The guys that run this channel are so genuine and so humble that they don't even advertise that they have a local (and online) clothing store where they sell the clothes that they wear and the equipment they use. As well, they don't even put paid sponsorships in their videos.
My dad was born in 1937 and my grandma saved every last scrap of leftovers. She was Cajun, and made an amazing gumbo or veggie soup out of those scraps. Simple white vinegar and chili peppers grown in the garden were a marvelous condiment. My dad told me, she's a survivor of the depression era, she couldn't waste a thing if she tried.
My grandpa was born during the Depression on a farm picking Cotton. He always clean his plate of everything that was served to him. He always said that's how he was raised not to waste food.
Former homeless just came onto say thank you. Your tips and tricks really worked in the rough. I'm out of being homeless but will be grateful to channels like this. I was able to build shelter. think of clever ways to wash. I even was able to fix my tent with knowledge shared on this channel and others like it. thank you. bless you
@@ChristianThomasLeitel if there is one essential thing to have in the year 2023, would it not be a pocket supercomputer with messaging, phone, entertainment, etc in one? outlets are easy enough to find, and phone plans are not that expensive. I don't know many people who buy their phones in one lump sum anyway. Just think a little. You think a homeless person has no need to communicate with people? Like they have no family or friends or whatever, or need to call for emergency? It doesn't have to be a frickin iPhone 14 or whatever to watch UA-cam.
Quite honestly, I blame taking the businesses out of the neighbourhood and putting them in big shopping plazas. Forcing the people in suburban neighbourhoods to rely on cars rather than being able to walk to their grocery store or hardware store and know the people who run them as someone from the neighbourhood has stunted the American people in both the country's values and the populations ability to get along in simple ways.
Suburbia has no community. The pack rats in the city and the handy folks in the country need each other to achieve some form of functional living. The suburbanites can ignore or outright antagonize their neighbors without consequences but their macmansions would fall apart on just one month without access to a car and delivery services.
I would very much like to have a meal and a good bullshit session around a fire with the people commenting on here. I grew up in the town that Jas. and sons is based out of and always enjoyed poking around the shop.
@@DopaminedotSeek3rcolonthree The issue is just technology. Online shopping now is the an example of this. Of course I don't want to go to a physical store if I can do the same job in a tiny fraction of the time from the comfort of my home. Entertainment? I have infinite entertainment at home. Why would I go out for it? Almost all social activity and community has occurred as a product of a lack of access to things. You interact with others out of need, and you bond over mutual experience and assistance. Well, we've fixed the problem. We no longer need to interact with other people directly almost ever. Congrats, being alone is your reward. Even suburbs make complete sense. Cities grew largely as manufacturing and trade hubs. Of course people want to go there to get higher paying jobs, but fast forward until manufacturing jobs were fairly common... Imagine living in a pre-suburb city. They were largely industrial centers, and filthy, awful places to live, as cities have, in general, basically always been. Of course people who had the ability to gtfo and live somewhere without manufacturing and with a bit more personal land and greenery would want to once they could travel to and from there. Yes, there was some top down screwery going on, but the individual had a clear direct quality of life incentive too. Of course, now that that's normalized for the masses, and cities have de-industrialized, now the rich twats move back into cities, and we have "gentrification."
+LordDeathington It was a great point, the only quibble I'd make is that while the turkey did not make the feast "better", the fact that Scrooge was willing to appreciate his community and share SOMETHING with the family did actually make it better, which fits in with the overall point they made.
This has to be one of the channel’s best videos. It paints a picture of what poverty looked like while showing how significant a meal like this would be to a poor family
And what poverty still is like. I like what he says at 6:05 - when Scrooge brought a huge turkey to their meal, "the feast didn't get any better. It was already as good as it was going to be because of the people who were there."
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 - I love raw potatoes and eat them often, but in all the many varieties I have grown, I never saw any that came out of the ground that clean!
You also should consider that, unless an apple was very fresh or you had an orchard, that's just kind of what apples looked like before modern agriculture. they didn't always look shriveled and horrible but im sure bruises and cuts weren't super uncommon.
@@bilbo_gamers6417 This is how natural apples look like after two days even in modern agricultural world. But I mean natural, not some paraphined tasteless murican hybrid.
I want to correct the sentence at 11:00: Their feast definitely absolutely got better. But not because of the giant turkey. But because Scrooge joined them.
As a 20yo who was very near homeless for a while and only picked myself off the ground half a year ago, I... honestly teared up a little towards the end. It's true, half the feast is the people you share it with. To anyone struggling with finances, work, life, keep pushing. Don't ever give up.
Watching this made me very emotional. We experienced bouts homelessness when I was a child but my mom was always able to feed us. Thankfully we lived in boarder town and you can cross over into Mexico where your dollar will go a lot farther. sopitas (little star pasta soup with some lard and tomato paste) with Vienna sausages and the prepackaged jambalaya box mixes with cornbread were our saving grace. Thanks to my mom’s ingenuity when I fell on hard times towards the end of college I knew exactly how to make every dollar count!
It should be noted- your craft, your speech, timing, tempo, pace and voice inflection... everything is truly on point. Your passion is admirable and contagious. I enjoy videos like this not just for the subject matter but also due to the master class of your presentation
As a young person currently living in a van, working a part time minimum wage job, and unable to afford housing, it’s your videos like these that make me feel like I’m not so alone. I feel oddly connected to these impoverished people from hundreds of years ago and realize times aren’t as different as you would think. Thanks once again for bringing history to life!
Keep hour head up, brother. The small victories each day. We've been there and we are praying for you and pulling for you. Message if the van is ever near Detrot and we'll share a meal with you.
As an aficionado of crossbows I have a bit of history from someone that I suspect was a relative. He made cross bows for hunting small game. In the latter years of his life he was often assisted by a neighbor that was as known as an otherwise very difficult person. When people around town wondered why this otherwise foul tempered person was so willing to help him it was determined that he, the cross bow maker had gifted a small bow to the neighbors older brother when they were children. She was quite certain that the assorted rabbits and squirrels that her brother managed to hunt had stood between them and certain death. From that she felt a lifelong obligation to aid him. It I suppose is an example of how relationships in a community can outweigh all other factors in a way outsiders might simply not understand.
A soup my grandmother's family made was boiling water poured over chunks of stale bread, topped with some gratings of a hard cheese. Even as an older woman, she made it on occasion because for her it was a comfort food.
Have you tried it? It tastes great. Only difference is i like it with tea instead of just hot water and feta cheese. I never figured poor people used to eat this. Makes sence XD! With hot milk minus the cheese it is amazing as well.
If you do try it, try toasting the chunks of bread first before using them to make the bread soup. Adds a lot of flavor. You can also grind the toasted stale bread into a powder and use it to make porridges and to thicken other soups.
living in Northern New Jersey, rent is consuming so much of our income. and we can't afford a house or to even move. I appreciate the very simple food of the cookbook. this video makes me feel like I'm not alone. thank you for sharing!
We live in the area of the dust bowl. The people that stayed here were those too poor to move to a better place. I see now many of the things my mom did were to stretch our food. She would take left over roast beef and grind it to make a beef salad or chicken for chicken salad. She would grind the meat and at the end add a bunch of crackers to the grinder to clean it out. I think it was more that the cracker stretched the meat. Of course we raised beef, hogs, and chickens. Stew always had macaroni in it. She had a huge garden and canned everything we didn't eat. The basement was full every fall. We might have been poor but we didn't go hungry or feel poor.
@@stevenwagner9912 the crackers are put in for cleaning purposes, because it's a real pain cleaning a meat grinder that hasn't had that done to it. Everybody does it whenever they grind meat at home. Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, some things are simply practical.
If you own a car, or know someone with a car that would be willing to give you a ride, you have the means to move, even if it might mean leaving many things behind. Rent is a real problem though, and so can be finding a job even if you do move to a different location. Imho the best way to save on food without giving up at least some quality is cooking big batches of hardy soups and stews and eating them with bread - this allows you to use cheap cuts of meat, basic vegetables, legumes, etc. without spending too much time in the kitchen (just leave it to bubble away on the stove while you do other things), the whole family can eat as much as they want, get most of the nutrients they need, and you don't have to cook on a daily basis, I hope you can feel more at ease soon and your situation as a whole improves, good luck!
Yami, I know you mean well bit "the means to move" is about everything from: * How close is the new place to work or will i need a car/bus/etc? * How much deposit and security will they require? * How much space is there for our family; can we afford space for all? It's not just about the physical move.... although hiring a mover or van is another cost.
@@YamiKisara I do know the crackers help clean. I have mom's grinder. But I think she used way more than needed to clean it. I know so many things point to my parents stretching their money. Mom milked 1 and sometimes 2 cows and sold milk and cream. My brother tells the story of he and dad working on a piece of farm equipment. He told dad he didn't know why he used that piece of junk. Dad told him " to feed you kids". Don't get me wrong. I had a great childhood and parents. They were great to us. I am sad because a few of my siblings turned out to be assholes. They couldn't wait for them to die so they could get money and stuff. My parents were married in 1945. Dad died in 2004. After dad died I visited mom a few days later. A piece of paper on the table said " I just lost my best friend".
As I begin my 74th year on this planet in one of the most fortunate countries on Earth, I appreciate that with age does not come 'wisdom' but rather one powerful 'perspective' on just how good we all have it. Thanks for sharing the historic reference.
unfortunately too many of us don't have it good. Most people I know are rountinely having to choose between housing and food. But "my generation" "just doesn't WANT kids" if you believe the newspapers.
@@FreeManFreeThought If within a mile walk you have some form of access to reasonably clean drinking water? You ARE better off than a HUGE chunk of Earth's population. If you have the 'possibility' of any kind employment and edible food? Same thing applies. Personal knowledge of life in all 3rd World countries also enhanced my world 'perspective'.
@@chicagorandy Yes I see many people here comparing themselves to the peasants spoken of in this video, as if the lives we live today are in anyway comparable to the suffering they faced. Even in the poorest neighbourhoods of a third world country, the standard of living is superior to that of the average 18th century peasant. If you make it to 60, you have already outlived almost every single peasant in the 18th century, and most of the upper echelons of society including aristocrats. They lived incredibly rough lives in every aspect, however admittedly there are some sadly that even today have to suffer in certain conditions that are similar, or worse in other ways. Such as those that survive by scavenging copper wire out of landfills, something that has been born out of an industrialised society. But often that does not compare even closely to how short and sad their lives were, in the medieval period if you made it to 35 you had lived a good life. Be grateful for whatever you have, even if it’s incredibly little.
@@chicagorandy Clean water is important. But not having access to affordable food, housing, are separate issues. Someone with access to water will still starve to death in the streets.
I've never been more hungry in my entire life than in college living off grants and plasma donations. I would eat a slice of bread and peanut butter for most of my meals. Sauce and noodles or a dollar freezer meal to mix it up. I remember I broke down crying when an elderly lady gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread. I ran out of money that day and was near out of food. I shaved a piece off each day and made it last two weeks. You are right, this meal would have been a feast.
But you were poor by choice... you voluntarily attended college instead of working a job. There are plenty of people that work part time and go to school full-time. You just chose not to.
@@honuswagner9348 You strike me as out of touch with the cost of living for a student. Most ppl work multiple jobs in order to get ahead of living paycheck to paycheck without going to school. If you have a family, forget about it, someone will shoulder the load while you're in school, all while your kids are severely mistreated at public schools. No one today can choose to live like it's 1960 when one level job could support a family and pay off a house in a couple years.
Reminds me when I ate pasta nearly every day between 2012 and 2015. It's nice to see someone tackling that issue while putting it in the historical context of that era. You have a really nice channel Mr Townsends :)
The production quality on this one has skyrocketed John! Thank you for all that you and your team do, like the new formula, a little more fast paced than what we’re used to but great nonetheless!
My father was raised during the Depression in a very poor home in rural PA. He spoke often of all the different meals they made from stale bread. Even though he raised me and my sister in a fairly middle class home during the 80s/90s, he taught me well how to make something from nothing, especially from leftovers, and also how to appreciate everything in life. Even though I never experienced true poverty, I am glad of all the lessons I learned.
I bet he ate something called 'coffee soup' or maybe "soakie" growing up. Stale bread or biscuits (whatever was on hand) soaked in coffee with milk, maybe sprinkled with sugar if it was available.
Oh my gosh!!!! I was just going to make a similar comment about my dad who was born in 1922. He used to tell me that my grandma used to make stale bread taste amazing! He used to say that to her so lovingly! I miss them both. I can relate to everything u said, sounds like our life!!! Have a nice day❤ Edit: my mom grew up poor on a farm in México. They also taught me how to make a meal from almost nothing, my kids and husband are always amazed lol.
I grew up with a lot of seasonal food. The hardest part was finding vitamin C late in the winter, when the sauerkraut was running out. They say most people finally succumbed to starvation in June & July, while waiting for new crops to grow.
This one tugged at the heartstrings. Many times growing up we had fried potatoes and beans. It may not have been a great variety, but there was usually plenty for everyone. Great video, you can see the emotion you put into it. You and the crew have gotten so much better at telling the story. Keep it up. Always looking forward to the next one.
One of my favourite meals when I was a kid was “tatie stew”, just pan fried potato slices with onion. Thankfully I didn’t eat this out of necessity like my mother did, to me it is still a nostalgic dish.
My Dad (born in 1930) said his Dad (my grandfather) left home at 14. One of his first jobs was to be a cooks helper on a cattle ranch for all the cowhands. He learned to cook simple stuff really well. Biscuits, cornbread and chili. Dad said that when he was growing up, Grandpa put a pot of beans on to cook all day every Monday. Pinto beans slow cooked with a litttle smoked ham or sausage. And fresh cornbread out of the oven is also one of my favorites!
I think this video teaches contentment, humbleness, and not to waste what you have. No one should live in poverty, but having very little makes you appreciate what little you have.
Excellent reminder of how lucky we are. My husband still makes spanish rice with hot dogs. I had spanish rice with bacon growing up. We also had what we called "orange spaghetti" onions, tomato sauce garlic salt and pepper over spaghetti. It was perhaps poor peoples food, but it was delicious and I still make it today. My parents came from the farm in the '20s and '30s and so were self sufficient and we didn't turn our noses up at anything!
@@JediasHertz Well, there's Spanish rice and there's "Spanish rice." Spanish rice is the stuff you get in a Mexican restaurant the made with chicken stock, paprika or anato, sauteed onions , garlic and spices. "Spanish Rice" is white rice boiled with some cheap tomato product (tomato paste or even ketchup ) and sauteed onions, if you're fancy.
I grew up from a family that lost so much so early and had to make do with what was left. While I myself grew up with having so much on my plate, watching this video makes me tear up, because it reminds me of the stories of my grandmothers and what they had to endure just so they and eventually their children would not go hungry.
It reminds me also of being a child and having dinner and seeing my mum not eating. I learned at a young age she'd skip meals so we could have food. I'd wish for no child to go through that
Back when we were poor my mom would put butter on a cooked flour tortilla and sprinkle a little bit of sugar back in our food stamps days that was the first thought I had as this video ended great video that sparked a lost memory and we had a couple of rough Christmas's when we could not even afford a turkey I never remember the food I remember the good times our family had after the food was consumed thanks for putting this out got me teared up.
@@typingcat you can make your own butter and butter is very essential to almost everything. In fact its actually cheaper to make your own butter if you can its a lot of work though..
The quality of your videos is OUTSTANDING! The creativity and well spoken nature has always been there, but the camera work has gotten so much more theatrical….. I LOVE IT!
@@reginaldforthright805 I'm not sure what you are talking about, but if you mean sharing printed recipes, recipes are one thing that isn't copywritten. (Cookbooks in their entirety are, however. They contain content other than recipes).
I grew up where a common meal was “goulash” which happened to be a nickname for pasta with whatever thrown in. Your sentiment about the feast being the people is spot on.
Goulash has its origins in Hungarian herdsmen making stew in a massive communal cauldron with whatever meat was available, hot peppers, potatoes, and anything else the locals could contribute. Whatever form it takes now, it's an ideal way to make a lot of food for very little money
I hate goulash after having had it so many times as a kid because we didn't have money for anything else at the time. And if it wasn't enough to have had to eat it so often, it always had mushrooms in and I was never allowed to pick them out. Now that I've been an adult for years and can decide for myself what to eat, I am never having goulash again.
So interesting. Goulasch (or Gulyás correcly) is a Hungarian dish, and here, in Hungary it was always considered to be a rich and full soup, deffinetely nor a poor men's dish.
@@nb4749 wtf. Goulasch is a meat soup no maccaroni. I am hungarian its our national dish. I domt know what on earth ate you talking about but not goulasch, believe me.
This video reminds me of things I heard from my parents. My grandparents on both side were not actually that poor, but feeding half dozen of children wasn’t easy at that time. My mother said that the most common dinner in her childhood was plain rice with pickles and fried vegetables. There was protein from eggs and tofu but the family had to share a little plate of them. The only time for a child to have a whole fried egg for his/her own was the birthday. The one thing my grandpa has been proud of was his fava beans. He manage to plant some in the yard after hard work, and could even share with neighbors, who referred it as “lifesaving beans”. Raisins was luxurious delights to them because they could get this rare sweet in tiny paper packs from the US up to once a month. Apple? that’s something my parents wouldn’t dare to dream of. It was a myth from the rich kids with parents had business with Americans. God bless my grandparents and parents, for all the hard work the did to feed the family.
The passage in a Christmas Carol concerning the Cratchit's feast that almost brings me to tears when I read it is, "They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty...But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time." You are right it was not the food that made their feast, but the company of each other. Most of us have lost the art and pleasure of eating around a table sans devices and such.
@@seigeengine Proverbs 17:1-2 New Century Version (NCV) It is better to eat a dry crust of bread in peace than to have a feast where there is quarreling.
Couldn't agree more. Last years Thanksgiving (A.K.A 2 months ago) was one of the best I've had in years. And it wasn't because of the food, it was the same as always (Though we DID have steak that time ontop of Turkey, which was nice) it's that everybody got along almost completely. The closest we ever got to politics was insulting Elon Musk, and that was basically universal. And at the time I think I started crying because everything was just so... Peaceful. It was lovely. Everybody made it, everybody enjoyed themselves, everybody was happy, and the conversations were great. It was a lovely night. It really does bring out the meaning of a proper feast; companionship.
For sure, and in my family growing up in the 80's, and 90's if we had not gone hunting for deer, or small game, or caught fish to all be stored in the freezer to be the main meat when times were tough it was for sure beans, thin pan cornbread, and sometimes ham streak, or canned ham.
Chili soup with pasta in it, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, or home canned vegetable soup with half a grilled cheese: those were our make do food. Chili soup and veg soup were often really thin, but it was hot and filled us up. Mom refused any charity, except one year dad wasn't working much (1970s). She accepted the government surplus handouts. Peanut butter, cheese, and powdered milk. It made a very welcome change from the two eternal soups.
If I had to compile a list of the best UA-cam channels, Townsends would be right up there near the top. Their videos are A+ quality and have been consistently for so many years. Not only is the work itself amazing quality, but the people involved are passionate and great people.
Been there done that. Waiting for the food stamps, mom saying that she wasn't hungry and my sister and I ate. Fast forward to today and even eggs are insanely expensive. Certain factions condemning the poor, it's just a very challenging time we live in.
The number of things that used to be poor man's food that has been gussied up as haute cuisine so even inexpensive products are expensive is the worst of it.
Well, the dummies that are destroying western society are meeting in Davos. A tactical nuke would benefit all actual humanity and wipe out the self described "gods" like John Kerry and Klaus Schwab....
@@KairuHakubi It must be nice living in your world, where no one is ever born blind or deaf or simple. Where no one is a victim of random acts of violence. Where nothing bad ever happens to anyone who doesn't deserve it.
@@KairuHakubi Absolutely, it's clearly the poor person's fault that the price of basic grocery staples like eggs, milk, and bread are skyrocketing and the greedy corporation they work for refuses to pay them a wage that will match the insanely high cost of living. It's also clearly the poor person's fault that we have a corrupt government bought and owned by the rich that decimated the social safety net programs that were specifically designed to help them get back on their feet. Quit watching Fox News bro.
I live in Jersey, old Jersey, our potatoes are so good they were given a royal title ! And it's every Jerseymans right to glean the fields after the farmer has collected his crop. Even with modern machinery there are still plenty of small potatoes to be had.
My Dad's Dad once told me about the Great Depression: "I was so low I had to reach up to touch bottom." I never had it that hard, but had an employment challenge at one point when we lived primarily on rice & beans. It's part of why I am grafting fruit trees & tending some berries, why we grind our own flour & bake bread, why I brew my own ale & mead. Just to have the experience, I made small ale from a stout recipe - steeping the grains another time & fermenting the result. Maybe a third the alcohol, flavor & color. Instructive, passable & reminds me to give thanks to live so well!
@@pr6897 Glass a day works wonders. The small ale might have been 3% ABV, probably less. The stout ingredients & yeast used initially might have yielded 6-7%. Quite reasonable - & tasty!
True. People literally starved or became ill from lack of nutritious food. My mother had a little school friend who died along with her mother of TB from living on peas and rice and living in a damp basement apartment. Sadly many men who left to find work just abandoned their families. My great uncle did that. He ran away and left Aunt Anna with five little girls alone and if it wasn't for Catholic Charities they would have literally starved because they were up in Baltimore far from home in Georgia.
This is a beautiful video, one of your absolute best. Many of us know what it's like to pull together a meal in trying times, and how important it is to have a feast with family. This is definitely one of those videos that anyone can 'get' and realise how fascinating the historic cooking on this channel is.
It's been a few years since I've seen a Townsend video, and I just wanna say i'm so impressed with the improvements you've made to your filmaking skills. If hollywood or other big studio is ever planning to set a film or tv series in the 18th Century, I hope they reach out to you for consulting :)
You guys knocked this one out of the park! I enjoy this style of video so much. It makes me take a good look inward and reassess the direction I'm heading. Thank you so much for all the videos.
I love the framing of these Feast videos as "giving them one good win", it is so damn wholesome and filled with empathy for those people in the past who had to struggle against insurmountable odds to survive.
Thank you so much for this video, it really hit home as many of us are in that very boat. God bless you Mr. Townsends and your whole group of people. Your videos inspire and inform. Again thank you vey much.
I absolutely love these videos about the working class and the poor. Often in history we only hear about the wealthy, but I like hearing what regular people were eating and doing.
When I was a boy scout we learned to make "hobo dinners". It's just ground beef (or any meat really) , choppe potatoes, onions, and whatever else you got around and wrap it in foil. Can be cooked in an oven or straight over coals.
I actually made that apple dumpling when you featured it years ago. I fancied it up just a tiny bit with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon to the dumpling dough, but it was surprisingly delicious with a good Washington apple. Its kinda funny how full circle a meal like that has become - that looks like a wonderful hearty breakfast or supper. I wish I could get that at my university instead of pizza and burgers for lunch.
@@TheTallOne890 It's meant to recreate a scene from history. You don't need to go out in the wild and forage for something to accurately recreate a scene that might have happened lmao. Keep picking those nits buddy
Two from Scotland St columba was a celtic Saint who established the community on the island of Iona St Columbas Broth Water/milk or stock as you can get it a nevfu(small handful) of oats a little salt and ransoms(wild garlic( or such wild herbs as could be found) Boiled together A more afluent version of his broth today is Boyndie Broth Melt butter in a large pan over a low heat. Add onions and carrot and cook gently until soft. Add oats to pan and cook for about four minutes, stirring frequently. Add stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes. Add milk and heat through. Season to taste. Add chives or parsley, and a little cream if desired. The above makes a thick broth - use less oats and more stock if you prefer a thinner soup. The addition of good undyed smoked haddock or smoked salmon makes a good alternative to Cullen Skink. The other soup comes from my mothers childhood just outside Glasgow Nettle soup Ingredients Half a bag of nettles for gran it would have been a basket for us it was a shopping bag Water to blanch 1 onion Some wild garlic (ransoms) Knob of butter 1 litre Vegetable or chicken stock Some pouring cream Method 1.In a colander, rinse the nettles in batches then put in the pan with some water and blanch for a short while. 2.In a pan, melt the butter and add the onion and some chopped ransoms. Allow them to soften but do not let it colour. Once this is done then put into a pot with the chopped up nettles and the stock. 3.Remove from the heat and using a hand stick blender puree and then season to taste. 4.When serving up, swirl a little cream on top
god i hope there is a good crop of nettles either where i just moved to or where i moved out of but still have to clean up next spring this year that receipt sounds excellent
What is and isn't costly changes with the times. Right now the eggs in this feast are an arm and a leg, but we can easily afford the nutmeg that would have been a rare treat stretched to last as long as possible. Whatever you are eating, may we all make the best of what we have. Thank you for this channel.
back in the time as well eggs were very cheap chickens were very common and most people especially the poor had chickens or birds of some sort. Now a days a duck is expensive or quail and so on that back then was very inexpensive.
I really like how we can see your breath when you are inside, it really gives a sense of the environment of a poor household and how most of us take heat for granted.
Having spent time in my great grandma's big farm house that was heated by fireplaces I can not imagine how cold it must have been for the poor. Granny finally switched to gas heat when I was twelve and got indoor plumbing when I was eight. Before that when we visited her it was an out house or little enamel pots and baths in a huge old galvanized tub on Saturday night to tidy up for church next day.
reminds me a lot of eastern philosophies of balance and moderation being better than excess. I do think those words apply to every facet of consumption
Great advice. We are heavily over consumers now a days. We actually waste a lot of food and resources. And the resources we do consume are often times contaminated with plastics and chemicals, and we over consume things to the point of high obesity rates and high pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes rates.
I've really appreciated these videos about impoverished eating; your interest and timing always feel as though there is a mutual understanding of how quickly to that state we could return.
This video reminded me to be thankful for the food I have, and to find ways to help reduce hunger and poverty in my area. Thanks for posting, great content as usual.
Great video, and I can for sure relate to this growing up when my mother, and step father were between jobs trying to feed me, my sister, 2 step bros, and her best friend who was living with us for a while as her mother was a druggie, and making everything stretch as much as possible, you learn to get creative with what you have, and be thankful for what you have!!
Hey, Jon, I only really discovered your channel a couple weeks ago, but have been watching nonstop ever since! I've got 15 years of Colonial-era recipes to catch up on, and I'm loving them all. God bless you and the family, and keep bringing the tastes of American history to life! Lane from Canada
It’s funny how meals made out of necessity and being frugal when I was a kid are now some of my favorite comfort foods as I get up in years. Big pot of beans with a ham bone, rice and sausages, stews, chicken and dumplings, etc. We raised a big garden, canned, raised hogs and chickens, and sometimes could barter for a side of beef.
Thanks John.. For reminding us of what is truly important. It's not about what you ain't got, more about what you do with what you got, wether it be food, sharing work and working together as a community, no matter how small that community is. More importantly how we should value those around us. After a stressful day, I can always watch your channel and instantly I am transported to serenity. Thanks again for what you do.
I’ve been watching townsends for I feel like 7 years now and it continues to blow my mind with its content. Thank you for everything you do preserving and teaching history, community, and showing there’s more ways to live then the ones we’re used too.
So much of this is lost to history. In school all we got was kings, wars and battles. Thanks to you guys for doing your best to show the life of regular folks
Never forgot my history teacher mentioned how we don't know as much as we should about the average person for a variety of reasons besides time constraints of the classroom.
Actually, rice with sausages aint so bad afterall. Add sunny side up egg, with a little salt, add a little sweet soy sauce to the sausages. The bread from the hotdog could just be left it for eat later.. or, bake it a little for crispy texture. I aint calling this poor's man feast.. its just asian improvished simple meal 🤣🤣
Starvation is one of the things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, especially if there are children involved. I can’t imagine any hell worse than having hungry kids crying for food and you are powerless to do anything about it. This is why I try to learn as much as I can to be the best provider that I can be. My grandparents starved themselves to raise their kids; I’m not about to have any kid of mine go through that.
My family has foraged for centuries, and it’s been a major part of my life, along with hunting, fishing, and forestry. It’s not easy at all. Too many people think nature is the easy way out, but it’s truly not.
My family has foraged for centuries, and it’s been a major part of my life, along with hunting, fishing, and forestry. It’s not easy at all. Too many people think nature is the easy way out, but it’s truly not.
This is a very sincere and timely video. For many who were hurt financially by the pandemic and are still struggling I feel so much compassion. I have lost a business and was homeless for a while due to these lockdowns but feel grateful that I got my apartment back and get food weekly from a good food bank. Luckily we get a good amount of staple foods and my community garden plot gives us most of what we need to spice things up. I have learned to cook many new things from those staple foods. My favorite part of the video is when you foraged for the potatoe and ate it raw. So many people think raw potatoes are poisonous. They are not. Gleaning the fields after harvest probably would have been another way the poor might get food. There is a wonderful documentary from a while ago called Gleaning and it tells the story of gleaning throughout history. Pretty fascinating.
"foraged for the potatoe and ate it raw. So many people think raw potatoes are poisonous. They are not." While they are not poisonous per se simply cause of how they are cultivated. When they are getting green or sprouting they concentrate more poison, and 200years ago that was a lot more than it is with modern cultivates we use. Also while you might not get poisoned you also get hardly any calories from eating them raw.
This channel is perfect. Authentic, genuine, wholesome, and educational. Hands down, the best channel on youtube. You can tell that everyone involved has a genuine passion for what they are doing which is evident in the lack of advertising/encouraging to like, subscribe, and that sort of thing.
What's interesting is that this looks similar to something my grandma would make for us.....looking back I now have a better appreciation for that meal. And I would still eat it because it was good!
Here’s a real poor man’s supper ( meal for the day) A liquor shot on the days with no food And A meal at the soup kitchen Or Something shared whatever and wherever he can find someone to share it with
I am going to say this again. This is your best video ever! So relevant. I put up a bunch of the big lima beans that I was not aware I was growing until they got so big (I wanted the babies). I think that bean recipe would work for them. I have them all stored. Also, right now, so many are looking at the grocery store for ways to prep on a budget. Unfortunately, our generations right now do NOT know how to prep except from stores where the food is not all that good. This gives people a real view of what they can do. Some salt pork, eggs from the chickens, beans and tomatoes are good for a start. The flour would have to come from buying storage berries or from a store. It is all so doable. I used to make kneaded rising bread every day when my children were young. But, one can make bread on a stick in the fire, or on a stove in an iron pan with no kneading. Recipes are all over the web for bread with no kneading. I just love this video and will recommend it to those who keep claiming they can't prep because they are poor. Please make more of these!!! Pears too are a great food for the GI tract and to put a lot of flavorings (like nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, etc.) into. So easy to make.
Small correction: Scrooge brought a Christmas goose for the Cratchit family. Turkey would not have been common or available at the time. The fat from a whole goose would have been saved and used to cook for weeks after. A turkey provides almost no fat and wasn't a common animal in England at the time.
This is what I don't get hearing about food shortages, since if other options were encouraged and facilitated it shouldn't be. In NA there are plenty of animals that thrive which can be farmed/raised/herded. I think people need to expand their palate range and the agriculture-food industry should endeavour in those opportunities.
@@JohnNNJ The thing you have to realize about "food shortages" is that they are regional and political. The world creates more than enough food to sustain all 8 billion people, yet 1 billion are undernourished, and 25K per day die of starvation. Back at the time of Scrooge, if you were caught picking berries on the lord's land (all the land around you) you could be shot, most likely imprisoned. Today, most starvation occurs in urban areas and is very selective about the class of people who suffer.
Potatoes and onions were our go-to. Super cheap and carb rich. For a few months, we ate tortillas for dinner and ramen for lunch or vice versa. Family of four in rural midwest.
There are times I can remember as a child, my mother would make us boxed mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. I never noticed that she didn't eat dinner with us until I was older. Not because she didn't want to, but because there wasn't enough food for all four kids and herself. She would eat whatever we didn't finish quietly in the kitchen while we were watching television.
Minute rice is too much $$. lol. I cook for a dozen people and I definitely have adjusted my habits to save money. We have cut out most of the red meat. Pork chops are $1.49 a lot and are good on the grill. Pozole, a Mexican stew made from pork butts and a big can of hominy will feed the whole crew for around $1 a piece. That is .06 in 1800 money.:) It is pretty amazing to be honest. It has become our traditional Christmas ever meal. It is more for early retirement than necessity though.
I've been a fan for over a decade, and whenever I'm having a rough day, your channel always brings so much comfort to me both as a history nerd and as someone who adores old recipes. I grew up poor, still am, but I will say this: it taught me how to get creative with the food I have, and appreciate the creativity of generations past!
Every morning I wake up in a warm comfy place, push a button and light appears, do my business and press a lever, and it all washes sanitarily away. I then turn a nob, and hot water gushes out and I wash my face. Then I drink some quickly prepared hot and energizing beverage and start my routine. If that ain't fortunate, I don't know what is.
We really appreciate your Channel and began watching it bc we had stayed near Townsend TN and thought it applied to there However it applies to both our families histories in so many ways and we greatly appreciate it Thank you
Glad to see this page has hotten the recognition it deserve. I lost the love of my life during covid, and these have kept my mind occupied at the worst times.
Coming from a very large family it’s more common than people think. Poor and hungry. My nickname as a child was boney maroney, made of macaroni. Loved your definition of a feast. It is all about the people gathered. Your video brought back so many memories. Thanks for the blessing.
I love how you described a humble poor man's feast as not about the food, but about the company. This video is perfectly written and produced, and already see myself returning for rewatches.
Absolutely wonderful video guys, the transitions, the sentiment, everything. Cheap eating will always be relevant, for better or worse. My family's cheap meal growing up was always canned baked beans with hotdogs over rice.
As a person who admires good cooking and good storytelling, I must say this video was a feast for my soul. Just beautiful. I have tears in my eyes. Congratulations to all involved in it :)
Those days, it's really personally hard to get enough food. I sacrifice the last of the money i have for my dog to eat well and restrain myself. Thanks for this video, means a lot.
Dear friend, you are very thoughtful to be concerned about the dogs. Is foraging legal where you are? You may need to find a charity pantry and get things for yourself to eat, what will their fate be if you get ill and can't care for them?
If you enjoyed the music in this video check out our new CD! www.townsends.us/products/safe-from-the-cold-cd-by-c-w-lewis
How do i make an apple dumbling?
The guys that run this channel are so genuine and so humble that they don't even advertise that they have a local (and online) clothing store where they sell the clothes that they wear and the equipment they use. As well, they don't even put paid sponsorships in their videos.
And their business is amazing. I have purchased stuff from them and they have taken care of me every time. Amazing people!
Those fingerless gloves look great.
so glad they don't have to spend time selling for sponsors.
they just hire people to put comments in the videos stealth-advertising their humble wares
I used to buy things from them thru snail mail.. You know.. Stamps & checks...was it 30 or more yrs ago?
My dad was born in 1937 and my grandma saved every last scrap of leftovers. She was Cajun, and made an amazing gumbo or veggie soup out of those scraps. Simple white vinegar and chili peppers grown in the garden were a marvelous condiment. My dad told me, she's a survivor of the depression era, she couldn't waste a thing if she tried.
Just age those peppers in a brine a bit and you got another level of magic!
My grandpa was born during the Depression on a farm picking Cotton. He always clean his plate of everything that was served to him. He always said that's how he was raised not to waste food.
Would complicated vinegar also work?
Former homeless just came onto say thank you. Your tips and tricks really worked in the rough. I'm out of being homeless but will be grateful to channels like this. I was able to build shelter. think of clever ways to wash. I even was able to fix my tent with knowledge shared on this channel and others like it. thank you. bless you
You rock Max! :)
I hope something incredible happens to you tomorrow : )
You had a cellphone whilst being homeless?
@@ChristianThomasLeitel probably, yes
@@ChristianThomasLeitel if there is one essential thing to have in the year 2023, would it not be a pocket supercomputer with messaging, phone, entertainment, etc in one? outlets are easy enough to find, and phone plans are not that expensive. I don't know many people who buy their phones in one lump sum anyway. Just think a little. You think a homeless person has no need to communicate with people? Like they have no family or friends or whatever, or need to call for emergency? It doesn't have to be a frickin iPhone 14 or whatever to watch UA-cam.
You confused how a home costs more than a phone?
I'm glad that it was pointed out that part of the feast was just the community. Community is something that a lot of people are missing at the moment.
Quite honestly, I blame taking the businesses out of the neighbourhood and putting them in big shopping plazas. Forcing the people in suburban neighbourhoods to rely on cars rather than being able to walk to their grocery store or hardware store and know the people who run them as someone from the neighbourhood has stunted the American people in both the country's values and the populations ability to get along in simple ways.
Suburbia has no community. The pack rats in the city and the handy folks in the country need each other to achieve some form of functional living. The suburbanites can ignore or outright antagonize their neighbors without consequences but their macmansions would fall apart on just one month without access to a car and delivery services.
I would very much like to have a meal and a good bullshit session around a fire with the people commenting on here. I grew up in the town that Jas. and sons is based out of and always enjoyed poking around the shop.
@@DopaminedotSeek3rcolonthree The issue is just technology.
Online shopping now is the an example of this. Of course I don't want to go to a physical store if I can do the same job in a tiny fraction of the time from the comfort of my home.
Entertainment? I have infinite entertainment at home. Why would I go out for it?
Almost all social activity and community has occurred as a product of a lack of access to things. You interact with others out of need, and you bond over mutual experience and assistance.
Well, we've fixed the problem. We no longer need to interact with other people directly almost ever. Congrats, being alone is your reward.
Even suburbs make complete sense. Cities grew largely as manufacturing and trade hubs. Of course people want to go there to get higher paying jobs, but fast forward until manufacturing jobs were fairly common... Imagine living in a pre-suburb city. They were largely industrial centers, and filthy, awful places to live, as cities have, in general, basically always been. Of course people who had the ability to gtfo and live somewhere without manufacturing and with a bit more personal land and greenery would want to once they could travel to and from there. Yes, there was some top down screwery going on, but the individual had a clear direct quality of life incentive too. Of course, now that that's normalized for the masses, and cities have de-industrialized, now the rich twats move back into cities, and we have "gentrification."
+LordDeathington It was a great point, the only quibble I'd make is that while the turkey did not make the feast "better", the fact that Scrooge was willing to appreciate his community and share SOMETHING with the family did actually make it better, which fits in with the overall point they made.
This has to be one of the channel’s best videos. It paints a picture of what poverty looked like while showing how significant a meal like this would be to a poor family
Yes, this is one of your best. Thank you.
And what poverty still is like. I like what he says at 6:05 - when Scrooge brought a huge turkey to their meal, "the feast didn't get any better. It was already as good as it was going to be because of the people who were there."
A real chyradillic feast
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 - I love raw potatoes and eat them often, but in all the many varieties I have grown, I never saw any that came out of the ground that clean!
whatever you do, dont add jarrin root m'aiq!
I like how you used small and beat up looking apples. It's more accurate to what a poor family actually had in that time period.
You also should consider that, unless an apple was very fresh or you had an orchard, that's just kind of what apples looked like before modern agriculture. they didn't always look shriveled and horrible but im sure bruises and cuts weren't super uncommon.
makin me feel 18 century poor
Yes, it was a particulary distasteful touch. In reality it would be a mush.
@@bilbo_gamers6417 This is how natural apples look like after two days even in modern agricultural world. But I mean natural, not some paraphined tasteless murican hybrid.
@@ФеофанЭтополедолжнобытьзаполне yep
I want to correct the sentence at 11:00:
Their feast definitely absolutely got better. But not because of the giant turkey. But because Scrooge joined them.
It was a goose.
@@brucebehner4142 Right, right. It was better because *the goose* joined them.
@@brucebehner4142 This is the realest video I've seen in so long. Brings faith back into the internet + social media.
There's nothing at 11:00 ? Is there something I don't get
@@shreddedbagelwabiwabo8342the bit is in 5:45
As a 20yo who was very near homeless for a while and only picked myself off the ground half a year ago, I... honestly teared up a little towards the end. It's true, half the feast is the people you share it with. To anyone struggling with finances, work, life, keep pushing. Don't ever give up.
Thank you very much I needed that kind of comment
I hope you're doing fine. Greetings from Brazil
@@ferrreira This is the realest video I've seen in so long. Brings faith back into the internet + social media.
If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus Is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9
You just got lucky. Don’t tell others to “never give up”. Worst advice ever
Watching this made me very emotional. We experienced bouts homelessness when I was a child but my mom was always able to feed us. Thankfully we lived in boarder town and you can cross over into Mexico where your dollar will go a lot farther. sopitas (little star pasta soup with some lard and tomato paste) with Vienna sausages and the prepackaged jambalaya box mixes with cornbread were our saving grace. Thanks to my mom’s ingenuity when I fell on hard times towards the end of college I knew exactly how to make every dollar count!
It should be noted- your craft, your speech, timing, tempo, pace and voice inflection... everything is truly on point. Your passion is admirable and contagious. I enjoy videos like this not just for the subject matter but also due to the master class of your presentation
Thank you for your very kind words!
As a young person currently living in a van, working a part time minimum wage job, and unable to afford housing, it’s your videos like these that make me feel like I’m not so alone. I feel oddly connected to these impoverished people from hundreds of years ago and realize times aren’t as different as you would think. Thanks once again for bringing history to life!
I hear ya same here
Have you watched the UA-camr Joel Haver’s video - Your friend from high school that’s doing “pretty good”?
Why are you only working part time when so many places are hiring?
Can you not find full time work
Keep hour head up, brother. The small victories each day. We've been there and we are praying for you and pulling for you.
Message if the van is ever near Detrot and we'll share a meal with you.
As an aficionado of crossbows I have a bit of history from someone that I suspect was a relative. He made cross bows for hunting small game. In the latter years of his life he was often assisted by a neighbor that was as known as an otherwise very difficult person. When people around town wondered why this otherwise foul tempered person was so willing to help him it was determined that he, the cross bow maker had gifted a small bow to the neighbors older brother when they were children. She was quite certain that the assorted rabbits and squirrels that her brother managed to hunt had stood between them and certain death. From that she felt a lifelong obligation to aid him. It I suppose is an example of how relationships in a community can outweigh all other factors in a way outsiders might simply not understand.
that's a great story!! it also sounds like a wes anderson film
A soup my grandmother's family made was boiling water poured over chunks of stale bread, topped with some gratings of a hard cheese. Even as an older woman, she made it on occasion because for her it was a comfort food.
Have you tried it? It tastes great. Only difference is i like it with tea instead of just hot water and feta cheese. I never figured poor people used to eat this. Makes sence XD! With hot milk minus the cheese it is amazing as well.
@@Exodiq Pershesh me caj! We had that back home haha, tea bread soup!
Google Popara.
If you do try it, try toasting the chunks of bread first before using them to make the bread soup. Adds a lot of flavor. You can also grind the toasted stale bread into a powder and use it to make porridges and to thicken other soups.
I've got some toe cheese and clipped toenails that we could add into it for some roughage 😋
living in Northern New Jersey, rent is consuming so much of our income. and we can't afford a house or to even move. I appreciate the very simple food of the cookbook. this video makes me feel like I'm not alone. thank you for sharing!
We live in the area of the dust bowl. The people that stayed here were those too poor to move to a better place.
I see now many of the things my mom did were to stretch our food. She would take left over roast beef and grind it to make a beef salad or chicken for chicken salad. She would grind the meat and at the end add a bunch of crackers to the grinder to clean it out. I think it was more that the cracker stretched the meat. Of course we raised beef, hogs, and chickens. Stew always had macaroni in it. She had a huge garden and canned everything we didn't eat. The basement was full every fall. We might have been poor but we didn't go hungry or feel poor.
@@stevenwagner9912 the crackers are put in for cleaning purposes, because it's a real pain cleaning a meat grinder that hasn't had that done to it. Everybody does it whenever they grind meat at home. Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, some things are simply practical.
If you own a car, or know someone with a car that would be willing to give you a ride, you have the means to move, even if it might mean leaving many things behind. Rent is a real problem though, and so can be finding a job even if you do move to a different location. Imho the best way to save on food without giving up at least some quality is cooking big batches of hardy soups and stews and eating them with bread - this allows you to use cheap cuts of meat, basic vegetables, legumes, etc. without spending too much time in the kitchen (just leave it to bubble away on the stove while you do other things), the whole family can eat as much as they want, get most of the nutrients they need, and you don't have to cook on a daily basis, I hope you can feel more at ease soon and your situation as a whole improves, good luck!
Yami, I know you mean well bit "the means to move" is about everything from:
* How close is the new place to work or will i need a car/bus/etc?
* How much deposit and security will they require?
* How much space is there for our family; can we afford space for all?
It's not just about the physical move.... although hiring a mover or van is another cost.
@@YamiKisara I do know the crackers help clean. I have mom's grinder. But I think she used way more than needed to clean it. I know so many things point to my parents stretching their money. Mom milked 1 and sometimes 2 cows and sold milk and cream.
My brother tells the story of he and dad working on a piece of farm equipment. He told dad he didn't know why he used that piece of junk. Dad told him " to feed you kids". Don't get me wrong. I had a great childhood and parents. They were great to us. I am sad because a few of my siblings turned out to be assholes. They couldn't wait for them to die so they could get money and stuff. My parents were married in 1945. Dad died in 2004. After dad died I visited mom a few days later. A piece of paper on the table said " I just lost my best friend".
"Our plate started off empty, and now our plate is full".
Love how you phrased that
As I begin my 74th year on this planet in one of the most fortunate countries on Earth, I appreciate that with age does not come 'wisdom' but rather one powerful 'perspective' on just how good we all have it. Thanks for sharing the historic reference.
unfortunately too many of us don't have it good. Most people I know are rountinely having to choose between housing and food. But "my generation" "just doesn't WANT kids" if you believe the newspapers.
@@FreeManFreeThought If within a mile walk you have some form of access to reasonably clean drinking water? You ARE better off than a HUGE chunk of Earth's population. If you have the 'possibility' of any kind employment and edible food? Same thing applies. Personal knowledge of life in all 3rd World countries also enhanced my world 'perspective'.
@@chicagorandy Yes I see many people here comparing themselves to the peasants spoken of in this video, as if the lives we live today are in anyway comparable to the suffering they faced. Even in the poorest neighbourhoods of a third world country, the standard of living is superior to that of the average 18th century peasant. If you make it to 60, you have already outlived almost every single peasant in the 18th century, and most of the upper echelons of society including aristocrats. They lived incredibly rough lives in every aspect, however admittedly there are some sadly that even today have to suffer in certain conditions that are similar, or worse in other ways. Such as those that survive by scavenging copper wire out of landfills, something that has been born out of an industrialised society. But often that does not compare even closely to how short and sad their lives were, in the medieval period if you made it to 35 you had lived a good life. Be grateful for whatever you have, even if it’s incredibly little.
@@chicagorandy Clean water is important. But not having access to affordable food, housing, are separate issues. Someone with access to water will still starve to death in the streets.
I've never been more hungry in my entire life than in college living off grants and plasma donations. I would eat a slice of bread and peanut butter for most of my meals. Sauce and noodles or a dollar freezer meal to mix it up. I remember I broke down crying when an elderly lady gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread. I ran out of money that day and was near out of food. I shaved a piece off each day and made it last two weeks. You are right, this meal would have been a feast.
Ah, I feel you man. I still find myself rationing out stuff on pure impulse years later, even though I really don’t need to.
But you were poor by choice... you voluntarily attended college instead of working a job. There are plenty of people that work part time and go to school full-time. You just chose not to.
@@honuswagner9348 You don’t know this person story so don’t jump to conclusion!
@@honuswagner9348 You strike me as out of touch with the cost of living for a student. Most ppl work multiple jobs in order to get ahead of living paycheck to paycheck without going to school. If you have a family, forget about it, someone will shoulder the load while you're in school, all while your kids are severely mistreated at public schools. No one today can choose to live like it's 1960 when one level job could support a family and pay off a house in a couple years.
@@honuswagner9348 man I wasn’t a student. my dad got cancer, couldn’t work for 3-4 years and we pretty much went bankrupt. It wasn’t by choice.
Reminds me when I ate pasta nearly every day between 2012 and 2015. It's nice to see someone tackling that issue while putting it in the historical context of that era. You have a really nice channel Mr Townsends :)
.... Would be a shame if someone takes it down.
Did the pasta make you fat??
It's a serious question no shade.
The production quality on this one has skyrocketed John! Thank you for all that you and your team do, like the new formula, a little more fast paced than what we’re used to but great nonetheless!
Yep this would still be good if it was three times as long
My father was raised during the Depression in a very poor home in rural PA. He spoke often of all the different meals they made from stale bread. Even though he raised me and my sister in a fairly middle class home during the 80s/90s, he taught me well how to make something from nothing, especially from leftovers, and also how to appreciate everything in life. Even though I never experienced true poverty, I am glad of all the lessons I learned.
I bet he ate something called 'coffee soup' or maybe "soakie" growing up. Stale bread or biscuits (whatever was on hand) soaked in coffee with milk, maybe sprinkled with sugar if it was available.
Oh my gosh!!!! I was just going to make a similar comment about my dad who was born in 1922. He used to tell me that my grandma used to make stale bread taste amazing! He used to say that to her so lovingly! I miss them both. I can relate to everything u said, sounds like our life!!! Have a nice day❤
Edit: my mom grew up poor on a farm in México. They also taught me how to make a meal from almost nothing, my kids and husband are always amazed lol.
LOL 🥶🥶🥶
I grew up with a lot of seasonal food. The hardest part was finding vitamin C late in the winter, when the sauerkraut was running out. They say most people finally succumbed to starvation in June & July, while waiting for new crops to grow.
i can believe it. When I started gardening i was shocked at how even "early" foods like spring peas didn't really crop until May.
This one tugged at the heartstrings. Many times growing up we had fried potatoes and beans. It may not have been a great variety, but there was usually plenty for everyone. Great video, you can see the emotion you put into it. You and the crew have gotten so much better at telling the story. Keep it up. Always looking forward to the next one.
One of my favourite meals when I was a kid was “tatie stew”, just pan fried potato slices with onion. Thankfully I didn’t eat this out of necessity like my mother did, to me it is still a nostalgic dish.
Red beans, steam fried potatoes, a bit of onion, sliced tomato, white cornbread. Heaven on a plate.
My Dad (born in 1930) said his Dad (my grandfather) left home at 14. One of his first jobs was to be a cooks helper on a cattle ranch for all the cowhands. He learned to cook simple stuff really well. Biscuits, cornbread and chili. Dad said that when he was growing up, Grandpa put a pot of beans on to cook all day every Monday. Pinto beans slow cooked with a litttle smoked ham or sausage. And fresh cornbread out of the oven is also one of my favorites!
My Dad said during the Great Depression that pinto beans and cornbread was a staple.
That sounds divine, big W to your grandfather
😊
I am actually so moved by this I have no idea why I just started to cry because it was so wholesome
Weird...
@@gravedigga4real781 Why do you have to be cringe? Let homie have their moment.
I think this video teaches contentment, humbleness, and not to waste what you have.
No one should live in poverty, but having very little makes you appreciate what little you have.
Please touch grass
@@exaltedalpha2610 says the cringe manchild.
Excellent reminder of how lucky we are. My husband still makes spanish rice with hot dogs. I had spanish rice with bacon growing up. We also had what we called "orange spaghetti" onions, tomato sauce garlic salt and pepper over spaghetti. It was perhaps poor peoples food, but it was delicious and I still make it today. My parents came from the farm in the '20s and '30s and so were self sufficient and we didn't turn our noses up at anything!
What is Spanish Rice?
@@JediasHertz rice with tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and seasonings (chili powder, cumin) salt and pepper!
Spanish rice is amazing, I still love it and appreciate it even more now.
@@JediasHertz Well, there's Spanish rice and there's "Spanish rice." Spanish rice is the stuff you get in a Mexican restaurant the made with chicken stock, paprika or anato, sauteed onions , garlic and spices. "Spanish Rice" is white rice boiled with some cheap tomato product (tomato paste or even ketchup ) and sauteed onions, if you're fancy.
I grew up from a family that lost so much so early and had to make do with what was left. While I myself grew up with having so much on my plate, watching this video makes me tear up, because it reminds me of the stories of my grandmothers and what they had to endure just so they and eventually their children would not go hungry.
It reminds me also of being a child and having dinner and seeing my mum not eating. I learned at a young age she'd skip meals so we could have food. I'd wish for no child to go through that
@@Stettafire You're among many who understand. The safety nets that young people take for granted didn't exist until FDR became POTUS.
@@didjitalone9544 FDR was a socialist. All socialist states fail.
They were living fine if you asked them
@@onemercilessming1342 and yet things were much better back then
Back when we were poor my mom would put butter on a cooked flour tortilla and sprinkle a little bit of sugar back in our food stamps days that was the first thought I had as this video ended great video that sparked a lost memory and we had a couple of rough Christmas's when we could not even afford a turkey I never remember the food I remember the good times our family had after the food was consumed thanks for putting this out got me teared up.
Butter is expensive. Almost as much as beef.
@@typingcat you can make your own butter and butter is very essential to almost everything.
In fact its actually cheaper to make your own butter if you can its a lot of work though..
Yes! I loved rolling up flour tortillas with butter, cinnamon and sugar as a kid!
The quality of your videos is OUTSTANDING! The creativity and well spoken nature has always been there, but the camera work has gotten so much more theatrical….. I LOVE IT!
It encourages plagiarism so probably not something I would recommend for kids.
@@reginaldforthright805 ?
@@reginaldforthright805 I'm not sure what you are talking about, but if you mean sharing printed recipes, recipes are one thing that isn't copywritten. (Cookbooks in their entirety are, however. They contain content other than recipes).
I grew up where a common meal was “goulash” which happened to be a nickname for pasta with whatever thrown in. Your sentiment about the feast being the people is spot on.
Goulash has its origins in Hungarian herdsmen making stew in a massive communal cauldron with whatever meat was available, hot peppers, potatoes, and anything else the locals could contribute. Whatever form it takes now, it's an ideal way to make a lot of food for very little money
I hate goulash after having had it so many times as a kid because we didn't have money for anything else at the time. And if it wasn't enough to have had to eat it so often, it always had mushrooms in and I was never allowed to pick them out. Now that I've been an adult for years and can decide for myself what to eat, I am never having goulash again.
So interesting. Goulasch (or Gulyás correcly) is a Hungarian dish, and here, in Hungary it was always considered to be a rich and full soup, deffinetely nor a poor men's dish.
Hey, I know goulash! To me it was macaroni with tomato sauce mixed in with it. No meat.
@@nb4749 wtf. Goulasch is a meat soup no maccaroni. I am hungarian its our national dish. I domt know what on earth ate you talking about but not goulasch, believe me.
This video reminds me of things I heard from my parents. My grandparents on both side were not actually that poor, but feeding half dozen of children wasn’t easy at that time. My mother said that the most common dinner in her childhood was plain rice with pickles and fried vegetables. There was protein from eggs and tofu but the family had to share a little plate of them. The only time for a child to have a whole fried egg for his/her own was the birthday. The one thing my grandpa has been proud of was his fava beans. He manage to plant some in the yard after hard work, and could even share with neighbors, who referred it as “lifesaving beans”. Raisins was luxurious delights to them because they could get this rare sweet in tiny paper packs from the US up to once a month. Apple? that’s something my parents wouldn’t dare to dream of. It was a myth from the rich kids with parents had business with Americans. God bless my grandparents and parents, for all the hard work the did to feed the family.
The passage in a Christmas Carol concerning the Cratchit's feast that almost brings me to tears when I read it is, "They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty...But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time." You are right it was not the food that made their feast, but the company of each other. Most of us have lost the art and pleasure of eating around a table sans devices and such.
There are few things as enjoyable as eating with good company, or as miserable as eating with bad company.
@@seigeengine
Proverbs 17:1-2 New Century Version (NCV)
It is better to eat a dry crust of bread in peace than to have a feast where there is quarreling.
Couldn't agree more. Last years Thanksgiving (A.K.A 2 months ago) was one of the best I've had in years. And it wasn't because of the food, it was the same as always (Though we DID have steak that time ontop of Turkey, which was nice) it's that everybody got along almost completely. The closest we ever got to politics was insulting Elon Musk, and that was basically universal. And at the time I think I started crying because everything was just so... Peaceful. It was lovely. Everybody made it, everybody enjoyed themselves, everybody was happy, and the conversations were great. It was a lovely night. It really does bring out the meaning of a proper feast; companionship.
Beans and cornbread have always been our go to when times are tight
For sure, and in my family growing up in the 80's, and 90's if we had not gone hunting for deer, or small game, or caught fish to all be stored in the freezer to be the main meat when times were tough it was for sure beans, thin pan cornbread, and sometimes ham streak, or canned ham.
LOL us too and I got a pot on now in the slow cooker. I cant make cornbread as good as mom and grandma though.
Chili soup with pasta in it, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, or home canned vegetable soup with half a grilled cheese: those were our make do food. Chili soup and veg soup were often really thin, but it was hot and filled us up. Mom refused any charity, except one year dad wasn't working much (1970s). She accepted the government surplus handouts. Peanut butter, cheese, and powdered milk. It made a very welcome change from the two eternal soups.
@@cristiewentz8586 A big bottle of honey where I am at is $11. _Nope_ no thank you.
@@troynov1965 I still prefer the Jiffy I grew up with
If I had to compile a list of the best UA-cam channels, Townsends would be right up there near the top. Their videos are A+ quality and have been consistently for so many years. Not only is the work itself amazing quality, but the people involved are passionate and great people.
Been there done that. Waiting for the food stamps, mom saying that she wasn't hungry and my sister and I ate. Fast forward to today and even eggs are insanely expensive. Certain factions condemning the poor, it's just a very challenging time we live in.
The number of things that used to be poor man's food that has been gussied up as haute cuisine so even inexpensive products are expensive is the worst of it.
Well, the dummies that are destroying western society are meeting in Davos. A tactical nuke would benefit all actual humanity and wipe out the self described "gods" like John Kerry and Klaus Schwab....
the poor should always be condemned, just as they should always be helped. the goal is the same, get them to stop being poor.
@@KairuHakubi It must be nice living in your world, where no one is ever born blind or deaf or simple. Where no one is a victim of random acts of violence. Where nothing bad ever happens to anyone who doesn't deserve it.
@@KairuHakubi Absolutely, it's clearly the poor person's fault that the price of basic grocery staples like eggs, milk, and bread are skyrocketing and the greedy corporation they work for refuses to pay them a wage that will match the insanely high cost of living. It's also clearly the poor person's fault that we have a corrupt government bought and owned by the rich that decimated the social safety net programs that were specifically designed to help them get back on their feet.
Quit watching Fox News bro.
I didn’t expect to get emotional watching this. Thank you townsends for providing wholesome content in a time where wholesome content is hard to find.
"So heckin pupper wholesome!!" Can you go back to reddit with that flavor of the month buzzword. Make everything sound disingenuous and cringe.
Same, when he talked about how a feast is not about the food as much as it is about the people, that really hit home... ;(
I live in Jersey, old Jersey, our potatoes are so good they were given a royal title ! And it's every Jerseymans right to glean the fields after the farmer has collected his crop. Even with modern machinery there are still plenty of small potatoes to be had.
My Dad's Dad once told me about the Great Depression: "I was so low I had to reach up to touch bottom." I never had it that hard, but had an employment challenge at one point when we lived primarily on rice & beans. It's part of why I am grafting fruit trees & tending some berries, why we grind our own flour & bake bread, why I brew my own ale & mead. Just to have the experience, I made small ale from a stout recipe - steeping the grains another time & fermenting the result. Maybe a third the alcohol, flavor & color. Instructive, passable & reminds me to give thanks to live so well!
Rice is seriously good stuff. A bowl of that plain, or with something mixed in for flavor, and you're set.
Should be careful tho with making alcohol urself, so u dont get methanol poisoning
@@pr6897 Glass a day works wonders. The small ale might have been 3% ABV, probably less. The stout ingredients & yeast used initially might have yielded 6-7%. Quite reasonable - & tasty!
@@pr6897 only with the hard stuff. you normally don't get it when you brew table beer.
True. People literally starved or became ill from lack of nutritious food. My mother had a little school friend who died along with her mother of TB from living on peas and rice and living in a damp basement apartment. Sadly many men who left to find work just abandoned their families. My great uncle did that. He ran away and left Aunt Anna with five little girls alone and if it wasn't for Catholic Charities they would have literally starved because they were up in Baltimore far from home in Georgia.
This is a beautiful video, one of your absolute best. Many of us know what it's like to pull together a meal in trying times, and how important it is to have a feast with family.
This is definitely one of those videos that anyone can 'get' and realise how fascinating the historic cooking on this channel is.
It's been a few years since I've seen a Townsend video, and I just wanna say i'm so impressed with the improvements you've made to your filmaking skills. If hollywood or other big studio is ever planning to set a film or tv series in the 18th Century, I hope they reach out to you for consulting :)
You guys knocked this one out of the park! I enjoy this style of video so much. It makes me take a good look inward and reassess the direction I'm heading. Thank you so much for all the videos.
Thank you!
Very touching. Well done, sir. ❤❤❤
I love the framing of these Feast videos as "giving them one good win", it is so damn wholesome and filled with empathy for those people in the past who had to struggle against insurmountable odds to survive.
Thank you so much for this video, it really hit home as many of us are in that very boat. God bless you Mr. Townsends and your whole group of people. Your videos inspire and inform. Again thank you vey much.
I absolutely love these videos about the working class and the poor. Often in history we only hear about the wealthy, but I like hearing what regular people were eating and doing.
When I was a boy scout we learned to make "hobo dinners". It's just ground beef (or any meat really) , choppe potatoes, onions, and whatever else you got around and wrap it in foil. Can be cooked in an oven or straight over coals.
Really interesting video. I grew up in a house with no heating and always had to make meals stretch.
I actually made that apple dumpling when you featured it years ago. I fancied it up just a tiny bit with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon to the dumpling dough, but it was surprisingly delicious with a good Washington apple.
Its kinda funny how full circle a meal like that has become - that looks like a wonderful hearty breakfast or supper. I wish I could get that at my university instead of pizza and burgers for lunch.
I love bread and cream cheese for an occasional dinner but I make my own for both.
the part where he finds a perfectly cleaned out potato under two cm of soil actually made me laugh out loud!
init. and then takes a crunch out of it
do you think that for making a poor person‘s meal he‘s going to handpick potatoes? seriously?
@@derkeksuchtige3416 I mean the Townsend channel is fairly dedicated to authenticity
@@TheTallOne890 well I guess that seemingly got thrown out of the window here
@@TheTallOne890 It's meant to recreate a scene from history. You don't need to go out in the wild and forage for something to accurately recreate a scene that might have happened lmao.
Keep picking those nits buddy
Two from Scotland
St columba was a celtic Saint who established the community on the island of Iona
St Columbas Broth
Water/milk or stock as you can get it
a nevfu(small handful) of oats
a little salt
and ransoms(wild garlic( or such wild herbs as could be found)
Boiled together
A more afluent version of his broth today is Boyndie Broth
Melt butter in a large pan over a low heat. Add onions and carrot and cook gently until soft. Add oats to pan and cook for about four minutes, stirring frequently. Add stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes. Add milk and heat through. Season to taste. Add chives or parsley, and a little cream if desired.
The above makes a thick broth - use less oats and more stock if you prefer a thinner soup. The addition of good undyed smoked haddock or smoked salmon makes a good alternative to Cullen Skink.
The other soup comes from my mothers childhood just outside Glasgow
Nettle soup
Ingredients
Half a bag of nettles for gran it would have been a basket for us it was a shopping bag
Water to blanch
1 onion
Some wild garlic (ransoms)
Knob of butter
1 litre Vegetable or chicken stock
Some pouring cream
Method
1.In a colander, rinse the nettles in batches then put in the pan with some water and blanch for a short while.
2.In a pan, melt the butter and add the onion and some chopped ransoms. Allow them to soften but do not let it colour. Once this is done then put into a pot with the chopped up nettles and the stock.
3.Remove from the heat and using a hand stick blender puree and then season to taste.
4.When serving up, swirl a little cream on top
Thank you. Best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪
god i hope there is a good crop of nettles either where i just moved to or where i moved out of but still have to clean up next spring this year that receipt sounds excellent
Does the type of oat matter? I have rolled oat. I will give the nettle soup a try if they're around this summer
@NoturFather 1 no, it shouldn't make much differenc. Myy gran would probably have used pinhead meal.
Thank you for sharing!
Been following this channel for a few years now and i swear i think this is one of the best ones he's ever made.
What is and isn't costly changes with the times. Right now the eggs in this feast are an arm and a leg, but we can easily afford the nutmeg that would have been a rare treat stretched to last as long as possible. Whatever you are eating, may we all make the best of what we have. Thank you for this channel.
back in the time as well eggs were very cheap chickens were very common and most people especially the poor had chickens or birds of some sort. Now a days a duck is expensive or quail and so on that back then was very inexpensive.
I really like how we can see your breath when you are inside, it really gives a sense of the environment of a poor household and how most of us take heat for granted.
Having spent time in my great grandma's big farm house that was heated by fireplaces I can not imagine how cold it must have been for the poor. Granny finally switched to gas heat when I was twelve and got indoor plumbing when I was eight. Before that when we visited her it was an out house or little enamel pots and baths in a huge old galvanized tub on Saturday night to tidy up for church next day.
Heard from some elderly Virginia women:
"Enough is as good as a feast."
It's stayed with me for the last 40 years. Words of wisdom for the ages.
What a wise phrase. 💓
That’s gratitude. ❤❤❤
reminds me a lot of eastern philosophies of balance and moderation being better than excess. I do think those words apply to every facet of consumption
I'm now very happily watching Mary Poppins in my head.
Great advice. We are heavily over consumers now a days. We actually waste a lot of food and resources. And the resources we do consume are often times contaminated with plastics and chemicals, and we over consume things to the point of high obesity rates and high pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes rates.
I'm a poor man myself and this really hit home for me.
The production quality of this channel is astonishing; it's like a documentary, and I have not seen anything like it. Great stuff!
I've really appreciated these videos about impoverished eating; your interest and timing always feel as though there is a mutual understanding of how quickly to that state we could return.
This video reminded me to be thankful for the food I have, and to find ways to help reduce hunger and poverty in my area. Thanks for posting, great content as usual.
This video quality is better than most educational television! Excellent work!
after finding their channel i have not watched any "mainstream" history programs since i luv the stuff they put out
Great video, and I can for sure relate to this growing up when my mother, and step father were between jobs trying to feed me, my sister, 2 step bros, and her best friend who was living with us for a while as her mother was a druggie, and making everything stretch as much as possible, you learn to get creative with what you have, and be thankful for what you have!!
Bless you and all who help you produce such quality content
Hey, Jon, I only really discovered your channel a couple weeks ago, but have been watching nonstop ever since! I've got 15 years of Colonial-era recipes to catch up on, and I'm loving them all. God bless you and the family, and keep bringing the tastes of American history to life! Lane from Canada
Thank you for addressing not only poverty in our history but poverty right now. God Bless You !
This whole channel is a work of art. An antique painting that one cannot stop contemplating. Greetins from Argentina.
It’s funny how meals made out of necessity and being frugal when I was a kid are now some of my favorite comfort foods as I get up in years. Big pot of beans with a ham bone, rice and sausages, stews, chicken and dumplings, etc. We raised a big garden, canned, raised hogs and chickens, and sometimes could barter for a side of beef.
Thanks John..
For reminding us of what is truly important.
It's not about what you ain't got, more about what you do with what you got, wether it be food, sharing work and working together as a community, no matter how small that community is. More importantly how we should value those around us.
After a stressful day, I can always watch your channel and instantly I am transported to serenity.
Thanks again for what you do.
I’ve been watching townsends for I feel like 7 years now and it continues to blow my mind with its content. Thank you for everything you do preserving and teaching history, community, and showing there’s more ways to live then the ones we’re used too.
Sometimes the simplest meals are the most hearty, thanks for the recipe!
So much of this is lost to history. In school all we got was kings, wars and battles. Thanks to you guys for doing your best to show the life of regular folks
Never forgot my history teacher mentioned how we don't know as much as we should about the average person for a variety of reasons besides time constraints of the classroom.
That is so cool that this dude admitted he ate hotdogs with rice as kid. Big Respect.
whats so brave about that
@@prodrt1 Because most people won't admit they ever lived in the trenches
Actually, rice with sausages aint so bad afterall. Add sunny side up egg, with a little salt, add a little sweet soy sauce to the sausages. The bread from the hotdog could just be left it for eat later.. or, bake it a little for crispy texture. I aint calling this poor's man feast.. its just asian improvished simple meal 🤣🤣
@@the.hard.truth123 insecure losers maybe but its not to be ashamed
@@AY-qy4jnyes as he said most people.
Well done for signalling your virtue
Starvation is one of the things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, especially if there are children involved. I can’t imagine any hell worse than having hungry kids crying for food and you are powerless to do anything about it. This is why I try to learn as much as I can to be the best provider that I can be. My grandparents starved themselves to raise their kids; I’m not about to have any kid of mine go through that.
mhm. I would start foraging if I could.
My family has foraged for centuries, and it’s been a major part of my life, along with hunting, fishing, and forestry. It’s not easy at all. Too many people think nature is the easy way out, but it’s truly not.
My family has foraged for centuries, and it’s been a major part of my life, along with hunting, fishing, and forestry. It’s not easy at all. Too many people think nature is the easy way out, but it’s truly not.
Props to you mate, it's definitely the way to go.
This is a very sincere and timely video. For many who were hurt financially by the pandemic and are still struggling I feel so much compassion. I have lost a business and was homeless for a while due to these lockdowns but feel grateful that I got my apartment back and get food weekly from a good food bank. Luckily we get a good amount of staple foods and my community garden plot gives us most of what we need to spice things up. I have learned to cook many new things from those staple foods. My favorite part of the video is when you foraged for the potatoe and ate it raw. So many people think raw potatoes are poisonous. They are not. Gleaning the fields after harvest probably would have been another way the poor might get food. There is a wonderful documentary from a while ago called Gleaning and it tells the story of gleaning throughout history. Pretty fascinating.
"foraged for the potatoe and ate it raw. So many people think raw potatoes are poisonous. They are not."
While they are not poisonous per se simply cause of how they are cultivated. When they are getting green or sprouting they concentrate more poison, and 200years ago that was a lot more than it is with modern cultivates we use.
Also while you might not get poisoned you also get hardly any calories from eating them raw.
This channel is perfect. Authentic, genuine, wholesome, and educational. Hands down, the best channel on youtube. You can tell that everyone involved has a genuine passion for what they are doing which is evident in the lack of advertising/encouraging to like, subscribe, and that sort of thing.
What's interesting is that this looks similar to something my grandma would make for us.....looking back I now have a better appreciation for that meal. And I would still eat it because it was good!
Potatos as food for the poor? See this video: ua-cam.com/video/3DVtSkm65sU/v-deo.html
I have to say, that poor person's feast looks delicious and wholesome. I would eat that and feel I have been given a quality meal.
I bet those poor people longed for the days when they drank cool Orange Fools in the warm sun. Proverbs 17:15, Proverbs 29:2
Here’s a real poor man’s supper ( meal for the day)
A liquor shot on the days with no food
And
A meal at the soup kitchen
Or
Something shared whatever and wherever he can find someone to share it with
till they were eaten by the king!
A poor family needs a full belly, but, that belly needs good nutrition as well. Many overlook that point.
Love this! Remember, Fava Beans are extremely high in protein in and of themselves... but this is a feast for the most of us at the time.
I am going to say this again. This is your best video ever! So relevant. I put up a bunch of the big lima beans that I was not aware I was growing until they got so big (I wanted the babies). I think that bean recipe would work for them. I have them all stored.
Also, right now, so many are looking at the grocery store for ways to prep on a budget. Unfortunately, our generations right now do NOT know how to prep except from stores where the food is not all that good. This gives people a real view of what they can do. Some salt pork, eggs from the chickens, beans and tomatoes are good for a start. The flour would have to come from buying storage berries or from a store. It is all so doable. I used to make kneaded rising bread every day when my children were young. But, one can make bread on a stick in the fire, or on a stove in an iron pan with no kneading. Recipes are all over the web for bread with no kneading.
I just love this video and will recommend it to those who keep claiming they can't prep because they are poor.
Please make more of these!!!
Pears too are a great food for the GI tract and to put a lot of flavorings (like nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, etc.) into. So easy to make.
Small correction: Scrooge brought a Christmas goose for the Cratchit family. Turkey would not have been common or available at the time.
The fat from a whole goose would have been saved and used to cook for weeks after. A turkey provides almost no fat and wasn't a common animal in England at the time.
This is what I don't get hearing about food shortages, since if other options were encouraged and facilitated it shouldn't be. In NA there are plenty of animals that thrive which can be farmed/raised/herded. I think people need to expand their palate range and the agriculture-food industry should endeavour in those opportunities.
@@JohnNNJ The thing you have to realize about "food shortages" is that they are regional and political. The world creates more than enough food to sustain all 8 billion people, yet 1 billion are undernourished, and 25K per day die of starvation. Back at the time of Scrooge, if you were caught picking berries on the lord's land (all the land around you) you could be shot, most likely imprisoned. Today, most starvation occurs in urban areas and is very selective about the class of people who suffer.
@@PrometheusZandski yet absolute poverty is the lowest it has ever been, per capita.
@@PrometheusZandski And the our world today has an obisby problem which is much different then before when it was much different.
That's a good point. Cooking meat in goose fat would allow people to store if for great lengths of time, correct? Kind of like a confit?
Potatoes and onions were our go-to. Super cheap and carb rich. For a few months, we ate tortillas for dinner and ramen for lunch or vice versa. Family of four in rural midwest.
Well done! Your storytelling and teaching is always excellent, but the new editing touches really are a nice touch. 👏
There are times I can remember as a child, my mother would make us boxed mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. I never noticed that she didn't eat dinner with us until I was older. Not because she didn't want to, but because there wasn't enough food for all four kids and herself. She would eat whatever we didn't finish quietly in the kitchen while we were watching television.
Heaven is beneath the feet of a mother. Hope God has blessed you well and your mom kept like a queen 🙏🏻
Not a true story
@@Trumpisgod wait who ?
@Kei - what did the woman’s maid/butler eat then? Just sounds made up to me. They usually eat the scraps.
@Kei - what’re you talking about? The OP is the troll. Making up a story for likes.
this is my first exposure to this channel. im hooked.
Spanish rice with hotdogs..whoa... i feel ya cause I had minute rice with milk and sugar... cool video nice to see poor man's feast makes me grateful
Rice pudding. Yummy 😋
Minute rice is too much $$. lol. I cook for a dozen people and I definitely have adjusted my habits to save money.
We have cut out most of the red meat. Pork chops are $1.49 a lot and are good on the grill. Pozole, a Mexican stew made from pork butts and a big can of hominy will feed the whole crew for around $1 a piece. That is .06 in 1800 money.:) It is pretty amazing to be honest. It has become our traditional Christmas ever meal.
It is more for early retirement than necessity though.
Minutes is expensive, you are just describing food made by unskilled cook :D
A dash of cinnamon makes a world of difference.😉
@@davidroberson1962 Honestly, if a meal I make costs much more than $1/person, I consider it expensive.
The pacing of this video is delightful! Different from what I'm used to, but so elegantly put together, and it tells a great story.
I've been a fan for over a decade, and whenever I'm having a rough day, your channel always brings so much comfort to me both as a history nerd and as someone who adores old recipes. I grew up poor, still am, but I will say this: it taught me how to get creative with the food I have, and appreciate the creativity of generations past!
We are so similar
Townsend at its very best ! History , reality , humanity , practical , compassion. Well done !
Been a subscriber for many years, and watching your videos is always a treat. Great job, as usual!
The best content on internet . The videos are so wholesome , appreciate elaborated content and efforts required in making such high quality video.❤️
This might be my favorite Townsends video. Great job on another history lesson that echoes our world today enough to be timely and relevant.
I don't know if a cooking video has ever made me think so much about how fortunate I am. Amazingly well done, as always.
Every morning I wake up in a warm comfy place, push a button and light appears, do my business and press a lever, and it all washes sanitarily away. I then turn a nob, and hot water gushes out and I wash my face. Then I drink some quickly prepared hot and energizing beverage and start my routine. If that ain't fortunate, I don't know what is.
We really appreciate your Channel and began watching it bc we had stayed near Townsend TN and thought it applied to there
However it applies to both our families histories in so many ways and we greatly appreciate it Thank you
Glad to see this page has hotten the recognition it deserve.
I lost the love of my life during covid, and these have kept my mind occupied at the worst times.
Coming from a very large family it’s more common than people think. Poor and hungry. My nickname as a child was boney maroney, made of macaroni. Loved your definition of a feast. It is all about the people gathered. Your video brought back so many memories. Thanks for the blessing.
I really love the storytelling in your videos, and the soothing relaxed atmosphere it brings forth
I love how you described a humble poor man's feast as not about the food, but about the company. This video is perfectly written and produced, and already see myself returning for rewatches.
Yeah, it was super wholesome. I think its a lesson on gratitude to know you have everything you need always
Absolutely wonderful video guys, the transitions, the sentiment, everything. Cheap eating will always be relevant, for better or worse. My family's cheap meal growing up was always canned baked beans with hotdogs over rice.
My cheap meal is slightly different hotdogs, rice boiled with water and cranberry juice, honey mustard, diced carrots, rains, and garlic.
As a person who admires good cooking and good storytelling, I must say this video was a feast for my soul. Just beautiful. I have tears in my eyes. Congratulations to all involved in it :)
Those days, it's really personally hard to get enough food.
I sacrifice the last of the money i have for my dog to eat well and restrain myself.
Thanks for this video, means a lot.
Plenty of dried beans n lentils. I make lentil curry from time to time. Full of goodness and it doesnt cost much. Tinned sardines are cheap too.
@@londonyes1380 From what I have heard lentils is the way to go if you are poor.
@@duckqueak yes dry lentils are dirt cheap. Plus lots of protien.
might want to think about yourself instead of canines
Dear friend, you are very thoughtful to be concerned about the dogs. Is foraging legal where you are? You may need to find a charity pantry and get things for yourself to eat, what will their fate be if you get ill and can't care for them?
Much Love Townsends. These beautiful videos have helped so much. :)
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Townsends!
I don't know how you guys keep raising the bar on your production values, but it sure is impressive and such a treat!