Depression Cooking w/Clara - 93 yo great-grandma

[Tradd]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

These videos are GREAT! Clara, 93 year old Sicilian great-grandma (1st generation American) was in high school during the Depression, but had to quit partway through because her family couldn't afford socks. Each video is about 6 minutes long. Watch with pen and paper in hand to write down the recipes. Her great-grandson filmed her - she's a lovely woman, with skills we certainly need to remember.

Watch the videos in order. This is simple cooking served up with stories of Clara's childhood. Go, grandma!

[lil_earthmomma]

Thanks! :

[Debstmomy]

OMG, she is AWESOME!!!! Thank you for sharing!

[AniellasMommy]

She is so cool!! I want to be like her when I grow up!!

[velochic]

Yeah, I saw that link over on homesteadingtoday a few days ago, but never got around to looking at her videos. I love her little stories of the depression she dots her instruction with.

Thanks for the reminder!

[stanleymama]

She is adorable! Loved it!

[Usually Curious]

I love her videos!

One thing I've started doing (because of her) is using a base of fried onions & potatoes for a lot of things. All of her recipes sound good except for her egg drop soup, lol.

[Leta]

Ooh, I love egg drop soup in any form. That one was my favorite. Mmm.

I saw these about a year ago... there were three at the time. Are there any more?

I remember just being fascinated at how she hoarded (can't think of a better word) red sauce and olive oil- she used them like they were condiments instead of the base of recipes, which is the opposite of a lot of modern Italian American cookbooks.

I also remember laughing aloud at the shot of the camera guys just getting down on her Poor Man's Meal.

[Village Mama]

So great! Thanks for the link!

[APmomSoCal]

Wow! What a treasure and a blessing that Lady is!: I can't wait to sit and relax and watch every one of her videos.

May I recommend some books on the depression that may be helpful?
"Recipes and Stories from the Great Depression" by Rita van Amber. There are 5 volumes and they are wonderful! Too bad there aren't very many Depression era people left! We can certainly learn so much from those that have been there.

[laohaire]

I watched the first one. Can I adopt her?

Will watch more later on in the day.

[lolar2]

This is great. I need to do something like this with my grandfather's writings-- he didn't cook, as a young boy, but he writes down all kinds of memories of what his mother and sisters cooked.

[Maddy123]

Wonderful! I watched the first one (pasta w/potatoes and peas), and look forward to the rest. Love her stories.

[neetling]

subbing

[morganlefay]

How precious! (And useful). I really, really wish someone had thought to do something like this with my great-grandmother before she passed on.

[4kidlets4me]

I watched a few and thought it was interesting she only puts a few Tbs of sauce in the stuff. Most people today would have added the whole jar! Makes me think what I could use less of in recipes to make it stretch further.

[CookAMH]

Very cool! Gotta love how she dices the potatoes, strip by strip. It must take forever!

[greenluv]

I watched these videos with my oldest dd today. We both enjoyed them so much we decided that we need a great grandma like that! :

I'm already anxious for more videos.

[mamababamba]

She is sooooo my 80 year old mother who lived through hard war times in Malta and still uses her percolator and talks of the time that tomato sauce on bread was dinner! Thanks for the great link and memories! :

[captivatedlife]

Thanks for posting this - I'm already on the sixth one.