A bit of reading, but I hope you enjoy! I have thoroughly enjoyed doing research and playing at teatime this week. I thought it would be fun to explore what an afternoon tea time would look like during the 1930's or 1940's.
The Great Depression took place close to 100 years ago in the 1930's. It was my mother's era. Banks crashed, there was a dust bowl, and unemployment was at 20%. When I was young I heard stories of desperation and struggle. It was indeed a hard time in the history of the US.
I also remember stories of finding premiums such as dishes like the green glass in cereal boxes, a free gift with purchase, jam sold in juice glasses, even movie tickets with cereal and teapots with Lipton Tea. The Lipton Teapot was made by Hall China starting in 1935. I was born at the end of that era, but can remember some of those free gifts. They were so exciting to receive. Even local markets were giving glasses with purchase and my aunt saved up her red glasses for me as a wedding gift. Can you think of any products today that give premiums with purchase?
Food was also in short supply and often cooks had to be creative in making a meal. They would need to find substitutes for butter, milk or eggs. Meat was scarce and often inexpensive meat was purchased in cans. Have you ever had Spam or deviled ham from a can? Refrigeration was often not available. I remember the ice truck coming around the neighborhood to deliver ice for refrigeration. Canned food became popular during this era until the 1970's when people
such as Alice Waters started influencing the use of fresh food.Yeastless breads were served too, My mother often baked nut breads. Toasted nut bread was a treat. My mother loved sitting to relax in the kitchen as she cracked the nuts and stored them in canning jars. After all it was free for those that had nut trees in their surroundings.
Fruit cocktail was developed at the end of the 1930's as a way of using fruit scraps. This canned fruit was added to all sorts of salads or just served plain. I actually loved it, especially when my mom added marachino cherries; so had to smile when I saw cans on my market shelf with cherries added. I hadn't purchased fruit cocktail for many years and there it was with cherries. That just made me smile.
Some of the tea you could find on the market shelf was Lipton, King Cole, and Typhoo, mostly in bags. The Tea Council ad said, "Take tea and see, see what a glow you get from hot and hearty tea-see if it doesn't help you feel better, sleep better too!" During this time tea dresses, tea dances, and leaf reading were popular. The music in a tearoom or at a tea dance was often light jazz. Can you hear it now? Wouldn't you just love swaying to the music as you nibbled a small sandwich and sipped a bit of tea?
The wealthy began taking road trips. Since there were no places to stop for food along the way, they would pack a picnic. Many gas stations were beginning to serve food and often it was the gas stations owners wife that started a tearoom, serving fried chicken and tea. There would be a teakettle hanging outside to advertise a tearoom inside. If the weather was good, people would sit out under a tree to eat. In researching one author often came up, Jan Whitaker, and her book, Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn, A Social History of the Tea Room Craze in America. Looking on my book shelf I found I had a copy of the book and will be doing some reading to further learn about the tea room craze in America. I know many of you have heard of Knott's Berry Farm in Southern California. It was started as one of these tearooms serving fried chicken along the highway.
Read more at: https://blog.thenibble.com/2018/05/13/food-101-fruit-cocktail-history
Read more at: https://blog.thenibble.com/2018/05/13/food-101-fruit-cocktail-history/
Read more at: https://blog.thenibble.com/2018/05/13/food-101-fruit-cocktail-history/
As I was thinking on this era I wondered what would you serve for afternoon tea? I decided to serve a depression era tea to my family this week. Thankfully they put up with me, as it does involve food.
