School Lunch from the Great Depression

Tiktok ► TastingHistory

Send mail to:
Tasting History
22647 Ventura Blvd, Suite 323
Los Angeles, CA 91364

Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose

#tastinghistory #greatdepression #schoollunch

[TastingHistory]

Question! What was your favorite school lunch dish?

[technoir]

When I grew up my family was so poor that School lunch was the only thing I got to eat most of the time. There was a lunch lady who noticed how skinny I was compared to other kids, and she told me to come to school earlier and she would give me something to eat before school started. I hope today's kids appreciate having school lunch and the lunch ladies.

[arraelle]

" oh those poor children " when tasting the soup is priceless xD

[lairdcummings]

My grandmother had a near-fetish for canning. She raised three boys through the Depression as a single mother, and growing & preserving her own food was their saving grace. Up to the time my father was in his 70s, he grew truck gardens and harvested mass quantities of base staple foods. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pole beans, peas, peaches and grapes, and squash of multiple types.

While she lived, my grandmother marshalled my siblings and myself as her minions, canning and pickling and preserving. Peach preserves, grape jelly, canned marinara sauce and tomatoes, even pickled watermelon rind - we had literally years-worth of such 'put up' when she passed. More than two years after she passed, we still had a few jars in the pantry.

And yes, it was still good. She had mad skills at canning.

[jzhu]

How Lunchables managed to trick kids into pressuring their parents to buy them miniature WWII military rations is a masterclass in marketing.

[thechaospope]

Max's disappointed face when he first tries the soup is absolutely priceless. I love how you can still see him pondering going for a second bite as the spoon moves towards the bowl and he's hit by the realization that no, he really doesn't like this very much and doesn't need that second spoonful.

When I heard the menu, my first question was "Why not just tomato soup and peanut butter sandwiches?"

[eddieboyky]

That moment when Max bites into something he doesn't really like and has to figure out in the moment what to say about it without being too negative! That instant side-eye is priceless!

[keeponwishin]

My grandpa grew up in the 1930s in rural Ohio and he’d talk about this very lunch. He said he was grateful for it because it was his only meal throughout the day, but would say that he and his mates would either spread the soup on the buttered bread or tear up the sandwich and mix it in with the soup and that made it taste a bit better.

[miscaccount]

I went to a rural high school and they were trying this novel thing by hiring a local chef. Same ingredients, but full reign on how to use them. He made bibimbap for us Midwestern kids! Custom omelette bars on Fridays! Pasta straight from the skillet! You could also have as many vegetables as you wanted so I ate loads as a hungry teenager. There was also pizza every day if you wanted it and it was fine and predictable. I was so excited to eat school lunch most days. Apparently after I graduated they decided to let him go and go back to standard, unappetizing American school lunches because it was cheaper . I feel really lucky to have had that experience.

[ingriddaniel]

Thanks, Max, for pointing out that teachers still have to pay for many school supplies themselves. I just returned from Walmart, where I restocked paper, pencils, pens, and dry erase markers for my classroom.

[imahoare]

My grandma used to tell me about her family life during the depression. Lots of canned food, lots of pickling and lots of grain or bread. She worked with her mom as seamstress when she was a teenager. After the depression she also worked on the railroads during WW2 because most of the men in her area were drafted.

[soggsthemage]

When they spoke about putting the tomatoes through a sieve they probably meant a food mill which sometimes is also called a purée sieve. In the context of the quantity necessary for 50 kids a food mill also makes more sense than somebody doing it with a spoon by hand.

[Nm_]

My Aunt was my lunch lady in elementary school and let me tell you, she was the coolest lady in school. Every kid knew her as the lunch lady who would ALWAYS drop what she was doing to make a kid a snack. On test days she would put up her own money so every kid was given a free icecream. She's since retired, and some of my old friends growing up still reach out to ask how she's doing. God bless our lunch ladies, you take the slop you have to work with and turn it into a meal.

[Luffans]

My grandmother told me about how humiliated she felt at lunch time every day. Her teacher inspected the lunches and always shamed hers in front of the other kids because she was very poor. I think she was lucky to have one biscuit in her lunch most days. I bet she would have loved to have school lunch provided.

[josephanthro]

We have a dope af lunch program for our students in Sitka, Alaska. Local fishermen frequently donate some of their catches (salmon, halibut, and even sometimes crab) to the local public schools. Then most of our high schools have programs where students help kitchen staff make meals (to learn how to cook themselves). Most of our schools even bake their own bread; so our students get some incredible school lunches.

[laureldevine]

As per my grandfather who actually ate this very soup; you're supposed to use the bread & butter to eat it. Either dip the sandwich into the soup, like a cookie in milk, or tear the sandwich up into small pieces, laying them gently on top (so they don't disintegrate into the soup) and eat the sandwich and soup together that way - tastes MUCH better (according to him).

[NougetChops]

Every child deserves a free lunch. Period. And they deserve a GOOD free lunch.

[kadikaado]

That is a subject that touches my heart. I am a teacher at a public school in Brazil and our kids stay here from 8am to 5pm, they have 4 meals at school, breakfast (small meal), lunch (main meal), another small meal and then "diner" that is usually some sort of soup. I have some kids that the only time they eat on the day is at school.
Last year my students were talking about wanting to go home and then someone asked a girl if she wanted to go home, she said something like "No way, there's no food at home", so I remembered how important their meals at school are.
In another school I worked previously there were always cases of students fainting during classes because the only meal they had was at school, it never happened in my classes, though.

Here in Brazil most schools serve just one meal for its students, usually rice and beans and some vegetable and protein, like grounded meat stewed with carrots and potatoes, or chicken stewed with chayotte (we rarely ever have fried food). The students usually study from 7am untill noon or 13pm untill 18pm. Adults usually study at night from 19 till 22.

[Ristro]

"These were the things I lost sleep about when I was 8" got me in the heart. A simpler time.

[Amertsi]

Present day lunch lady here! I work at a high school in California, and right now in our district all meals are free, so at my smaller school, we serve about 500 kids at lunch and around 400 at breakfast. We're currently in the process of moving towards more meals being cooked from fresh ingredients in the kitchen. A lot of what we cook right now comes frozen, but it's much healthier and much tastier than what was served when I was in school, and we have a salad bar of fresh fruits and vegetables available every day. It's tough work, and we're most certainly understaffed, but thanks for putting the spotlight even just a little on what can often be a thankless job! At the very least, the soups we serve twice a week are much tastier than what you concocted, or at least I hope so! (We serve pozole and albondigas soups, which are both a hit with the kids!) Making meals from scratch is definitely a lot more work though, and with only 5 of us in the kitchen, it can be a challenge to prepare everything on time, so if you're reading this, please let your local school district know that you support higher wages for us lunch ladies, and also look into working as one yourself if it seems like something you'd like doing! It's a tough job at times but I get so much satisfaction out of knowing I'm helping these kids have a warm meal everyday.