By Staff
Suzanne Langcuster
We were reminiscing a few days ago about when we were very young. We began to recall what we had for food during the Depression. It was pretty much up to the individual family to acquire food. There was no free lunches then. We thought everyone was in the same boat, but some were really hungry and some were without.
Almost everyone had a garden. Turnips, green beans, peas, potatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables were grown. Peach, apple, and pear trees grew in many yards. Most foods were canned for the winter months.
Our meats were mostly chicken, grown in our backyards, and eggs from them. We loved fried chicken and chicken and dumplings. Families had their favorite pieces and mothers usually took the back. We know why now. If you were lucky enough to have pigs as soon as the first hard freeze came you killed a hog and had fried pork chops and fresh sausage and bacon. We also ate a lot of fish from the Tennessee River. It was so good with my grandmother's hush puppies and homemade cole slaw.
We enjoyed eating sardines and crackers and canned salmon. Salted white pork was used to season beans and other vegetables and fried for breakfast and other meals.
To keep foods from spoiling you dug a deep hole under your house called a fruit cellar, and stored your canned food there. My aunt told me about how she canned meat. She would boil the meat on the bones in a big pot until the meat cooked off and then she would can the beef. She didn't can the pork for fear it might spoil.
Ice boxes were used in the kitchen to keep things cool. You couldn't keep ice cream there, it was not cold enough. My husband tells about going to town to get his grandmother some ice cream on his bike and rode home as fast as he could but it turned to soup before he got home. We would purchase large blocks of ice at the ice plant. Sometimes ice trucks came around and brought the ice to you.
Wild meat like venison, squirrel, rabbit, and o'possum were eaten. Some good, some not so good, but when you are hungry anything is good. We have a lot to be thankful for. We hope this never happens to us again.