These Great Depression Foods Are Becoming Popular Again

Yet another one of Clara Cannucciari's Great Depression Cooking recipes is for something you may have seen on a Chinese takeout menu: egg drop soup. Sounds kind of exotic for a Depression-era meal, doesn't it? And yet, Clara assures us that this was something they ate on the reg back in the '30s.

Her version, unlike the Chinese restaurant kind, contains potatoes, which she fries up along with more chopped onions in a little bit of olive oil. Clara adds bay leaves, salt, and pepper, and when the vegetables are nicely browned, she fills the pot halfway with water and adds yet more salt and pepper. She lets the broth simmer till the potatoes are done, then stirs in a couple of eggs that she scrambles in the pot. Clara also says to leave a few eggs whole, so each person eating the soup gets one whole poached egg. Just before the eggs are done cooking, she stirs in a few spoonfuls of parmesan cheese. In order to serve this soup, Clara places a slice of toasted bread in each bowl, tops the toast with one of the poached eggs, and spoons the soup over the top. 

Clara describes this dish as "very inexpensive and very nutritious and very good." Sadly, as this video memorial makes clear, Clara passed away in 2013 at the age of 98, but she might be glad to know that her recipes are now more relevant than ever.