Clara's Depression Cooking

Have you heard about one of YouTube's most popular chefs? She is Clara Cannucciari, a great-grandmother, and a child of the Great Depression, now 93 years old.

Mrs. Cannucciari was 91 when her grandson had the idea to keep a video tape record of her as she cooked some of the the simple, inexpensive and delicious meals her mother made during the Great Depression. As she cooked, Clara reminisced about her life and her sweet, yet feisty, personality shined through. Being an aspiring film maker her grandson edited the films, added some graphics, posted them to Youtube, and soon Clara's popularity grew!

Born in 1915 in Chicago, Illinois, to immigrant Italian parents, Clara remembers in one video how she had to drop out of high school because she didn't have stockings to wear, and how potatoes were one of the more affordable foods and were served at almost every meal, in just about every form imaginable. Home made bread and pasta were other depression staples made by her Mom. She said that they had no refrigerator in their home so they kept food frozen outside in the snow, and in order to conserve the coal that they used to burn for heat they often wore all their clothes and sat by the stove for warmth, as her Mother baked bread for the week.

You can view all 10 episodes of Clara's "Depression Cooking" on her Youtube web page.

I've included one of my favorites here, because I remember my 87 year old Mom making this dish for us when we were children. It was simple, but so good!

To view this video on this page please turn off my playlist music on the purple box on the right sidebar of my blog, by clicking on the double bars in the top center of the playlist box, or double click on the Youtube photo below, which will bring you right to this video on the Youtube web site.

Clara has said in recent TV interviews that at 93 years of age her cooking days are almost over, so there will probably be no more future cooking videos made, but her grandson has plans to offer a DVD for sale of all her cooking shows combined, plus bonus video material not shown before. Check their Great Depression Cooking web site to learn more.

Do you have an elderly Mom, Aunt or Mother-in-law that still is able to cook your favorite meals? Perhaps it's time to ask her if you could take a video of her cooking, or at the very least sit down with her and ask her to tell you the recipe before they are lost for good. They will become a family heirloom treasured by future generations!