Great Depression Cooking - The Poorman's Meal - Higher Resolution

Nonagenarian cook and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era. Learn how to make simple yet delicious dishes while listening to stories from the Great Depression.

Clara's Poorman's Meal is one of my favorite dishes. It was the reason we began this channel. I could never remember just how Nana made it, and being a visual person, what better way to have the recipe than as a video.

This is a higher resolution version of Clara's Poorman's Meal video. It was shot in SD and now up-resed to HD. Not perfect, but a big improvement from the 2007 YouTube standard of 144p!

This was the very first meal we filmed for her show. We'll leave up the original and enjoy this one for improved clarity as well as a new ending message from Clara.

I recently rediscovered the original tape, dated April 10, 2007, just days away from its thirteenth anniversary. On June 2007 I posted it as the 4th video of our initial posts (saving the best for last, of course). At the time there were very few concept YouTube channels and it wasn't yet owned by Google.

As a filmmaker, I tried convincing TV studios that this was a great show idea. I was told that there wasn't really an appetite for a cooking show about the history of the Great Depression, hosted by an unknown 91 year old Grandmother.

I saw YouTube as a place I could make the show anyway and let people decide for themselves if they wanted to learn meals from the Depression and meet my amazing Grandmother. And you did decide. Thanks for watching and I'll try to continue to share Clara and her incredible cooking as best I can.

-Christopher

[halbailey]

Even though she's no longer with us, I still come back to Clara's videos. I miss this wonderful lady.

[reallycarson]

Me watching these videos in 2019: So relaxing.
Me watching these videos in 2020: *Aggressive note-taking*

[liberty]

Whenever people reach this age, whatever they have to say, just listen.

[sarahlynn]

In this harsh economy, I just made the poor man's meal again for my family and they loved it! It's January 21, 2024 and all these years later, Clara is still in our hearts.

My Nana was Maltese from Malta, which is very similar to the Sicilian culture. She was born in 1913 and was so much like Clara. She passed away in 2006 at 93. The stories and life lessons I got to learn from her, and I feel so blessed to have been taught the old ways, especially with cooking.

Clara's videos mean so much to me. It's like visiting with my own Nana, and what a treasure she is! Thank you to Clara's grandson for sharing your grandmother with us. You have no idea how much it means!

[ScottALanter]

When you think it about, it's really incredible. Clara passed away 7 years ago and her videos are needed now more than ever. It's almost as if Clara was preparing us for the hard times we would face in 2020 when she wouldn't be here to help in person. God bless this wonderful lady. She is missed very much.

[lauriesworld]

My grandmother was 8 days older than this beautiful woman and she's still alive in June of 2022! Such a blessing!!(

[bryanbayer]

Died 7 years ago but still bringing wholesome content 💚 RIP Clara

[HolographicSweater]

The potato is a great friend to humanity

[peterle]

I would stop by the school lunch room before school opened and the lady who cooked would give me a piece of bread with peanut butter and jelly before all the kids came for breakfast. She knew I was hungry. That was fifty years ago.

[itzKELLYh]

Barely a minute in and Clara says she had to quit school because they couldn't even afford socks. This made me think of my Grandma (who was the oldest of 9 siblings during the depression). When I was a kid, she got me a Walkman for Christmas, it was the "big" thing I'd been wanting so I was thrilled. In my joy, I asked my grandma what her favorite present was when she was little and she replied, "I remember the day I got a new pair of socks. I hid them in the back of the drawer so my sisters wouldn't wear them. They were my prize possession." A pair of socks.
1923-2015 Ollie Mae ❤️

[ecouhig]

Whenever the world is ending I find myself right back here with Clara.

[bobaorc]

YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!
YOU WILL BE CELEBRATED!
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED!
THESE TEARS STILL HAVEN'T FADED!

[jordanwiley]

I just learned of this channel, and I just learned she died 7 years ago. She was awesome. rip clara.

[kirika]

This might sound dumb but I kinda feel like I’m back in my childhood just hearing my grandma telling me stories while cooking...thank you for giving me that

[ronniejohnson]

My grandparents lived through the Depression and the stories I heard. She would meet you at the door with hugs and kisses. The the very next thing out of her mouth was, “have you eaten, I got....”. I was about 40 and decided to ask why she always asked that. The answer floored me. “Well, we didn’t know if everybody had a meal that day and if they hadn’t, we made sure they had. “ This told me that they had did without a lot more than they ever mentioned. She quit school in the third grade to help the family survive. I learned more from her than the college I paid for. Dang, something dripped on my phone.

[somakazuki]

As an Asian who is living in the US, sometimes I found those kind of recipes are such a savior in my life. Life could be hard sometimes, but hey, we have poor man’s recipes to warm our hearts and fulfill our stomachs ❤

[cigarzan]

This woman should be declared a National Treasure.

[anneahlert]

My mother told me the story of how one Thanksgiving during the Great Depression, her family had only one solitary potato to cook and eat. It was supposed to be able to feed her mother, her brother, her sister, and herself. (Her father had passed away before this.)

Her Uncle Jimmy surprised everyone by showing up with some fish he had caught in the river. My Grandmother's eyes were full of tears, and the family ended up having fish for Thanksgiving.

It's stories like that one, which make me appreciate whatever little I might think at times that I have.

[mmmm]

Who would give this video a thumbs down? Idiots. What a sweet woman, sharing her love and appreciation of food in her 90s.

[stuartbuckley]

RIP Dear lady. Thank you for sharing your life experiences with us.