DRAFT 1 Lesson Title: Depression Cooking Grade Level: 9-12 Subject Area: Social Studies Setting: Garden and Classroom Instructional Time: 60 min. High School Content Expectations: USHG ERA 7 7.1.2 Causes and Consequences of the Great Depression Explain and evaluate the multiple causes and consequences of the Great Depression by analyzing (bullet #2) the economic and social toll of the Great Depression, including unemployment and environmental conditions that affected farmers, industrial workers and families. 3 MNN Behavioral Outcome (USDA Guidance on Apple Sheet): Eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products every day. Be physically active every day as part of a healthy lifestyle. SNAP-Ed Core Nutrition Messages Role Modeling Messages 1. They learn from watching you. Eat fruits and veggies and your kids will too. 2. They take their lead from you. Eat fruits and veggies and your kids will too. Cooking and Eating Together Messages 2. Make meals and memories together. It s a lesson they ll use for life. Goal Explore the impact of Great Depression on family eating habits Learning Objectives: Explore consequences of the Great Depression on family life, nutrition, food access and consumption. Background The Great Depression: Americans Learn to Ration After the stock market crash in 1929, the American economy fell apart and 13 million people lost their jobs. Families cut down to two meals a day or ate on alternate days. Some families even searched for their meals in the local garbage dumps. A coal miner's lunch at this time consisted of beans and a watery gravy along with a "water sandwich" - stale bread soaked in lard and water. Most everyone had to cut down or remove completely fruits and meats from their meals because they were too expensive to afford. http://www.keyingredients.org/001_timeline/001_timeline_04.asp?id=5 Advanced Preparation Obtain Great Depression Cooking with Clara DVD available for purchase in October 2009 or, using an online videos on YouTube titled Tips for the Depression, Great Depression Cooking: Ep. 1 Pasta with Peas, and Great Depression Cooking Ep. 3 Poor man s Meal. Copy class set of Me vs. Clara Worksheet student worksheet
Supplies Great Depression Cooking with Clara DVD or video clips Tips for the Depression, Great Depression Cooking: Ep. 1 Pasta with Peas, and Great Depression Cooking Ep. 3 Poor man s Meal. Class set of Me vs. Clara Worksheet student worksheet School garden MyPyramid Poster Procedures Step 1 How would families have been affected by the Great Depression? Students individually list at least three changes in daily family life as a result of the Depression. Have volunteers share ideas and discuss as a class. Step 2 Intro Great Depression Cooking with Clara. How old would someone be right now if they grew up in the Great Depression? Clara was a teenager in the Great Depression and she is currently in her nineties. She currently has a cooking show available on YouTube.com chronicling dishes that her mother commonly prepared to feed her large family during the Great Depression. In her show she shares recipes and candid stories about growing up as a teenager in the Depression. Step 3 Pass out and explain Me vs. Clara student worksheet. Allow time for students to complete Me Now column. Step 4 Watch Tips for the Depression video clip on YouTube. Allow students time to complete Clara Then column based on what they learned from Clara s stories. Step 5 Discuss answers for Me vs. Clara worksheet chart as a class. Step 6 Review MyPyramid poster. Remind students that MyPyramid describes how we can grow and maintain health. Do students believe that people during the Great Depression were able to meet these requirements? Do they believe we are able to meet the requirements now? How did people during the Great Depression adapt to their environment and adapt their environment to meet their nutritional needs? How do we adapt to our environment and adapt our environment to meet our nutritional needs in present day? Step 7 Watch Great Depression Cooking Episode: 1 Pasta with Peas and Great Depression Cooking Episode: 3 Poor man s Meal available on YouTube.com. Discuss ingredients used in Clara s recipes. Do students think that olive oil a typical ingredient during the depression? What spices did she use? Did she use them sparingly or abundantly? How would these items fit into MyPyramid. Analyze Clara s recipes using the link below. How nutritious were they? Step 8
Go to school garden (needed for question #9). Students answer questions #1-9 on Me vs. Clara worksheet. Note: Question #10 requires further resources (cookbooks, online recipe sites, family recipes, etc.) and will need to be completed as homework. Discuss answers to #1-9 as time allows. Step 9 Have students research Great Depression Era recipes and prepare them at home. Have a recipe exchange and taste test day in class. Have students identify which food groups each recipe incorporates into the dish. Indicate which recipes incorporate crops that are indigenous to their region and/or easily stored? If practical, make copies of the recipes and send home with students. Assessment Me vs. Clara Worksheet answers and class discussion. Answer Key Me vs. Clara Worksheet KEY Student Pages Me vs. Clara worksheet Extension Ideas Have students research how the Great Depression led to the decline in per capita population engaged in farming. Remind students of the influence of the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and the movement toward urbanization as farmers lost their land to banks and farmland was bought up by larger farmers. When more than 90% of Americans lived on farmer, many people raised much of the food they consumed while post-depression, and post-wwii society saw, fewer people living on farms and purchasing food in grocery stores (which likely to be much more expensive as well as processed/refined). Research, plan, and plant a garden that would provide produce through all growing seasons. What accommodations must be made for cold months? Using garden produce, plan one week of meals for a family. Learn how to preserve produce (canning, drying, freezing) for use in off-season Interview elderly relatives or neighbors about their Depression-era stories especially relating to food and gardens. Have students prepare one of Clara s recipes for their families. Family members can write comments that students can bring in to share with class. Have students calculate cost per serving of one of Clara s meals vs. a meal they might eat today. Take a look at recent trends in gardening the National Gardening Association has a paper on recent surveys: http://www.gardenresearch.com/files/2009-impact-of- Gardening-in-America-White-Paper.pdf Above and Beyond Clara s family had the luxury of having a garden. Research family life during the Depression and determine how many families were able to raise their own food. Was Clara s family unusual?
Using Clara s family s recipes, modify the menu to meet the MyPyramid guidelines for a traditional US family today. Using Clara s family s recipes, modify the menu to meet the MyPyramid guidelines for a vegetarian family Have students calculate the nutrients and calories in a meal prepared by Clara s mother and the meals that were modified to meet MyPyramid guidelines (http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php) Have the students research nutrition guidelines from the 1930s. How do they differ from MyPyramid? o Was Clara s family meeting the nutrition guidelines of the time? o What steps would Clara s family have had to take to meet the nutrition guidelines of their time? o What steps would Clara s family need to take to meet MyPyramid guidelines? Supporting Resources Teacher Resources Literature Peck, Richard. A Long Way from Chicago. Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath Turner, Ann. Dust for Dinner Websites http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php Interactive Technology Opportunities http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_01.html http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm Student Pages
Name Hour Date Score /20 Me vs. Clara Directions: Complete the Me Now column with your individual information. After watching Tips for the Depression, fill in the Clara Then column based on what you learned from Clara s stories. Family describe characteristics and relationships and support Me - Now Clara then Eating describe typical meals or foods Foods describe where food is obtained (store, restaurant, garden, etc.) Spare Time describe typical activities Use and Reuse types of things are used and reused After watching the Great Depression Cooking with Clara, answer the following questions. One point each. 1. How is your life today similar to Clara s during the Depression? 2. Which of the differences between you and Clara stand out most to you? Why? 3. How do you think growing up in the Depression-era influences the way Clara lives her life now?
4. How would your family-life be different if your family lived during the Depression-era? 5. In the video, Clara talks about her dad not renting the garage out to the bootleggers. How would the family have been affected if he had decided otherwise? (Think positive and negative consequences). 6. Discuss at least two ways the family garden benefited Clara and her family. 7. Why do you think the neighbor stole the food from Clara s garden? 8. After working hard to have a successful garden, would you share your garden produce with a neighbor? Why or why not? 9. After visiting the school garden, choose two vegetables you could use in a meatless dinner dish. 10. Find a recipe for each of the vegetables in question 9 that you might prepare for your family s dinner. a. Recipe #1 Main Ingredients b. Recipe #2 Main Ingredients Challenge: Find recipes from the time of the great depression for those two vegetables in question 9. How did preparation differ? What spices or seasonings were used then? What seasonings are used now? How has food preparation changed? a. Recipe #1 Main ingredients b. Recipe #2 Main ingredients
Answer Key Me vs. Clara Directions: Complete the Me Now column with your individual information. After watching Tips for the Depression, fill in the Clara Then column based on what you learned from Clara s stories. Family describe characteristics and relationships and support Me - Now Clara then Large, supportive, hard-working, strong relationships with extended family, children worked to contribute to family well-being Eating describe typical meals or foods Foods describe where food is obtained (store, restaurant, garden, etc.) Spare Time describe typical activities homemade, leftovers, vegetables even if they didn t like it, Mom made them eat veggies because they were nutritious, must eat well so they could stay healthy garden, canned, buy staples in bulk, re-use leftovers and scraps Very little spare time all children had chores Use and Reuse types of things are used and reused left-over foods, few clothes were washed and re-worn, stocking/socks were mended, if they didn t re-use they had to do without. After watching the Great Depression Cooking with Clara, answer the following questions. One point each. 11. How is your life today similar to Clara s during the Depression? ANSWERS WILL VARY 12. Which of the differences between you and Clara stood out most to you? Why? ANSWERS WILL VARY 13. How do you think growing up in the Depression-era influences the way Clara lives her life now? CLARA STILL COOKS THE WAY HER MOTHER TAUGHT HER. HER FAMILY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HER. SHE PASSES HINTS AND TIPS FOR SURVIVAL ON TO FAMILY AND OTHERS SO THEY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL AND HEALTHY IN HARD TIMES.
14. How would your family-life be different if your family lived during the Depression-era? ANSWERS WILL VARY 15. In the video, Clara talks about her dad not renting the garage out to the bootleggers. How would the family have been affected if he had decided otherwise? (Think positive and negative consequences). POSITIVE INCOME GENERATED FROM RENT. NEGATIVE RISK OF POLICE RAIDS, CHILDREN EXPOSED TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES 16. Discuss at least two ways the family garden benefited Clara and her family. CONTRIBUTED TO NUTRITIOUS MEALS, REDUCED GROCERY BILL, KEPT FAMILY BUSY, KEPT FAMILY PHYSICALLY ACTIVE, BONDING TIME, ETC. 17. Why do you think the neighbor stole the food from Clara s family garden? DIDN T WANT TO ASK FOR HELP, DIDN T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PURCHASE FOOD, DIDN T TAKE TIME TO PLANT GARDEN THEMSELVES. 18. After working hard to have a successful garden, would you share your garden produce with a neighbor? Why or why not? ANSWERS WILL VARY 19. After visiting the school garden, choose two vegetables you could use in a meatless dinner dish. VARIES VARIES 20. Find a recipe for each of the vegetables in question 9 that you might prepare for your family s dinner. a. Recipe #1 VARIES Main Ingredients b. Recipe #2 VARIES Main Ingredients Challenge: Find recipes from the time of the great depression for those two vegetables in question 9. How did preparation differ? What spices or seasonings were used then? What seasonings are used now? How has food preparation changed? c. Recipe #1 Main ingredients d. Recipe #2 Main ingredients