Hard Times - Revisited

My family, like most, lost what small wealth they had already accumulated, during the depression of the  '20's.  They didn't go hungry like much of the country, living in the fertile Poconos.  But times were tough.   The tales they told are brought back to mind daily, listening to the stories of those who are now jobless, homeless, or barely struggling along.

Inhabitants of the South - as well as most of the Appalachians, the West and Midwest, were often much, much poorer than in the north during hard spells, and especially during the Great Depression and the dust bowl.  Many times all that was on hand to eat was flour and lard.  Sometimes milk if you were lucky, and a few eggs.  I'm a d---- Yankee from Western New York, and our family, while suffering losses during the Great Depression, didn't have anywhere near the problems most of the rest of the country went through, between the financial collapse and the terrible drought conditions.  Same for the Civil War. 

I married someone from Kentucky.  Fortunately I already had learned from a pro how to make good Southern biscuits. But he demanded milk gravy too.  So I called my mother-in-law for instructions.   It was basically what I'd heard from others who were at some point dirt poor in the South.  If flour and lard is all you have, you can either make sourdough biscuits, or use a little baking powder.  Or you can make hoe cakes, primarily white corn meal and water, fried in a little lard, if you don't have an oven or only have cornmeal.  Then you melt some more lard in a skillet,  heat it up and add flour, stir until the flour turns a light caramel.   Remove from the heat long enough to cool it just a little, then add milk,  or water if you don't have any milk, stirring furiously so it doesn't lump,  then boil until thick.   Add salt to taste.  Then you serve this over the biscuits or hoe cakes, and over the eggs if you had any.

During the 20's and 30's, many thousands of Americans lived primarily on this diet.  If you got a day job, it scarcely paid enough to buy the flour and lard, so you didn't buy your lunch.  You stuck some biscuits or hoe cakes in your pocket and ate them dry.  Some "hobos" with little cooking skills bought cheap white bread and made lard gravy under bridges.  It was satisfying and filled them up. 

In the mid-fifties, a young man - about 19 years old, I think, moved into town and began attending our church, taking part in the youth activities.   When we got to know him, he told me and my family of his background.   His parents died at the end of the depression - and the only relative was an uncle who had begun a life on the road during the hardest years, and couldn't seem to stop.  He provided for our friend the best he could, with milk gravy, hoe cakes, apples or other fruit from yards and orchards along the way, and often a better meal after a day's work.  He usually slept under bridges, in packing crates, railroad cars, or charitable farmers' barns.  He survived, and grew up into a strong, honest hard-working man.   And we can all survive these hard times too. 

I use canola oil now, and Smart Balance margarine instead of lard for the biscuits whenever hubby gets a craving for "down home" food, and let me tell you, it's a heck of a lot better meal than you'd expect. 

However bad things are now, they've been worse in the past, and they are much worse now for someone, somewhere.  We are still living in the land of milk and honey compared to most of the world.