Hoover Stew: The People’s Dish
Named after President Herbert Hoover, this stew became a common meal in soup kitchens and struggling households. It was a simple, filling dish made with whatever was available – usually pasta, canned tomatoes, and hot dogs or ground meat. Similar to macaroni with hot dogs, our modern-day guilty pleasure, Hoover Stew was made with macaroni, canned tomatoes, hot dogs, and canned corn or beans. It’s a delicious medley that many still make, but with less hot dogs.
This meal was popular on soup kitchen lines and likely helped feed countless Americans who were struggling to make ends meet. Food historians note its flexibility was key to its survival. This Depression food staple is basically a “throw it all in” kind of soup starring canned or boxed pantry goods. “Traditional” ingredients included macaroni, hot dogs, tomatoes, and corn – but during the Depression, none of that was guaranteed to be available, so you just had to make it work somehow.
Today? We’ve all had some kind of version of this meal when it’s cold outside and we feel too lazy to make the trek to the grocery store. The dish represents the ultimate “pantry raid” meal that modern families recognize.
Wacky Cake: The Chocolate Miracle
“This cake is quick and easy to make – one bowl, no mixer,” says Emily Luchetti, Executive Pastry Chef for Marlowe, Park Tavern, and The Cavalier Restaurants in San Francisco. Sometimes called a crazy cake or depression cake, a wacky cake is a limited-ingredient chocolate cake that first rose to popularity during the Great Depression and again during WWII. Pantry-friendly, it’s a cake that uses ingredients like flour, sugar, cocoa powder, vinegar, and baking soda.
“The magic of wacky cake is in its chemistry – vinegar and baking soda create lift, and oil provides the needed fat, so you get a moist, tender cake without traditional dairy or eggs,” explains Odette D’Aniello, baking expert and CEO at Dragonfly Cakes. The cake gets mixed right in the baking pan, making it foolproof for stressed home bakers.
The cake, which gets its name from the cakes baked during the Great Depression when rations were limited, is currently making a big comeback as many home bakers are searching for recipes that are tasty but also extremely adaptable. Additionally, Odette D’Aniello noted that it’s naturally vegan, so it’s a perfect dessert to fit in to your plant-based repertoire.
Navy Bean Soup: The Military’s Gift to Civilians
Fun fact: It’s called “Navy Bean Soup” because it was considered a staple food of the United States Navy in the early 20th-century. Beans were an essential staple during The Great Depression and often worked into every meal. Navy bean soup was one popular bean recipe that is still popular today.
Thanks to their low cost and availability during the Great Depression, beans served as the basis of many common dishes. Cheap and easy to cook, baked beans were a popular side dish (or sometimes a full meal). The soup provided complete protein and fiber when meat was expensive or unavailable.
Government food relief efforts often distributed dried pinto beans in bulk (yes, that’s right) because they were cheap, shelf-stable, and packed with vital nutrients necessary survival. Today, bean soup remains comfort food that connects us to that era of making the most from simple ingredients.
Dandelion Salad: Nature’s Free Food
Dandelions, often considered weeds today, were a valuable free food during the Depression. Their leaves were used to make fresh, vitamin-packed salads. Clara Cannucciari, the popular Depression-era chef who lived to be 98-years-old, learned how to make a dandelion salad by harvesting the bitter greens when she lived through the massive economic downturn. The key is to avoid any areas that might be treated with pesticides, clean the plants well, and discard any brown leaves and flowers. An expert in Depression-era cooking, Cannucciari demonstrated the simple and budget-friendly recipes that feel all the more relevant during the 2020 pandemic.
This recipe became popular during the Great Depression because one of the ingredients is priced at “free” as long as you have dandelions in your yard. You can also get dandelion greens at many restaurants. They’re slightly bitter, depending on how young the leaf is, and many cooks like to brighten up the flavor of the greens with lemon and vinegar.
It seems like dandelion greens are ready for their second act. Modern chefs now celebrate these bitter greens for their unique flavor profile and nutritional density.
Cornbread: The Southern Survivor
Cornbread is eaten widely today and is a beloved staple of the South, but did you know that many relied on it in the early 1900s? As a matter of fact, it was initially made with only three ingredients: yeast, cornmeal, and water. Classic cornbread is the perfect side with almost any meal. I especially love cornbread with something really rich like chili.
The simplicity made cornbread essential during tough times. Cornmeal was cheap and could be stored for months without spoiling. Nothing says good home cooking like a crisp Southern cornbread baked in a cast-iron skillet. This old family recipe has been passed down to each generation.
Modern cornbread recipes often include sugar and eggs, but the Depression version focused on stretching cornmeal as far as possible. Today’s bakers appreciate both the rustic simplicity and the connection to American food history.
Potato Soup: The Ultimate Comfort
This old-fashioned potato soup only requires five ingredients. I love that it’s so easy to make and is genuine comfort food. All you need for this simple soup is potatoes, milk, butter, salt, and pepper. It’s another recipe that can probably be made from your pantry on any given day. Nothing is more satisfying on a cold night than a warm bowl of potato soup.
During the Depression, potatoes were one of the most reliable and affordable foods available. They could be stored in cool cellars for months and provided essential calories and nutrients. Potatoes are in many dishes that were popular during the Great Depression. Thanks to their versatility, they served as the basis of a wide variety of recipes.
The soup could be made thicker or thinner depending on available ingredients. Families learned to stretch small amounts of milk and butter by mashing some potatoes directly into the broth for natural thickening.
Mock Apple Pie: The Great Deception
When apples were scarce, people invented a pie using crackers, sugar, and cinnamon to mimic the taste of apple filling. We’ve got you covered with this mock apple pie recipe. Crush crackers and mix with sugar, cinnamon, and a little water to create a paste. Bake for 15 minutes in a pie crust at 425 for a surprising substitute.
Want to try out an unusual recipe? Check out this depression-era water pie that has gotten a lot of attention on social media recently. The ingenuity of using saltine crackers to simulate apples shows the desperate creativity of Depression-era cooks.
The pie worked because the crackers broke down into a texture similar to cooked apples, and the spicing convinced the palate. Families could enjoy the psychological comfort of dessert even when fresh fruit was impossible to afford.
Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwich: The Unexpected Classic
Unlike the previous entries on this list, the peanut butter and pickle sandwich SOUNDS like it came from the Great Depression. This is one of those “don’t knock it until you try it” kinda deals. While you might think peanut butter and pickles are conflicting flavors, they work surprisingly well with each other. In fact, lots of people still make them, and new fans are converted daily.
As Garden & Gun reports, the peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich took hold of America in the 1930s, during the peak of the Depression. Every household had the two staple items – mayo and peanut butter – and the sour, nutty, concoction was filled with more than enough protein. Mothers realized they had an affordable, nutritious food that their children loved, and the product retained its popularity long past the Depression’s end.
The combination provided essential fats and proteins when meat was too expensive. During the Great Depression, peanut butter was very cheap. It emerged in the Midwest during the 1890s, arguably invented by John Harvey Kellogg (yes, of Kellogg’s cereals) and marketed for the masses. It gained further popularity when, in 1922, a California man named Joseph Rosefield used a chemical process called partial hydrogenation to make peanut butter shelf stable.
These eight dishes prove that necessity truly is the mother of invention. According to historians, modern society can learn a lot from the myriad ways people put food on the table during the Great Depression. While some people raised livestock and grew their own fruits and vegetables, others had to stretch every dollar and pinch every penny to get the most food for their buck during hard economic times.
As food historians and ordinary Americans look back on the Depression years, they frequently use the terms “creative” or “resourceful” to describe the cooking of mothers and grandmothers who found ways to make satisfying fare out of some unusual ingredients. Nothing edible was ever thrown out or wasted. Leftovers always reappeared over the next few days.
What do you think about these Depression-era dishes that refuse to disappear? Have you tried any of them yourself?
