This week’s Rose Cafe was very interesting. Dr. Ziegelman talked to us about food production and our relationship with food in the Great Depression and how this relationship continues to evolve today.

An interesting part of the talk was the use of fortified cereals. Examples of such cereals include Milkorno, which were enriched with the nutrition and calories needed for Americans to survive. Such foods took a minimalist of food and focused on ensuring that people recieve the “right” foods and are able to survive and get the right nutrition. It is interesting that in contrast, today, cereals are notorious for being unhealthy processed foods that are simply empty calories with no real nutritional value, full of high fructose corn syrup. As consumers, we have to be very smart about what we eat, and ensure that we are aware of what is going in to our body by checking what foods actually consist of- many cereals today which are advertised as healthy are often high calorie, or have high-fructose corn syrup.

Another example of changing perceptions of foods is how during the Depression era, nutritionists including our very own Flora Rose encouraged cream based white sauced in foods. Today, in our vegan friendly and more nutrititonally aware society, we are aware that such foods are very high in fats and lack nutrition- and that tomato based sauces are far superior.

In conclusion, this talk was insightful and shed light on a lot of differences between food, and our relationship and perception of it, now compared to during the Great Depression.