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A review by jessferg
A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression by Andrew Coe, Jane Ziegelman
4.0
More of an overall social history of the Great Depression, A Square Meal does revolve around food issues and contains a few recipes from various sources of the time.
There are a lot of good facts, much of which are known by most in some capacity about the increase in hunger and the attempts at public education regarding using unusual items, stretching a budget, and how to combine foods for the best nutrition results. The authors' manage to expand on those facts with some lesser known and more "on the ground" information as well as correct a few "common knowledge" errors along the way.
The last chapter or two focuses a lot more on government programs and the politics of putting relief options in place (or removing them) and who/how to pay for them with less emphasis on the impacts on the population (although there is an interesting bit on hobos in this section, too.)
There are about half a dozen photos (give or take, I didn't go back and count) that add a nice flavor to the information.
I would complain that the ending is rather abrupt, indicating WW2 ended the Depression but not taking much time to give us the same details offered elsewhere (ie: how the food culture shifted, where food was now found, how much of the population was still hungry, etc.) but WW2 does make sense as a stopping point.
Notes, bibliography and index included.
There are a lot of good facts, much of which are known by most in some capacity about the increase in hunger and the attempts at public education regarding using unusual items, stretching a budget, and how to combine foods for the best nutrition results. The authors' manage to expand on those facts with some lesser known and more "on the ground" information as well as correct a few "common knowledge" errors along the way.
The last chapter or two focuses a lot more on government programs and the politics of putting relief options in place (or removing them) and who/how to pay for them with less emphasis on the impacts on the population (although there is an interesting bit on hobos in this section, too.)
There are about half a dozen photos (give or take, I didn't go back and count) that add a nice flavor to the information.
I would complain that the ending is rather abrupt, indicating WW2 ended the Depression but not taking much time to give us the same details offered elsewhere (ie: how the food culture shifted, where food was now found, how much of the population was still hungry, etc.) but WW2 does make sense as a stopping point.
Notes, bibliography and index included.