From Hunger to Hope
Jul 14, 2022–Aug 28, 2022
J. Gilbert Smith House
From frozen foods to Jell-O molds, the 1930s and 40s saw a huge upsurge in convenience foods. Building on the popularity of brands like Wonder Bread, Kool-Aid, Velveeta Cheese, and Hostess Cakes, American supermarkets stocked up on mass-produced items. Discover how creative and economical cooks transformed these products during the Depression era and through the rationing of World War II.
FAQs
Celery soup mixed with tuna fish and mashed potatoes. A salad of corned beef, gelatin and canned peas. Baked onion stuffed with peanut butter. Those are just some of the recipes Americans turned to during the Great Depression, when many families struggled to eat enough nutritious food.
What food was invented in the 40s? ›
Snacks that emerged during the '40s include Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Chiquita Bananas, Junior Mints, Almond Joy, V8, and Cheetos.
What were the food lines in the 1930s? ›
Soup kitchens and bread lines were methods of feeding the neediest people in the country during the Great Depression. Run by charities, private companies, and the government, many soup kitchens and bread lines served thousands of people a day.
Was there fast food in the 1930s? ›
In the 1920s and 1930s, some of the most famous chain restaurants—Horn & Hardart, Howard Johnson's, A&W Root Beer, Bob's Big Boy, Dairy Queen, White Castle, and Marriott Hot Shoppes among them—appeared in urban areas as walk-up lunch rooms, cafeterias, and hamburger stands.
What were the 7 food groups in the 1940s? ›
In the 1940s, the number of food groups expanded to 7 through “The Basic 7” (green and yellow vegetables; oranges, tomatoes, and grapefruit; potatoes and other vegetables and fruit; milk and milk products; meat, poultry, fish, or eggs; bread, flour, and cereals; and butter and fortified margarine) (10).
What was a typical breakfast in the 1940s? ›
1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter
A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk.
What fast food was created in 1940? ›
McDonald's, 1940
McDonald's is the original fast food restaurant and has dominated the fast food industry throughout history. It was founded in 1940 but really began to take off in the early 1950s.
What did the poor eat during the depression? ›
With the limited amount of ingredients families had, they developed their own recipes, which spread like wildfire to poor people in need of something to eat.
- Peanut Butter Bread. ...
- Mulligan Stew. ...
- Poorman's Meal. ...
- Dandelion Salad. ...
- Hoover Stew. ...
- Prune Pudding.
: If you judged the 1930s by its snacks alone, you would have no idea that the economy was tanking. Twinkies, Snickers, Tootsie Pops, Fritos, 3 Musketeers, Ritz Crackers, Frito corn chips, 5th Avenues, and Lay's Potato Chips were all produced during the lean years of the Great Depression.
What foods were cheap during the Great Depression? ›
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, homemakers stretched their food budgets with soups, rice and pasta–but beans were the commodity no household went without: cheap, high protein, and no refrigeration required until cooked.
Here are some snacks that were developed or popularized in the 1930s, according the The Food Timeline: cheese puffs, Fritos, Marshmallow Sandwich cookies, chocolate-covered pretzels (chocolate-covered potato chips date to the 1920s), Ritz crackers, SPAM, and Cho Cho ice cream treats.
