I attended the talk “Nutrition Warriors: Home Economics and the Fight to Feed America During the Great Depression”. The talk was given by Ms. Jane Ziegelman, historian and author of A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression. In that hour period, Ms. Ziegelman discussed the perhaps rather unknown side of the thing everyone has heard about the Great Depression: hunger. When their children no longer had the energy to go to school, mothers frantically started learning all they could about vitamins and how to best prepare food that gave the most nutrition, all while trying to stretch every dollar they had. Everyone thought that it was just a temporary setback, a recession. They had no idea that it would end up being a decade-long Great Depression. It was a period that saw shifts in the country’s political and social landscape.

My prior knowledge of the work people like Flora Rose and Mrs. Roosevelt did on behalf of the quarter of all Americans unemployed and undernourished was very limited. I had learned about the bread lines and FDR’s New Deal in my history classes, but I had never learned about home economics. I certainly had never heard of Milkorno and Milkoato. They changed the way Americans ate by promoting an ambivalence toward culinary enjoyment (something I cannot endorse, but am able understand their reasons). It was better for food to be a bland experience, as placing too much stock in flavor would lead people to choose the wrong kinds of food. The home economists’ vision of utilitarian cuisine on the American dinner table was reflected in the emphasis on potatoes, carrots, bread, cabbage, prunes, beans, and milk in recipes. I found the talk to be very interesting, especially since Cornell played such a significant role in aiding the country during that trying period. The talk has certainly given me much to consider the next time I swipe in at the dining hall.