An interesting NPR article on the Depression era diet and an interview with the authors of “A Square Meal.”
Creamed, Canned And Frozen: How The Great Depression Revamped U.S. Diets
Excerpt –
The food that Italian immigrants ate was certainly cheap and delicious and highly nutritious… And they would go out and collect dandelion greens, take them home, and saute them in a little olive oil… You want vitamins, there’s a great source of vitamins! …they had great pasta dishes, which were very good, filled with flavor and filled with nutrients. It’s tragic that we didn’t look to their example for foods to eat during the Great Depression, but that wasn’t “science,” and also that was “un-American.”