A Square Meal A Culinary History of the Great Depression

Jane Ziegelman, Andrew Coe

eBook - 2016

A James Beard Foundation Book Award–winning study of how the Great Depression changed the way the United States eats."With a dinner plate as their lens, the authors explore one of America's darkest hours." —Wall Street JournalThe idea of America as a place of abundance is enshrined in our culture, from Jefferson's agrarian democracy to the immensity of our supermarkets. The Great Depression, which left a quarter of all Americans out of work and undernourished, tested our belief in this land's unlimited bounty, and in the process changed the way America eats.In 1933, after four years of deprivation and national debate, President Roosevelt reversed long-standing biases toward government-sponsored "food charit...y" and assumed responsibility for feeding the hungry. Championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, "home economists," who had long fought to bring science into the kitchen, rose to national stature. Through the Bureau of Home Economics,... more