“These are the days when men are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.” John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

These days, you can’t swing a dead cat around the countryside without hitting someone agonizing about the state of the economy. Incidentally, that someone often has a microphone jammed in his mouth and a camera stuffed up his nose. The current ‘crisis’ is welcome fodder for those slavering, bloodthirsty savages we so benignly label the mainstream press. They feed greedily on the woes of the nation, while simultaneously propping up those troubles by dispersing fear and transfusing panic into the masses. Case in point, there is now creeping into our ears the whisper, the hint, the seed planted in our brain comparing present circumstances with past tragedies. I’m talking, of course – and I speak directly, no whispering or hinting – about The Great Depression. There’s been some furtive bantering going on, some snatches of hushed conversation, feeling us out, gauging a reaction before it becomes open discussion. Talk of the country once again turning to beans and rice to survive… Leading me to wonder if this might be a positive step in creating a ready source of natural energy. Beans could be the fuel of the new millennia! All kidding aside, is it really that bad? Even from just a culinary standpoint, can we dare begin to compare our ‘hardships’ with those of our grandparents and great-grandparents? The 30s were a long time ago, perhaps there aren’t enough citizens left who actually lived those times to set the record straight. Perhaps those upstanding members of the media are counting on that. Perhaps a lesson in history is in order.

The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of 1929, which triggered a domino effect that eventually toppled the world economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 90% of its value. Banks collapsed with no warning (and no Federal Deposit Insurance), businesses closed, fortunes were lost, and life savings vanished. By 1933, a quarter of the populous of the U.S. was unemployed (12 to 13 million), and industrial production had declined 51%. The ill-conceived Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act succeeded in all but destroying the U.S.’s international trade. Originally designed to help domestic farmers by raising taxes on imported agricultural goods, by the time the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed by all other special interest groups, it raised taxes to record levels on imported products across the board. Foreign nations retaliated by raising their own tariffs on goods they imported from the U.S., and between 1929 and 1934, world trade declined by a staggering 66%. A “comedy of errors” perpetrated by politicians frantically attempting to stop the hemorrhaging ensued and arguably prolonged economic recovery.

Paralleling the country’s economic woes, the worst drought on record devastated the plains states, creating the Dust Bowl and displacing 2.5 million people, many of whom fled to California in the hopes of a better life. (Read Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath) By 1934, 80% of the nation was experiencing severe drought conditions. Farms went into foreclosure, livestock perished, and the U.S. sank deeper into the Depression.

Now add into the equation Prohibition, which began in 1920 and continued into the early 30s. Proponents of the outlaw of alcohol believed that it would make America more moral, more law-abiding. Alas, the Noble Experiment failed miserably and served to turn commoners into criminals, destroy the burgeoning California wine industry, and create organized crime and racketeering. Furthermore, alcohol consumption during this time actually increased per capita, especially with the onset of the Great Depression. When times are good, people drink; when times are tough… people drink more. During the Depression, gangsters earned 2 billion dollars a year by bootlegging. Medicinal alcohol sales rose 400%, arrests for drunk and disorderly conduct went up 41%, and drunk-driving incidents increased 81%, while deaths from alcohol poisoning quadrupled. Hard liquor became the drink of choice, as it was easier to smuggle and had more bang for your buck (alcohol content) than beer or wine. Prohibition was repealed in 1933, at the height of the Depression, as the government was desperate for revenue lost from rapidly declining income tax proceeds and could no longer police the growing population of citizens blatantly thumbing their nose at the ill-fated law.

With unemployment sky high, the markets in the tank, farms drying up, and citizens struggling just to survive, haute cuisine in the 30s was a rarity. Fine dining establishments suffered, but diners, roadside stands and the newly invented ‘drive through’ restaurants were increasingly popular.

But those hit hardest by the Depression remember bread lines, food riots, and people fighting over barrels of garbage. Staples such as potatoes, rice, pasta, and beans were the foods of survival. Everything was made from scratch, and ‘store bought’ items were a rarity. Home gardens provided vegetables, but meat was scarce. What today would be considered “discards” used to feed entire families: pig’s ears, snouts, and tails; ox tails; chicken necks; chitlings (pig intestines); and hog maws (stomachs). Those who hunted or fished faired a little better, and even many children learned how to trap rabbits and small game (including opossums and squirrels). Rural areas were hit particularly hard. In Appalachia, beans and “bulldog gravy” – water, flour, and grease – along with a “water sandwich” – day old bread soaked in water and lard – was a typical meal, and kids sometimes only ate on alternating days. Vegetables were canned or jarred in the spring and summer to last through the winter. Fruit was considered a special treat, and an orange in one’s Christmas stocking was cause for celebration.

There were no credit cards in the 30s. People “made do” with whatever they could afford, often sharing what little they had with neighbors and even strangers in need. There was a sense of community even in those hard times, and children of the Depression - now in their 80s and 90s - recall those years with fondness and remember being unaware of how little they had. "We always had some kind of food,” stated D.C. resident Robert E. Miller, now 87 years old, in a Washington Post interview, “meager-type food. It wasn't the best food. We would maybe get some kind of meat, maybe neck bones or something like that. My mother would cook them, my father would eat the neck bones, and we'd eat what now would be thrown away: the greases off the neck bones, that is what we would eat, heat it up and pour it on in a plate, get some bread, and sop that, and we thought we were living good. We were happy with that… I thought that was just normal life… I live in two different worlds, the world back then and world we got now, and the world we got now I don't think too much of it, to tell you the truth."

Cooking was a way of life during the Depression – if you couldn’t cook, you didn’t eat. Though food during those years was simple, creativity abounded as families sought to disguise the monotony of their diets. Calorie deficits were a large problem, especially as many people, children included, farmed their own food and burned enormous amounts of energy just surviving. Frying foods in fat was an easy way to add flavor and calories to meals and was especially popular in the South. Colonel Harland Sanders (of KFC fame) first sold his fried chicken out of a gas station in North Corbin, Kentucky in 1930 (however, the first actual Kentucky Fried Chicken was not opened until 1952).

The most amazing thing about those who weathered the incredibly difficult years of the 30s is their fortitude, resilience, and pride. In their reminiscing there is no trace of bitterness, no whining, no woe-is-me attitude, no victim mentality. Over and over again they speak of those times as good years, years of growing closer to family, friends, and neighbors, of working the fields and gardens and taking pride in what they could accomplish and make with their own hands. Men didn’t easily accept handouts; many turned away from the government assistance programs offered by Franklin Roosevelt, preferring still to earn their way even in their most desperate hours. They are a generation who weathered hardships we can barely conceive of, who toiled and sweated just to have a simple meal, who stood in lines to find jobs, not charity, and who did it all quietly, graciously, and honorably. Theirs is truly the Greatest Generation.

And what are this generation’s worries? That we might have to switch to store-brand? That we might have to order just a glass of wine at dinner instead of a bottle? That we might be reduced to bargain shopping at the grocery store, reading labels, and purchasing sale items? That we might have to drive our old car instead of a brand new one? That we might have to start thinking about living within our means instead of on credit? We should be ashamed of ourselves for even considering comparing our circumstances to those of our grandparents and great-grandparents. Certainly there are those who have lost homes and jobs recently, who have fallen on harder times than others, but as a whole our great nation is still grossly prosperous. When every other teenagers standing on the corner has a cell phone or an I-Pod plugged into their brain, an X-box on the flat-screen TV set, and a laptop at their desk, it is a vastly, incomprehensively different world than that of the 30s.

Instead of worrying, whining, or lamenting our situation, perhaps we should take a lesson from our elders. Focus on the good, stay positive, work hard, appreciate the bounty in our lives. Perhaps we will learn to be less wasteful, use fresh ingredients, plant a garden, rediscover the art of cooking from scratch, and maybe even grow closer to the ones we love. Let our grandchildren look back not with shame on our moment of discomfort, but with pride on how we rose to the challenge, held our heads high, and became accountable for our lives. Let them say that we didn’t stand idle waiting to be rescued, for someone else to bail us out, but made the sacrifices and effort necessary to save ourselves.

So next time you hear the whisper of the media demagogues, their constant negative diatribe, their unabated attempts to inspire worry, fear, and panic and have you stampeding to the nearest store to buy beans and rice, rolling over and waiting for an inevitable doomsday… Turn off your TV. Cancel your newspaper subscription. Delete their homepage from your computer… Defy their attempts to turn you into a victim, pour yourself a glass of wine, count your blessings, and start living. Cheers!

“To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.” Ronald Reagan