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A Square Meal
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression | Jane Ziegelman, Andy Coe
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 facedthe Great Depressionand how it transformed Americas culinary culture. The decade-long Great Depression, a period of shifts in the countrys political and social landscape, forever changed the way America eats. Before 1929, Americas 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 undernourishedshattering 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 Americas 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 todays 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 cuisinea battle that continues today. A Square Meal examines the impact of economic contraction and environmental disaster on how Americans ate thenand the lessons and insights those experiences may hold for us today. A Square Meal features 25 black-and-white photographs.
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RamsFan1963
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1. A Square Meal: A Culinary History of The Great Depression. Amazing book!!
2. A. Lee Martinez
3. Aliens
4. ABBA or Aerosmith
5. Always On My Mind (Pet Shop Boys cover version)

#manicmonday #LetterA @JoScho

NeedsMoreBooks Abba is one of my favorites! 4y
JoScho Thanks for playing 💕😊 4y
43 likes2 comments
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RamsFan1963
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Pickpick

This is one of my favorite non-fiction books of the year. I knew I'd find the subject matter interesting, but I didn't know it would hit so close to home. Being raise in rural Appalachian Virginia, I regularly ate many foods that got their origins from the Great Depression, but I never realized how far reaching it affected future generation's eating habits. 5 💥💥💥💥💥 out of 5. Highly recommended.

33 likes5 stack adds
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RamsFan1963
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"...and salted pork sandwiches, in which the cooked meat is mixed with any combination of chopped eggs, raw cabbage, cottage cheese and pickles."

I ate this growing up, it was very hearty and filling. Also very tasty.

The Great Depression did create some interesting food combinations.

LibrarianRyan Yummmmm. And I agree. Some of the food my grams used to make. Double yummmm 5y
RamsFan1963 I grew up eating a lot of recipes from this book. I thought everyone ate that way, then I moved out of rural Virginia and realized people thought I was crazy when I talked about some of my favorite foods. 5y
29 likes2 comments
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daniwithtea
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Mehso-so

Interesting, but a bit repetitive.

23/100 for the year.

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daniwithtea
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Today‘s #riotgrams: current read. I‘m fascinated that after WWI, scientists counted steps of farm wives and said “you walked 1/4 mile to make a pie?! Your kitchen should be smaller!” while in 2018, I dance around the kitchen while cooking in an effort to hit my 10k step goal and would *love* a bigger kitchen. I suppose we‘ve come full circle?

dsfisher I find that kind of strange as I don‘t remember any of the old farm kitchens being that large. 6y
readinginthedark This sounds so interesting! 6y
daniwithtea @dsfisher they say before the efficiency craze, they were big enough to hold the dining table and woodpile - so maybe not massive, but still big compared to my kitchen :) 6y
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dsfisher @Daniwithtea True, in a couple of my relatives there was the table but none had the woodpile. Maybe it‘s also a location thing too. 6y
daniwithtea Could be! They were kind of vague about it. 6y
14 likes4 stack adds6 comments
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julieloverofbooks
Panpan

I struggled through this book for two months. I guess I expected something different. I wanted more of a study of the everyday persons food, planning and struggle to make it through the hunger that accompanied the years of the depression but this book was more of an overview of program and organizations that were formed to "help" combat hunger and malnutrition ". It ended up being extremely dry reading with interesting bits thrown in.

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Bummer. I have the same expectations that you did - maybe I'll skip this one! 7y
18 likes1 comment
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RealLifeReading
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#junebookbugs day6: #ashapeinthetitle
Found some shapes in these titles on my #tbr list!
Have you read any of them?

cherinium I read The Circle a couple years ago. I liked it. Mostly I remember being creeped out by the thought of technology taking over our lives even more than it already does. 7y
tjwill The Circle was interesting. The technology taking over our lives was dystopian and also hit close to home. 7y
quietjenn I read A Square Meal. A bit dry at times, but I learned a fair amount. 7y
andrew61 Ha, i only just read hangover square and forgot all about it, great choices. 7y
101 likes4 comments
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julieloverofbooks
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Food and history-two of my favorite things 😊

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BethFishReads
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Pickpick

Well-researched and interesting look at how the American diet was molded by charity, welfare, politics, science, economics, technology, war, and more. Best read or listened to in chunks rather than straight through. Narrated well by Susan Ericksen, but I wish she had been better at signaling quotes. Audiobook (of course) lacks the photos of the print book and the recipes are hard to follow. Giving this a pick (say, 3.7).

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BethFishReads
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Continues to be an interesting listen. Thankful I have access to fresh veggies in winter. #audiobook #nonfiction

Megabooks Yum! 7y
BookishBlonde12 That looks good! 😋 7y
45 likes2 comments
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BethFishReads
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Started this in #audiobook today. (Can't find my print copy so no cool photo tonight). So far interesting look at how Americans came to the Standard American Diet, weight trends, food movements, and so on. Good research, but I'm not far enough along to judge whether there is much new here. Narrated by Susan Ericksen, who is easy to listen to, but I'm having a little trouble telling commentary from quoted text.

TriniCapini Future Weekend Cooking review? 7y
40 likes1 stack add2 comments
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DreesReads
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Library book haul! Went to to main SMPL library today, as the 8th grader needed to get a poetry book for Language Arts. I checked out the tagged book, the rest are from the giveaway cart! (Yes I got through college without reading Kingston.) Upon closer inspection I see on the cover that the author of A Square Meal wrote another book I have read. It was very disappointing--both as a reader and as a historian. Maybe this will just go back 😢

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erincb82
Pickpick

Interesting and it was obvious they did their research but also it felt a bit disorganized. Only glancing mentions of minority populations, an avenue that definitely warrants more exploration, but I think I'll have to do that on my own.

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rachelm
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#booktober #booksandsnacks
What are the bets on me opening this candy before Halloween?
Okay, don't take bets. I will definitely be opening this. Maybe today...
Okay, probably today.
#candycandycandy

Gulfsidemusing This is exactly why I haven't bought any yet!😜 7y
Zelma One benefit to not getting trick or treaters is not buying bags of candy! (We're out in the country so no kids stop at our place.) I will admit I miss the costumes and ridiculous kid excitement of Halloween though. 7y
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