Starting a new series this week titled Delicious and Cheap based on a 1932 edition of Baltimore Afro-American and and contribution to stories we have done Eating While Poor and on the Great Depression.
Part 1 A Baltimore Kitchen in the Hungriest Year
On October 1, 1932, deep in the Depression, the Baltimore Afro-American (AFRO) assured readers that beans tasted good and cost little. Lower-caste families, last hired and first fired, often paid dominant-caste grocers more for less (Wilkerson, Caste, 19-25). Access asks whether food sits on a shelf; sovereignty asks who decides. The unsigned columnist owned no farm, yet the paper, owned and edited by lower-caste journalists, handed readers knowledge the market withheld. Can control over one meal begin a claim to sovereignty?
[Side Bar]
Heavy rains made beans plentiful in 1932. This egg-and-lemon sauce, warmed with allspice, dressed the cheap pod as company food to a main dish.
Savory Beans with Cream
Ingredients
Green beans
Boiling salted water
Butter
1 egg, well beaten
1 tablespoon cream
2 tablespoons grated cheese
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon allspice
Directions
"Top and tail" the beans and slice them fine, diagonally. Cook in boiling salted water until almost done. Drain, dry, and sauté in a little butter until slightly browned. Keep hot. Blend the egg, cream, cheese, lemon juice, and allspice, and simmer gently until smooth and thick. Serve over the beans with roast pork.
Afro-American (Baltimore), October 1, 1932, 15.
