspiration
This remarkable American lady talks about the Great Depression as she shares her recipe from that time. Without those circumstances, this recipe may never have been part of her life. Now, though, it is a way to connect with new generations - and technologies - and share her story.
What foods came into your life by chance, and how have they coloured your life? If you are a writer, how important is food to your characters? If you are a reader, how much do you connect characters and food?
Even if you're not much of a reader, what about characters in other places, such as television and film. Have you noticed how writers work food into the scripts? Which FRIENDS character won't share his food, loves pizza and lasagne, and tries to eat a whole turkey? Which one is obsessed with gourmet food? Which one is vegetarian? If any of these were switched, how would that affect your perception of the character, or are they so bound into the characters that they could never be switched? Share your thoughts below, after you've watched Clara...
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That's fabulous! Thanks for sharing this find! My grandmother's wartime poor man's meal was what we called 'sugar soup' growing up (my mother refused to eat it because she ate so much of it when she was young). All was just fried onions mixed with runny oatmeal (as far as I know). Add a bit of sugar. Sounds disgusting, but you do what you can when times are bad and we didn't know as kids - I suspect the 'sugar' aspect threw us off. I haven't had it in years and will have to request it from her! Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for sharing that Lydia. I've been through it since I started this blog, as my husband was made redundant, so I've done similar things (search the blog and you'll food ideas etc). We've got so used to buying sacks of rice and oats that, now things are picking up a bit, we're still spending very little on food. I think it's changed our approach to budgeting completely. When you have to live on very little for a while, you get a new appreciation for just how much can be accomplished without money. I'm grateful for that lesson.
My grandmother used to do something similar. She had her own vege garden during the depression in which she grew potatoes, tomatoes and spinach. Her version of the poor man's meal was a mix of potato, spinach, onion, and tomato. She used to feed it to us, her 12 grandkids, whenever we stayed with her because it was easy, filling, cheap and you could make lots of it. And we loved it!
Samantha: thanks for sharing that. Isn't it interesting that, when things improve, people still make these dishes? They start out as a necessity, but they become something wonderful. Lean times are great for making people inventive with sparse ingredients.