We are at war, that much we all know — we see the reports on CNN about more death and destruction over there. For those of us without a direct connection to someone at risk, our lives continue basically unabated. It wasn’t always this way.
I just watched the 3-hour British mini-series called “1940s House” where three generations of the Hymers family moved into a period 1940s middle class suburban home outside London for 9 weeks. It was filmed starting in April 2000 and originally broadcast on BBC in January 2001.
A couple, their divorced daughter and two grandsons all transported themselves back in time to relive the years of WWII in middle-class suburban London, condensed into a two month venture. Air raids, rationing, blackouts, and such were just a small part of what this family was put through in their temporary 1930s home. The air raids, by the way, were simulated via recordings, while they squished themselves into their self-built shelter in the backyard. Citizens, regardless of how much money they had, all did without so help win the war. Here in America the situation was similar, although without the overhead attacks such as those on London.
My parents were just getting ready to start high school when the war was over. My grandmothers, both in their mid to late 30’s at the time, had their husbands around as well as many kids to feed. Both sides of my family were in small town rural Oklahoma. Neither grandmother ever drove. I don’t think either ever rode a bike, that would have been a luxury for them. Both sets of grandparents, however, each had a massive garden. Each, in fact, was not much smaller than New Roots Urban Farm. Of course, each had large families with five kids on my mom’s side and eight on my dad’s side. Canning was an important part of the ritual — growing more than you needed at the moment so you could save for winter. Sadly, my grandmothers and my mom passed without my learning how to can veggies. When I was an undergrad, I managed to make some marginally respectable Zwieback, a Mennonite roll my grandmother Klaassen could make in her sleep.
How many of us today could bake our own bread and prepare all our own meals from scratch? Sure, we have those times where we do but what if that was a daily thing? Lyn Hymers, the grandmother on the 1940s house, and her daughter did the shopping but meal planning went out the window when they would arrive at the market and the items they wanted were out of stock or beyond their weekly ration. The menu became not what they wanted but what was available at the time.
Last night, while making a huge pot of soup (Italian Cabbage & Bean in case you are curious), I was more thoughtful about how I peeled the potatoes and how I chopped the onion, so as to minimize waste. Rather than discard the outer leaves of the head of cabbage, as I had been prone to do, I carefully trimmed out a couple of bad spots so I could use the balance of the leaf. Although not called for in the now heavily-modified recipe, some fresh spinach I had in the fridge made it into the stock pot as well. Better to use it before it went bad.
But this is not a cooking website. However, during prior wars food was an issue. Now we are fighting a war over oil so we can continue to truck food all over the country — the “the 3,000 mile Caesar salad” as James Howard Kunstler likes to say. In our modern lives we just expect the supermarkets and restaurants to have everything 365 days out of the year. Walk into an Applebee’s “Neighborhood” Grill & Bar throughout the country and it likely has the same menu, regardless of location. We’ve lost the notion of eating local and seasonally.
In watching the 1940s house I thought the grandmother, Lyn Hymers (50), wasn’t going to make it to the end. However, following the show, it seems to have changed her the most. On the CD she says;
I just feel very privileged actually, to have lived through this. Some of the values that our parents, or our grandparents, held dear to, are actually, I’ve now found very important values. So I don’t know that having all the trappings of modern life makes it a better life.
True enough, modern amenities can indeed be a trap. Many are tied to the car, unable to get anywhere without it. A trap. So much of what we have, if push came to shove, we could likely do without. Sometimes we need that extra shove to simplify our lives. In the past, war would do that. Today, however, we are encouraged to continue our lives — keep driving and keep spending.
Lyn Hymers again:
The biggest impact that the war-time experience has had on my current day is that it is saving me so much money. I save money on the petrol, I save money by buying fresh produce instead of pre-packaged. I buy all my food fresh daily from local shops, not supermarkets. One of the things that was important to me during the war-time experience was my grocer, Mr. Lovegrove. He was a port in a storm. If my circumstances were different, and I were perhaps on my own or elderly, then it would almost be a lifeline, the local shop keeper. I do feel very strongly that I must champion the cause of the local shop keeper not only from a social point of view but because I found it to be cheaper.
Lyn Hymers indicated she had managed to reduce her pre-war vs. post-war grocery bills by nearly 60%, that is big! But aside from saving money, I feel that we need to act like we are at war.
We have young men and women sacrificing their lives so that what, we can continue drive and shop? Most of us are too removed, myself included. Of course, the corporations making big profits from the war want the public detached. The more removed we remain, the more they can drag this out.
We can and should support our troops that are simply following orders of their commanders, all the while questioning why we started this war and why we are still there. This holiday season we should make a sacrifice in our personal lives and do something for those fighting on our behalf. Help the troops, help their families left behind. Something, anything.
