Great Depression Cooking Saves Money: CBS Interview with Grandmother Clara, Plus Holiday Artichokes (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 10, 2010
Great Depression: Georgetown relief depot, 1932, Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection. The sign on the front of the counter says, 'Buttermilk every day, Bring your container'
A few years back, Clara Cannucciari’s grandson Christopher wanted to preserve his grandmother’s family stories and frugal recipes that she had eaten and learned to make as a girl and young woman during the era of the Great Depression.
And so, he videotaped her in her kitchen, talking about her family, her childhood, and the necessity to be frugal while cooking one of her many Depression-era recipes. Times were extremely tough in America, and these recipes helped her family survive a terrible time in the country.
In the initial series of videos, when she was 91 years old, Clara recounted her childhood in Chicago during the Great Depression as she prepared meals from that era.
The depression-cooking video series was a huge hit on YouTube, and so, another series of videos followed when she was 93, as well as a published cookbook of Clara’s recipes and a Facebook page.
In this CBS News interview, 93-year-old Clara Cannucciari isn’t as fazed as most people when it comes to the current economic crisis. She knows how to save money in the kitchen, with her Great Depression-era meals costing about 50 cents a serving. As Michelle Miller reports in this human interest story, Clara survived the Great Depression and now her frugal cooking tips are helping another generation.
CBS News: Recipes for a Recession (2009)
Holiday Cooking with Clara – Artichokes
If you want to learn more about how to make thrifty, simple dishes while listening to Clara’s childhood stories from the Great Depression, check out these links.
Directory of Clara’s Depression-Era, Frugal Cooking Videos
Season 1 Great Depression Cooking Episode 1 – Pasta with Peas Great Depression Cooking Episode 2 – Egg Drop Soup Great Depression Cooking Episode 3 – Poorman’s Meal Great Depression Cooking Episode 4 – Peppers and Eggs, and Fresh Baked Bread to Accompany
Season 2 Great Depression Cooking Episode 1 – Dandelion Salad Great Depression Cooking Episode 2 – Eggplant Parmesan Great Depression Cooking Episode 3 – Baked Apples
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What a great effort by Clara’s grandson! She is quite a woman. Thanks so much for putting all this up!
My mom was raised in the Depression, born to a (gasp) single mom in 1927. Our family life today reflects a lot of the frugality they learned at the time. Got us through a long-term unemployment.
We cook in our house! Not long ago my daughter and future daughter-in-law got together to make dinner with a friend. They decided to make pizza. The friend’s astonished reaction was “you mean you can make pizza at home?. So the ongoing project now is to teach this girl how to do anything at home!
LOL – good for you, Marilyn! A kitchen is so much more than a microwave — it astounds me how little this younger generation knows about saving money by not going out to dinner, not ordering take-out, not using Hamburger Helper, and not nuking a pre-made meal in the microwave. The amount of money saved is astounding.
I love your pizza story. I had a similar situation twice with two young men (late teens, early 20s) my daughter was dating (not at the same time, of course). On both occasions, her beaus were over and it was approaching dinner time. I asked Daughter if the boyfriend wanted to have dinner with us. She asked what we were having, and oddly enough, both times I had made a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. Each time, she told the boys what we were having for dinner, and both times, the young men were totally astonished. “You’re kidding – you can make soup at home and NOT from a can?” Both times. Bizarre but true.
A new generation to educate on the wonders of a frugal kitchen and the lessons learned during the Great Depression… your mom taught you well, Marilyn, and I’m confident you have passed that wisdom on to your own children. I’ve really sparked an interest in my daughter to learn to make many things from scratch… my son is a tougher nut to crack, LOL.
Great soup story!
One of the things that has helped my kids a lot is just reading labels. They realized how much crazy chemical junk goes into ready-made food and decided they didn’t want to eat it. They’ve been amazed to learn how many different meals can be built on a base of white sauce, celery, onion, and bell pepper!
They also have discovered how much fun it is to get a group together in the kitchen to work on a meal.
Maybe your son will come around eventually; mine was 26 and in the Army the first time he called home and asked “hey mom, how do you…” and “would you send me the recipe you use for…”
Marilyn,
Thanks for instilling some hope for me in my stubborn 17-year-old son… ha ha! He loves to eat, but loathes to cook. Your son sounds much like mine… not interested in cooking until it hits him square in the eyes. Time will tell.
And you’re spot-on about white sauces – a basic homemade white sauce can serve as the foundation for a zillion different dishes. Buying it in a jar is utterly ridiculous (it takes just as much time to make), but I know many otherwise intelligent women who do just that. And a white sauce is just one step away from becoming a lovely homemade cheese sauce. It’s as though this Internet-savvy generation is sorely culinary-stunted.
[...] Great Depression Cooking Saves Money: CBS Interview with … [...]
[...] Great Depression Cooking Saves Money: CBS Interview with … [...]
[...] . . of Clara’s First American Depression style of cooking. I love that woman’s [...]
[...] Great Depression Cooking Saves Money: CBS Interview with … [...]
These videos are amazing. My mom was very big on family dinners, so we do the best we can with our kids. Things just seem to be busier then when we were kids. It did my heart good the other day when my daughter said to me when I asked her where she wanted to eat. She said, “can’t we just eat at home. I’m sick of eating out”. There is hope yet for the next generation.
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