Clara, who came through the financial Great Depression in America, shows us how to cook with very simple ingredients, as were used then.

Along the way, she talks of how people coped then, with imagination and simple enjoyments.

This is a wonderful antidote to today’s frantic, consumer society and throwaway culture.

Everything in Clara’s kitchen is well-used and prized, obviously very important to her through her life.

Just being with her calm presence and descriptions with good humour of difficult times is refreshing.

The poor man’s feast is lentils with rice, thin slivers of meat (a luxury) and a salad (simply tossed leaves in olive oil and lemon).

**She cooks with blithe disregard for cross-contamination – nowadays, food health and safety would not recommend using a plate and lemons for raw meat and then reusing the plate and lemons on cooked meat and lettuce.  But it’s not difficult to make small adjustments to avoid the raw meat surfaces and juices from contacting the other ingredients.

This is oral history in action, bridging into our contemporary society with digital pixels.

More at:

The website here.

Youtube channel: Great Depression Cooking