[Graeme]

A Picture of Our Post Peak Oil Food Supply

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e recently read Mark Kurlansky's 2009 book,The Food of a Younger Land (Riverhead Books) that offers a peak at how we might be eating in an oil-constrained world. The book was based on the lost WPA files. During the Great Depression, the government was confronted with how to deal with stubbornly high unemployment. The Works Progress Administration of the Franklin Roosevelt administration was created to develop projects that would employ workers throughout the economy on government payrolls. As there were few employment opportunities for writers and poets in America at this time, the WPA developed a program to write about the eating habits, traditions and struggles of local people to feed themselves. The project was called "America Eats" and it envisioned an organized effort to document eating in each state of the union. The project was abandoned in the early 1940s because of World War II, and it was never resumed.

As Mr. Kurlansky taps the WPA America Eats' files, readers will learn about food and dining experiences such as visiting automats in New York City (the author did as a 10 year old) and attending Coca-Cola parties in Georgia, possum-eating clubs in Arkansas and salmon feasts in Puget Sound. He also draws on articles documenting Choctaw Indian funeral feasts, South Carolina barbecues and chuck wagon cooks. The world of eating Mr. Kurlansky describes was simple, regional and focused on using locally available and often seasonal foodstuffs, many of them not current foods. This world existed well before the national highway system, frozen food and fast food establishments. It is an interesting read that sheds light on how we may have to change our menus in the future

[pup55]

Nice article that of course makes it a bit more glamorous than it must have actually been....

I can only think of a couple of things: the population of the US in 1929 was probably only about 1/3 of what it is now, and it was not a problem to find some spaces wide open enough to shoot a possum if you knew where to look for one. Nowadays I suspect we would be talking about 'peak possum' before too long.

True story from pup28: Every Friday after work, pup06 would bring home a box of 12 shotgun shells, and pup28 and his brother pup32 at some point during the following week would have the job of bringing home 11 rabbits. They were allowed one miss per week.

This was in about 1938 so we are talking about a 10 year old and a 6 year old, wandering around town with a firearm shooting rabbits....

The other thing I can think of is: This article appeared in Rigzone, which is a pretty conservative, industry cheerleader type of website traditionally.... Did anyone else pick up on this?

[pup55]

Ah, thanks for reminding me...
piccione.....

had that once over there..... it was a nice restaurant, not too far from Marghera, about mid-afternoon, and ironically, Sinatra was playing in the background...

[Revi]

I think squirrel will come back as base for a stew.

I have eaten them, and they are not bad.

Groundhog is supposed to be really good too.

[pup55]

I suppose we can also eat those pesky gophers.....


For those of you who do not get the joke, please refer to the following:

http://us.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3032219929/

[mcgowanjm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'W')hilst very few people (except the odd deranged conspiracy theorist) would argue that US farmers have largely had anything other than some bloody good crops this year, many think that the USDA may be overestimating just how good things have been.

[JJ]

used to work for a fellow who was a small boy during the Great Depression. He said his mom kept a shotgun by the back door, and every few days let go a blast into the tree out back, and he'd go pick up all the little sparrows and she would fry them. He said he ate them bones and all. (Austin, Texas).