…[an] engaging and often moving cultural history…what is most striking about Ziegelman and Coe's account is the clash of ideology and reality. Theories were tested in real time for the highest imaginable stakes, whose failures exacted an immediate human toll…Despite its vast scope, A Square Meal is often heartbreaking in its human specifics. An earnestly planned New York school lunch menu, the enormous appetite of a hungry man at a New Jersey transients' camp or a grimly inventive recipe for liver loaf can move the reader to tears.

05/30/2016
This absorbing history explores what American’s ate—and, even more, didn’t eat—during the Great Depression, an economic upheaval that devastated agriculture and food budgets. Husband-and-wife food historians Coe (Chop Suey) and Ziegelman (97 Orchard) revisit an era when dire poverty and widespread hunger prompted a raft of food innovations. As bread lines lengthened, political leaders vacillated over the provisioning of food to destitute families while dodging accusations of fostering dependency and laziness. Welfare supports such as food stamps and the school lunch program inaugurated the enduring bureaucratization of food. The period also witnessed a sea change in how Americans thought about food, shifting the focus from taste and abundance to nutrition as scientists and home economists sought to prescribe adequately nutritious diets from the cheapest possible foods—after Eleanor Roosevelt adopted a scientifically engineered economy menu devised at Cornell University, the White House was generally thought to serve the worst fare in Washington—and new convenience inventions such as frozen vegetables revolutionized cooking. Coe and Ziegelman have written an engaging social history illustrated throughout with historically authentic recipes. Even if the period cuisine doesn’t make the reader’s mouth water, the vivid recreation of American eating at a historical crossroads is engrossing. Photos. Agent: Jason Yarn, Jason Yarn Literary. (Aug.)

This revealing and perceptive book recalls the Depression through the food history of that dismal era. Intriguing recipes of that period’s most popular dishes help tell the story.” — Mimi Sheraton, food critic, journalist, and author of 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die

“An engaging social history… The vivid recreation of American eating at a historical crossroads is engrossing.” — Publishers Weekly

“This engaging social history, served up with period recipes, shows just how much the Great Depression fundamentally altered the way Americans shop, cook and eat.” — Pamela Paul, New York Times Book Review

“[An] engaging and often moving cultural history... [An] eloquent work of historical summation.” — New York Times Book Review

“The Great Depression has long been elusive in the history of American food and cooking: we’ve seen snapshots but never a full portrait. Now, with the deep, thoughtful research and lively writing for which they they’re both known, Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman at last open up this era.” — Laura Shapiro, author of Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America

“The authors give a fresh slant to the familiar but complicated history of one of America’s most difficult eras… A highly readable, illuminating look at the many ramifications of feeding the hungry in hard times.” — Kirkus Reviews

“one of those rare books which deliver more than they promise.” — Washington Times

The Great Depression has long been elusive in the history of American food and cooking: we’ve seen snapshots but never a full portrait. Now, with the deep, thoughtful research and lively writing for which they they’re both known, Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman at last open up this era.

[An] engaging and often moving cultural history... [An] eloquent work of historical summation.

This engaging social history, served up with period recipes, shows just how much the Great Depression fundamentally altered the way Americans shop, cook and eat.

This revealing and perceptive book recalls the Depression through the food history of that dismal era. Intriguing recipes of that period’s most popular dishes help tell the story.

one of those rare books which deliver more than they promise.

"A highly readable, illuminating look at the many ramifications of feeding the hungry in hard times." —Kirkus

06/15/2016
Accomplished culinary historians Ziegelman (97 Orchard) and Coe (Chop Suey) team up to create a highly digestible food history of the Great Depression. The book begins with the abundance of U.S. provisions before the Depression: those high-calorie, traditional meat and pie meals baked on the farm. The 1930s, however, ushered in a new era of rationing, breadlines, and bare-bones meals. This account reveals the kinds of dishes people prepared. Many recipes are provided throughout. The diverse historical narrative details not only the kitchen table but also the wider politics and social dynamics of the period. It further traces the emerging nutritional studies that guided many New Deal operations. Particularly illuminating are the portions relating to the sudden growth of breadlines in 1930, and the ways in which many folks scraped together just enough flour and milk to survive the hard times. Excerpts from primary documents give readers a sense of the various and rich voices from the Depression. VERDICT This thought-provoking work concerning the most important commodity during America's greatest economic crises will have wide appeal.—Jeffrey Meyer, Mt. Pleasant P.L., IA

For most Americans today, it's difficult to imagine how overwhelming it was to feed a struggling nation during the Great Depression years, which included the drought known as the Dust Bowl. Narrator Susan Ericksen's clear diction and subtle level of drama add spark to this history of the American diet between the two World Wars. Her varied pacing and lively phrasing help listeners connect to diverse experiences such as failing farms, President Roosevelt's White House menus, and life as a hobo. A SQUARE MEAL examines the sociopolitical complexities of helping the needy and includes period recipes, budgets, and nutritional science. This well-researched history is chock-full of information, making it a good choice for commuters and others who tend to listen to audiobooks in short, digestible portions. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

2016-05-31
A history of the struggle to put food on American tables during the Great Depression."Food, like language, is always in motion, propelled by the same events that fill our history books," write culinary experts Coe (Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States, 2009) and Ziegelman (97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, 2010). By using food as a unifying theme, the authors give a fresh slant to the familiar but complicated history of one of America's most difficult eras. They deftly connect food to science, technology, and commerce as well as political, cultural, and social movements, assembling a thought-provoking mix of personal stories, statistics, and historical events. After the 1929 crash, President Herbert Hoover claimed "business was on sound footing" while New York City breadlines served 85,000 meals per day to the destitute from all levels of society. A domino effect of unemployment and hunger spread across the nation, exacerbated by droughts and floods. "The poor and how they should be treated," and who is "deserving" and "undeserving" in the hierarchy of food distribution were questions that were part of a national conversation that resonates today. The fear that providing food for the hungry would destroy any incentive to work hindered relief efforts as presidents Hoover and Roosevelt approached the juggernaut of feeding a nation from opposite ends of the political spectrum. As jobs and farms dried up, people were on the move­­­ looking for work and sustenance. Menus, recipes, and first-person accounts of folks struggling to get a meal put readers at the heart of the crisis. Among the heroes was an army of professional women from the Bureau of Home Economics who sallied forth armed with budgetary and nutritional advice, determined to educate masses of women on cooking methods, low-cost balanced diets, gardening, and new kitchen technology. Their efforts influenced the culinary arts for decades to come. A highly readable, illuminating look at the many ramifications of feeding the hungry in hard times.