Sign in to wowOwow

Enter the username or e-mail address that you used when registering at wowOwow.
The password field is case sensitive. Click here if you have forgotten your password.

Please register for wowOwow

By registering, you indicate that you have read and agree
with our privacy policy and terms of service.
Home › Money

Money | 02/27/2009 10:55 am

Great Depression Cooking With Clara Cannucciari (Video)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
'Great Depression Cooking With Clara'

At 93 years old, Clara Cannucciari has fond memories of surviving the Great Depression — and also of the wonderful meals she and her mother cooked in the kitchen. Times may have been tough, but the family always enjoyed a hot meal.

Now, decades later, as the economy sinks, Cannucciari is sharing her secrets on her own online cooking show called "Great Depression Cooking With Clara."

Taped in her kitchen, each installment features simple, delicious and, most importantly, inexpensive recipes. Her meals include meatloaf, pasta with peas and egg-drop soup. Also, throughout her cooking shows, the great grandmother shares stories from her childhood — which included bootleggers concocting whiskey in her parents’ home and living without heat to save money.

All of her episodes are available on YouTube. Below is an episode where Cannucciari prepares French bread with peppers and eggs:

Read more about: Change the World, Clara Cannucciari, Cooking, Economy, Finance, Frugal, Give Back, Great Depression, Lifestyle, Money, News, Recession, Video

36 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

DeBrcaobj
OMG, talk about "depression".
By DeBrcaobj on 02/27/2009 11:13 am
GrandeCamper
LOL
By GrandeCamper on 02/27/2009 11:34 am
KittyMcDonaldNeal
What a wonderful little program and so contemporary in its topic even while it refers to the past, not to mention that it highlights the contributions that make older people so necessary to our communities.  Thank you for this article, and thank Clara for passing on her knowlege and ideas along with her memories.
By KittyMcDonaldNeal on 02/27/2009 1:12 pm
chefZee

Only in America!

I suspect something is missing in the bread…like flavor? No salt, no oil, no sweetness - flour, yeast and water. No wonder they were depressed.

I did enjoy the telling of her memories though. 

I think the stories are  

By chefZee on 02/27/2009 2:11 pm
lendypendleton
i think that is why they called it the depression.  no money, no flavor. just sweeten it with love and caring. :)
By lendypendleton on 03/02/2009 9:06 am
chefZee
The secret ingredients to all the best dishes, even now.
By chefZee on 03/02/2009 11:43 am
LilaKuh
Mmmmm, no, the yeast gives it its distinctive flavor and it’s best eaten hot from the oven with some butter.  YUM!  Soda biscuits are just as simple, with soda doing the leavening rather than yeast, and they are delicious too.
By LilaKuh on 03/05/2009 1:24 pm
chefZee
Sorry. The last words should be "worth noting".
By chefZee on 02/27/2009 2:12 pm
rockyrocky
This is lovely. Every family should do this, so that their elders as well as their histories and customs will be remembered and passed on. Good goin’ Clara. Only one thing (isn’t there always): Our pasta and peas, a staple in my house all the years I was growing up, was quite unlike your recipe (on another video on YouTube). Our was lots and lots of diced garlic browned in olive oil mixed at the very last minute with fresh or frozen peas (peas were never "cooked") and served with al dente spaghetti and any hard cheese we might have in the house. Quite good.
By rockyrocky on 02/27/2009 2:18 pm
DeBrcaobj
Is everyone from the Great Depression named "Clara"? I grew up on a steady diet of stories of the Great Depression from my mother, Clara.
By DeBrcaobj on 02/27/2009 4:25 pm
rockyrocky
:-) That’s funny, DeBúrca, a sweet coincidence. I clicked on the video here to find out about her other videos, and it seems she has at least one Sicilian recipe on YouTube. Who knows? Clara may be an Americanized Chiarina. But seriously, I suspect that many who lived through the Great Depression have too similar stories …
By rockyrocky on 02/27/2009 6:23 pm
DeeT

DeBurca,

Add Elsie, my mom’s name and Eleanor, my aunt’s- also very popular names during that era. I also got the steady diet of nothing being thrown away but repaired and every part of a chicken used, etc. Also stories of WWII and rationings. Oh, those were the days.

By DeeT on 02/28/2009 9:20 am
JeannotKensinger
Perhaps after Clara Bow?
By JeannotKensinger on 02/28/2009 9:57 am
NP2
93 year old and she’s on You Tube… Go Clara!
By NP2 on 02/27/2009 2:43 pm
pamhowell
what a dear sweet woman!! her great great grandkids are gonna love this in 2054!!! i wish i had youtube of my momma so that she could have shared all her southern cooking wisdom with me, because i have forgotten it all!!!
By pamhowell on 02/27/2009 4:27 pm
123next ›last »