Episode 3: Digging Depression Era Mock Apple Pie

Welcome to Seared Histories Episode 3! Depression Era Mock Apple Pie! 

How can you make good use of food leftovers, or make an inventive recipe when there is food scarcity? Most of us don’t have to worry about this, but during the Great Depression, being inventive was a necessity to feed the family!

There are many examples in history of food scarcity, times when humans had to become inventive to survive. One of these key times occurred between 1929 and 1939, also known as the Great Depression, a period in US history that had a long-lasting influence on the US economy.

This period was made even worse when the Dust Bowl added stress to the USA’s food production and farming industry, leading to overgrazed and barren lands that couldn’t be relied on to provide for the people. 

How were people expected to survive during a time of poverty and loss? Well while Hoover was banging on about keeping the government out of the economy, the people did what they had to do, become inventive with the recipes they had at hand. 

This lead to recipes like water pie, hoover stew, and our current favourite; The Mock Apple Pie!

This mother of a recipe is made without a single apple, not an apple in sight in the entire recipe, just some sugar, spices, and ritz crackers! 

Join us for this episode as we explore the period known as the Great Depression, the only Presidency that lasted four terms, food waste in both history and today, and other ways in which we can be economic when we plan our recipes.

And for the first time ever; THE TEST TASTE! Listen to us as we quite literally eat a mock apple pie for the first time! Apologies if the chewing sound makes you feel sick!

Please note our intense giggles were from our overuse of the term “sweet cracker mush”! Sorry for the squeaky chairs! And please enjoy the shorter format! 

Please consider donating food to your local foodbanks, these are tough times for all of us! 

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