We're almost to 3 Million so make sure to subscribe please! Also, follow my adventures and cats at instagram.com/tastinghistorywithmaxmiller/ . And lastly check out my new show (FREE) on Roku at therokuchannel.roku.com/details/ac4b4f1105e22f705a067215671aafa2/clash-of-the-cookbooks . Happy Holidays to all!
re: realizing your mouth and tongue are going numb and that you just tasted a bite of something including raw egg whites I'm allergic to alliums (e.g. onions, garlic, shallots) and my mouth and tongue burn (think really hot pepper burn), _or_ go numb, _or_ burn and _then_ go numb, and then there's a roughly 50/50 chance that there will also be swelling. While I haven't had a life threatening reaction (at least not for this particular food allergy), because it developed as an adult, and I've only become more sensitive as I aged, the concern is that it will progress until my throat swells up. Needless to say, there is always a moment of panic when I feel that initial numbing or burning sensation. Honestly, I felt more seen and understood by Max's response when he realized what had just happened than I can possibly express! @TastingHistory - I have to admit, having an allium allergy really sucks, but _I suspect having a raw egg allergy and being both a foodie and having a career centered around food must suck even more!_
When I was living on campus in college, each dormitory would do a "Secret Santa" week, where we'd put small gifts in "Stockings" (an ordinary sock) for our "Santees." One year, I got a student I didn't know very well, and so for the first day of that week, I picked up an orange from the cafeteria for tradition, and to fill out the gift a little more, a four pack of instant chicken noodle soup. I managed to sneak them into her sock before she could see me... And as I was putting the key in my room door, I heard her come in behind me and exclaim: "An orange! And Chicken Soup! Just what I needed. I'm coming down with a cold..."
Are you ok? You are such a pro, continuing with the video even though you might be getting sick, I hope it wast too bad, btw, I got your book for Christmas last year!
I chuckled when you mentioned getting an orange for Christmas. My Dad's family grew up as poor Southern Virginians. My grandpa used To tell us grandkids about how Christmas day gifts were given out at church, you would get a paper bag with an apple and an orange, maybe a single stick of Wrigley's chewing gum and maybe maybe got a little bit of chocolate. My dad said something similar, however by then finances had improved just a smidge so you would probably get two sticks of chewing gum and a banana. Towards the end of my dad's life, he lamented just how monetary and materialistic Christmas had gotten, and he was very saddened to see how Christmas was all about spending as much money as possible.... One of the very last gifts I ever got him was a brown paper bag filled with goodies. Now I went a bit far LOL. I stuffed it with his favorite candy, got him a toy fighter jet because he was in the Air Force, and he got all the fruit: Apple, orange, banana. Two packs of chewing gum instead of just one! Of all the gifts I ever got my dad, that was the only one where I saw him cry... Only gift I ever saw him brag about on Facebook to everybody else in the family. For just a split second he was taken back to his childhood... Miss him every day.
I currently live in Southwestern VA and I still get a brown paper bag with an apple and orange in it lol 😂 a lot of churches and other places give them out as free gift bags and my bus driver would give them out when we got off the bus back in my school days
Many of my relatives expressly ask to not be given gifts. They have every material thing they could need. A slightly strange new tradition is the family christmas lottery. Add one item of no more than $5 to a pool and randomize them using a small game and some barter.
I really cant overstate how much i appreciate that despite the sharp rise in obnoxious and clickbaity thumbnails--even amongst major channels--this channel has stuck true to its roots and not really changed the thumbnail formula much at all over the years. Getting your success off the quality of your work and just being an absolute gem is something the platform needs more of.
@@Macrocosm_Of_Dorian If he was that allergic I doubt he'd have sat there calmly giving his feelings on the food. From the sound of it he has a mild allergy that's more uncomfortable than dangerous, or at the very least would require eating more than a spoonful to be dangerous.
I looked at the bowl of egg whites and really hoped it was that substitute he mentioned. Then I hoped there was another cooking stage. Oops! At least it seems to be a mild allergy.
Yes. I recently developed an intolerance to lactose and am constantly forgetting that things have cheese or butter in them... or forgetting that it matters. I fee for y'all!
I wondered if he swapped out the egg white with aquafaba and didn't mention it to keep the flow and reveal it in the end, but nope, right into the allergy.
I sometimes forget I'm lactose intolerant and forget to take my Lactaid pills. Oops. I won't die, but the next couple of hours are going to be less that pleasant.
I have a sensitivity to chlorinated water (Think like a lactose intolerance but to tap water.) And my issue is more a matter of 30 minutes after I eat discovering that the so called filtered water wasn't, finding out the salad greens were rinsed, not just wet with condensation, or that the juice was reconstituted from concentrate. Or re-affirming that yes, just a few sips of soda is too much. *sigh* So while you avoid milk, it's the only thing I can safely drink out in public or when traveling (though traveling I carry a Lifestraw with me and it seems to help)
I'm an English lass. We still do the lovely stocking with an orange inside. This pudding would have been less expensive because it contains less components than regular pudding and, most importantly, does not require hours of cooking. Fuel prices!
@@albuszx Seriously, I have one of the most expensive utility companies in the USA and I do 95% of my cooking with tabletop appliances instead of the stove or oven. No way would I heat up the oven for an hour to roast veggies when the air fryer can do it in 20 minutes on 110V instad of 240V. I still have a large toaster oven I bought 15 years ago that holds a 12" pizza or even a Bundt pan.
I'm enjoying reading everyone else's comments about getting oranges in their stockings; my parents, although growing up later than the Depression, never had Christmas stockings. My mum, however, loved the idea of them and made sure my brother and I always had them. So when I went away to college, I decided I was going to make stockings for my parents so they could have that fun too. They were rather odd looking, since I made them myself out of an old dress that my roommate gave me (which was blue floral) and some red orange grosgrain ribbon I had left over from another project. But they still had a proper stocking shape! And then I got gifts to fill them according to a little poem I had come across in an old book: "something to play with, something to read, something that's sweet, and something you need." I remembered that people used to put oranges in the toes and decided that would be the "something you need" because who doesn't need a little extra Vitamin C in the form of a juicy orange! I was so excited, sneaking down after every one else was in bed to put their stockings out for them, and one of my favorite memories is of them the next morning - a little confused, but also very happy - to find their very own Christmas stockings waiting for them!
I've been hit with a financial crisis and have been holding myself together for my kids sake but all this mention of depression and how families made Christmas happen despite not having much really made me cry. Christmas isn't going to be much this year but if I can distract my kids with flour dough crafts and art projects then maybe they'll have happy memories. They know money is tight and they're good kids, like the little girl with the old doll, so they'll be happy with just being together. I don't mean to leave a sad comment, just wanted to thank you for reminding me that Christmas means more to kids than how we adults stress over it being. ❤ I love you guys and Merry Christmas to you both 🎄
I was very poor - really homeless much of the time - as a small child and I have amazing memories of doing crafts and things with my mom. Definite recommend on popcorn and paper chains! Also if you have a news seller nearby or similar who can give you old inserts I have fond memories of little presents wrapped in funny pages or shiny ads :). Good luck and Merry Christmas!
I advised A friend who only had $10 left one Christmas to go to the dollar store and splurge Her daughter was four years old and satisfied with the unwrapping process as well as the toys
Start a new tradition. You can have a nice Christmas, I was a single mom and I had gifts for her but money was tight. So we watched movies, read books. Showed her a few "poor people recipes" from my mom's youth. She loved them. So did my grandsons decades later. They thought that was cool. ❤ I hope you have a very merry christmas. ❤
We used to have "garbage bag" christmas. My mom would collect newspaper/magazines throughout the year and cut them up into a large black garbage bag and everyone would put their gifts for each other in the bag. The gifts were a mix of inexpensive gag gifts and nicer gifts and one at a time we would dig for our gifts. If we got anyone else's gift it would have to go back in the bag. At the end there was newspaper everywhere but even the clean up was fun as everyone pitched in. It was fun and so memorable!
My father's mother grew up during the great depression and we continued the tradition with CHOCOLATE oranges. But I remember when my grandma was still alive how she would careful peel the wrapping paper from tearing so she could reuse it later. It is really difficult to understand the hardship she went through as a teen... Such a lovely memory of her though.
I had a family member who was after that generation but her parents instilled so much of it in her she also would cut and save wrapping paper too. We don't do that anymore but we do still reuse gift bags. They're exciting to revisit year to year
Our family wraps gifts in fabric. Each person has fabric specific to their interests, which makes it easy to tell which gift is for each person. After opening the gift, you just fold the fabric, and it's used for your gifts next Christmas, as well as for your birthday. I really like how it is a fun and sustainable alternative to wrapping paper. This is the family I married into. I felt so accepted and loved the first Christmas they bought fabric for my gifts.
This one hit me hard. Both my parents are gone, so I don't have them to ask about this stuff... but growing up in the 60s, I would get those oranges and nuts in my stocking, and there was an ancient Chinese checkers board in the basement that would sometimes come out during the holidays. My folks would have been kids during the time period you reference... it all becomes clear.
Did you live at my house and I never noticed? 😮 We had the same stocking stuffers and a Chinese checkers board I assumed was my older brother's. While reminiscing years later he said it predated him. Wish I still had it.
My childhood was also in the 60s. My parents didn't bother with stockings, but we always had Mandarins in December. They would buy a box, and then we could only have one a day until Christmas Day, then we could polish them off. Just two kids, so they went further. We also had a Chinese Checkers board...it was a round piece of tin. It had belonged to my Grandfather, then my Mom inherited it. And now I have it. I don't have any one to play with, but it is precious. Also, they had real glass colored marbles to play with. One of the red ones had a dint in it the color was slightly darker than the others....my Dad always played with the red marbles and he called the 'dimpled' one his red cherry. Another precious memory. Both Mom and Dad have both passed as well, so these are precious memories indeed. Thanks for keying this conversation!
I had wondered who the 'Guest Taster' would be (because of the egg whites...) but I never thought you'd have Ben Adryl over to join you, Max... Thank you for all the great cooking programs, and so happy that this channel is doing so well!
Everyone's favorite Christmas decoration, in our family, is a homemade decoration made by my Grandmother. It's a victorian style card with a boy and girl, taking a small tree home with a $2 bill inside the card. It commemorates the Christmas when Grandma and her brother were facing not celebrating Christmas at all. Their Dad was away at war and there just wasn't any money. When her little brother realized how upset she was at the prospect of not having a tree, he broke open his piggy bank and took all the $2 to go get a tree. Her brother ended up coming home with a tree, not much smaller than he was. It is one of her favorite Christmas memories. I recreated a version of that ornament for our tree so family history can be passed down and stories aren't forgotten.
My grandkids always come home from college and spend Christmas with me and if they put a really good orange in my stocking, I’d be ecstatic! Mainly I’m just grateful they come and see this old man. I wish you all the very best!
That's great! I got some similar Christmas gifts (once we got a bag of cat food, useful) and I liked them. No depression era or anything, my family just don't make a big deal of gifts (except I when I stress over the icing of gingerbread as I only have an idea for edible gifts but not anymore).
I have a Dicken's village! My mother started it in the late 80s, we've got 6 houses, Scrooge, Bob Cratchet & Tiny Tim & assorted other little pieces & trees. Its my favorite decoration to put out every year. I lost my Mom this year & it's brought me a lot of joy to have it up & think about many happy past Christmases. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season & peaceful new year!
My mother, a child of the depression made for us the date pudding her mother made during the hard years. It was a dark, most sheet cake with dates. When cut, each serving had butter caramel sauce poured over it and topped with whipped cream. It was divine.
That sounds exactly like the British sticky toffee pudding - a sponge cake base made with brown sugar and lots of dates, with caramel sauce poured over it - yummo! A very good winter warmer, and no expensive ingredients.
Exactly what I was going to say! I just made sticky toffee pudding for my potluck group Christmas (our theme this time was English Christmas). It's dense and rich and delicious. (I can't tell if anyone is replying to me specifically, but even so, share the wealth- if anyone wants the recipe I use for Sticky Toffee Pudding, it's David Guas from Food & Wine, except either double the cake part, or half the toffee sauce, you'll have a ton of toffee sauce if you don't double the cake, you'll still have a lot).
What a perfect Christmas pudding for those of us who live where it's hot during Christmas, like Australia and New Zealand. Thanks, Max & have a great Christmas yourself.
Greetings, another recipe that I have made for years is a plum pudding jell-O mould that is in an official Jell-O booklet from 1922 and it goes as follows. Plum Pudding. Dissolve a package of Lemon Jell-O in a pint of boiling water, while it is still hot stir in three-fourths cup Grape Nuts or one cup coarse dried and browned bread crumbs, three-fourths cup stoned raisins, three fourths cup English walnut meats, three-fourths cup cooked prunes, and one-fourth cup citron- all cut fine; one-half teaspoonful cinnamon, one-fourth teaspoonful cloves. Salt to taste. Mix and let harden. Serve with whipped cream or pudding sauce.
Growing up in the Soviet Union, oranges as gifts for New Year's (since Christmas was not celebrated) were also common. Weird but funny to hear how they were a desirable presents for kids during the Great Depression too. :)
Same in Ireland. As a country we were considered between quite poor to extremely poor up until the late mid '90s, so oranges and nuts were common in Christmas stockings as a big treat.
So this sent me down the rabbit hole of "Where did the Soviets get citrus?" And turns out the had up to 300 square kilometers planted in "fruit trenches" and pruned them until they grew sideways like a creeping vine that never got more than 25 centimeters tall. Also they just bought them open market from Israel. Stalin was the first foreign leader to recognize Israel--which he did just to anger everyone else, but it bought some good will
My husband’s aunt would do stockings for her entire family. A walnut had to go into the toe followed by the orange, then assorted nuts and candy. Chocolate bells had to be one of the candies. The stocking was finished with a candy cane and a box of cracker jacks or a bag of homemade caramel corn.
Omg thank you for this. You’ve unlocked a memory of my grandmothers house with the chocolate bells and rice crispy rectangles as well as nuts and a mandarin orange. She’s been dead for over 20 years 😢
My mother still insists that every stocking has to have an orange "because it fills out the toe" and a candy cane hooked over the edge "to let you know you were good this year" Even if my son always passes off the candy cane since he can't stand peppermint. When I was a kid, the orange and candy cane were supposed to go together. You would roll the orange around to break up the pulp inside and then stick the straight part of the candy cane through the skin into the orange and suck until it turned into a straw and you could suck the juice out.
My grandpa was 8 when the stock market crashed. He and his brothers would go out and hunt rabbits, squirrels, anything you could get with a .22. They never ate the rabbits because you could sell them for a dime and that money was better used to buy flour and other necessities.
A dime was a loaf of store bought bread back then. Maybe even two if you bought day old. A 24 pound sack of flour was about 60-65 cents so about 3 cents a loaf if you made it at home. Meanwhile the rabbits, while nice for the protein, wouldn't have had as many calories as the meat from wild rabbit is very lean.
I remember seeing a black-and-white cartoon, decades ago. I don't recall now if it was in some kind of mass-produced cartoon collection, or on a VHS my grandfather had made on his own - he had a huge library of tapes both purchased and self-curated. But I loved this particular one a lot, because it featured a man going into an orphanage while everyone slept, and he sort of took bits of EVERYTHING in the place, to create decorations and make a big meal and all sorts of little presents. Including popcorn on a string around their tree, which I thought was genius. (Little less sure about using the soot from the stovepipe for anything but hey, cartoons.) My grandfather was born in 1926, and I knew that it had been a rough childhood because he NEVER spoke about it, not even to talk about where he grew up. He had tons of stories about his military service - from lying about his age (16 then) to get into the army, to being posted in Alaska for two years ("that's what I got for lying!"), to becoming an ordnance disposal specialist in Germany... so many interesting things! But never a peep about the Depression. I've had more than a few poor-man's Christmases and I'm grateful every year for my husband and his take on the holiday - which is basically to shrug and nearly not care. His family never celebrated it much, and he had no upsetting associations like I had. So since being with him and his family, Christmas is actually an enjoyable time. I make a big huge dinner, we see about getting one or two presents, and we spend time with the family and leave it at that. After all - the point of the season really isn't so much the spending, is it? As you said: it's the warmth, the sharing of joy, and the welcoming of a new year and hopefully better days.
My mom, a depression child, made pies for Christmas. Green apples from our Apple tree. A pumpkin where she pulled out the insides, and beat ( by hand) through a cloth to get pumpkin for a pie. Standard basic pie crusts. Left over pie crust dough was rolled out, filled with butter spread, cinnamon and sugar, rolled up and cut into disks, and baked just like the pies. These hand held little disks were in lieu of cookies. My sister and I made Christmas ornaments by replacing the sugar with salt in a pie crust recipe, cookie cutters for shapes and putting holes at top for hanging purposes. Lasted for years!
The testimonies of the Great Depression kids on their experiences really choked me up and put a tear in my eye. It's touching how in such hard times people still did everything they could out of love for their family and for one another. Thank you for sharing those.
I collect cookbooks and particularly antique books. My favorite is a handmade one made as a Christmas present. It is beautifully penned and decorated with little pictures she cut out of magazines. She wrote little comments in red with the recipe like "yum" or "family favorite ". What a gift!
I grew up in the Midwestern US in the 90s & we still always had that orange in the toe of our stocking. No matter what other candies, toys, or practical items (we pretty much always also got lip balm, a little jar of Mentholatum, and some dental floss, for example) might be in the mix, we always knew there would be an orange waiting at the bottom. Never knew when that tradition started, but I wouldn't be surprised if that really was one of the big treats in my grandparents' stockings during their Great Depression childhoods.
As a multi-generational family of musicians, we are neck-deep in sheet music. I was elated to see that your copy of "Winter Wonderland" is the exact same one we own, that three generations of singers and instrumentalists learned from in our house. We still do oranges in the stockings for the grandkids, just like our parents and grandparents did for us, but to maintain a blend of several traditions, the stockings with goodies (and obligatory citrus) are dispensed on St. Nicholas' feast day (Dec. 6th). Wishing you and everyone a holiday season filled with all good things, peace and joy.
When I was little we looked forward to our stockings as much or more than regular presents. I was born in '54 and my parents had lived through the depression. We always got 2 oranges and 2 apples and 2 bananas along with pecans from my uncle's farm, small chocolates, ribbon candy, and little presents like silly putty, sets of card games. Of course some of it was contributed to the fruit salad for Christmas dinner. I have really sweet memories of those times. I think this is about my favorite of your videos because it brought the memories out. 🎅🧑🎄🎄🎁🍊💕
As a young boy, in the early 50's, our Christmas tree was covered with lead tinsel. It always looked beautiful and who knew, or cared about being poisoned. The funniest thing that I remember about the tinsel was walking past the tree and causing the tinsel to move in the slight breeze. The effect on the TV set was a sudden interruption due to the static from the metal. Having only rabbit ears for an antenna it was sitting just a few feet from the tinsel which caused interference. Wonderful memories that I would never want to forget.
Amazing how many modern 2024 Christmas traditions started within the last 100 years: the pudding made of gelatin really spread, reinforced with Jell-O existing for decades prior; using popcorn and tinsel for Christmas tree decoration. The shift from steamed puddings to gelatin puddings that we know now is very interesting. Also, things that persisted in those who grew up during the Depression, such as making things and, sadly, hoarding things because you never knew if you would need it later and couldn't afford to replace it. Thank you for the very thoughtful video and recipe, Max! (Edit) Hope the reaction wasn't too bad and the Benadryl helped!
The process for making cheap gelatine sheets or pellets etc improved. Gelatine was not unknown, but the process for making it was cumbersome. Gelatine was a new wonder dish here as well. Both sweet and savory gelatine dishes, ones with meat or fruits of carrots etc.
99% of "modern" traditions were started in the victorian and early depression times. and if you think on it, the past 100 years man we have gone places tradition wise. also I am too praying for max's recovery because I have food allergies and they suck!
My parents were both children during the depression. We always got a tangerine or other citrus in our stockings (which were my dad’s socks, btw). But they also gave us a very 1970s thing: one of those tiny boxes of cereal. Christmas breakfast, comprised of otherwise forbidden sweetened cereal (you MUST turn the tiny boxes into a bowl to eat it out of) and our tangerine was absolutely our favorite thing!
My Grandfather was a minister in a poor neighborhood in Tennessee. From October through Christmas, he would raise resources to buy small dolls or fire trucks, bushels of apples and oranges, and chocolate covered cherries, and sometimes a small bag of nuts. He would put an orange, an apple, some cherries and nuts, and a toy in a lunch style paper bag. At the end of the Christmas eve service, he would pass out these small bags. I remember I was about 10 when I got to help pass out the bags. I remember how stunned I was to hear and see the excitement the kids showed when they got these small, inexpensive toys. I overheard one mom thank my Grandfather because she had gone 2 or 3 years witho ut a present for her children. Later that night, I went with Grandfather add he took gifts and food to other people in the area. I've tried to emulate his service, but not as successfully as I should.
Your grandma sounds absolutely lovely. My own maternal grandmother grew up in the depression too. When it first happened her father a Banker took his own life because he just couldn’t handle the losses it caused and took his own life. Her mother stood strong and cared for her and her many siblings as best she could, my grandmother was a very strong woman.
My dad was born in 1937 in Norfolk in England. He doesn't remember much about the 1930's because most of his early memories are of the war. However, he does remember his first orange! Around 1948 a cargo ship ran aground off Norfolk and had to jettison cargo to re-float. The cargo was oranges. These drifted on the tide and thousands of them were washed up on the beaches near the town where my dad lived. He and some of his friends were fishing and came home with fish for dinner and as many oranges as they could carry for dessert!
8:12 Whoa. Childhood memory unlocked. My grandparents always put a chocolate orange in my stocking as a kid. I loved those things and to this day I associate them with Christmas. I can imagine how excited a kid from the Depression era would’ve been to get a fresh, juicy orange.
That's funny, my dad grew up during the depression. We always had nuts and an orange in our stocking. I gave my own children orange filled chocolate shaped like an orange, and wrapped in gold foil. Also candy 🍬 and small toys or personal items. I once asked my dad what the best gift he ever got was, he said he got a doctor's kit that he loved, and second was a flashlight. He and his brothers learned to make moving toys, out of a bent Bobby pins, thread spool, and a rubber band.
I don't know about the rest of the country but chocolate oranges are a huge thing in the South. You can walk into just about any store and find hundreds lining the shelves and they still sell out. I guess it's just the natural progression of the original tradition.
I make a grab bag for each of my niblings: chocolate orange, candy coal, finger traps, clickers, kazoos, bubble wands and liquid, silly string, and this year I found holiday spinners! Some of the family does not appreciate the traditional rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on kazoo.
We got oranges too! I was always excited. I do it with my kids, they don’t understand or care, but it’s fun to hear someone else do it for generations too
Hey Max, I have an idea of a video for you: as a European, I love blackcurrant, and I was puzzled to discover that it is banned in the US. A video about how that came to be with a recipe of a blackcurrant dessert could be fun 😊
In "The Carnival of Immortals" by Enki Bilal (1980) the Egyptian gods stranded in a starship above Paris are briefly gifted a game of Monopoly. They find the very concept of the game distasteful and deem it to be a trap to sow discord. In one page, they have their gifted copy burned by a servant.
One person ends up with all the money and good properties. Everyone else ends up broke. Much of it amounts to blind luck (dice rolls) and it can cause a fist fight at family dinner because the "banker" is dipping from the till. Sounds right.
It's good for people these days to hear about that period. Inexpensive cooking, holiday festivities, and general housekeeping is going to be very relevant for a lot of folks. Everyone deserves a Merry Christmas (or any holiday of their choice), and to not be shamed for not meeting up to the standards of the treadmill of consumerism.
I'm from The Netherlands. We get our December gifts on Saint Nicholas' night. As a child in the 90's, early 00's I also got citruses as gifts from the OG Santa. Mandarins specifically. I wondered if this is related to your story, so I did a Google search on the topic. Apparently there's a story about Saint Nicholas: three poor girls wished to marry, but their father had no money for a dowry. They prayed to the saint, and in the night he gave each of them a ball of gold to use as dowry. A ball of gold looks quite similar to a citrus fruit. And indeed, if you look at historical paintings of Saint Nicholas, he is often depicted with three golden balls … or lemons. Perhaps there is a connection there to your experiences.
Those three bags of gold is also why often you'll see three balls on a sign in front of the local pawn shop. How Nicolas also became the patron saint of pawn brokers is beyond me 🤷
I was also reminded of the little mandarin oranges we'd always get in our shoes from Saint Nicholas. I was a kid in the 90s. And we weren't poor, not rich either, but we certainly had oranges all the time. Still they made me happy as a gift. They are just so yummy and cheerful and bright. I still love them and are going to have one right now :)
Back in the 50s in the Netherlands we had mandarin oranges to in our shoes from st Nickolas. But we sometimes got them on Christmas instead or as well. I think it depended on when they arrived in town. Christmas was the decorating and lighting of the tree, terrifying to me since we still used candles and I have a phobia for fire. Then a big dinner, usually rabbit stew and people visiting and playing cards.
I think the tradition of Christmas oranges in Britain and through there to the US goes back to the days of sailing ships. By the time they'd been harvested in Spain and Portugal, made it to the coast and reached England it would have been nearly Christmas so they got associated with the season. I imagine the Netherlands was in a similar boat (if you'll pardon the pun;).
I was pleading through the TV, for you to not eat the pudding with egg whites, hoping that you would have a guest taster. Bless you for going to such lengths to wish us all a Happy Holiday... As I do for you.
My mom's family actually even made their own ceramics to give each other. They lived outside of town on a mountain in West Virginia. My aunt had a kiln her brother made her😊. We still set them out as decorations almost 4 generations later. They're really pretty🎄🌟☃️🎁✨
It’s interesting how at this point in history (and today) a gelatin dessert would be considered an inexpensive alternative when only about a hundred years ago jellied desserts tended to be labor intensive centerpieces for the wealthy.
The industrial process for making sheets or granules of gelatine really improves. Sometimes old recipes use gelatine in small amounts, like a glaze over another dish or as a top layer of a baked dish.
I agree...especially right now with eggs so expensive, I couldn't bring myself to buy them just for the whites. Chocolate too. I'm with Max...I think this was a timesaver dessert for a family where all the adults may have been working to help out with the finances
The key I think is that this uses less *cooking* time, meaning less fuel usage. You are just heating the ingredients up such that they can be combined, not thoroughly boiling it for hours.
Every year during our Christmas programs at church, they always gave the kids paper bags filled with oranges, walnuts and some old fashioned candy. As a kid I always thought it was weird and would typically give it to my grandma who appreciated it more then I did. I'm glad to know where this tradition came from
My mom was raised by depression era grandparents and we’d get fruit and nuts in our stocking. She would also place oranges with cloves pushed into the skins around the house and they smelled amazing.
My mom and dad were children during the depression, and would often talk about their slim Christmases. So when I was growing up Christmas was a very big deal and they tried to make it the best Christmas they could for us children. We always received an orange, nuts, candy cane, and See’s Candy chocolate balls in our stocking. We always received wonderful toys and had a very delicious Christmas Dinner. Most of the food my mother would fix we only ate at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Which made them special and we would look forward to having them again year after year. Thanks for posting. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! ❤🎅🏼🎄
I'm from the Faroe Islands. My mom (born in late 50's) remembers how special it was to get oranges on Christmas. Grandpa used to buy a box of oranges for them to eat over Christmas, and each child (they were 6 in total) got 1. But my mom loved and atill loves fruits, so sometimes she would sneak to the kitchen to get another orange while the others either were asleep or out 😂 Citrus fruits are still very much eaten during Christmas here as they tend to be in season more, but now children will usually get a mandarin or clementine in the Christmas goodie bags from school or other children Christmas events alongside sweets and gingerbreads. So getting a citrus fruit in the stockings is very much alive here.
If I'm not mistaken, your country celebrates Christmas Eve reading and eating sweets. If you're also eating juicy fruits, do you end up getting citrus fruit juice on your books' pages? 😊
@myridean2k4 Yeah, that's not true for my family or relatives. No food allowed while reading 😅 Also - don't everybody eat sweets on Christmas? Pretty normal in all Nordic countries as far as I know.
Living in New England in the 1960/70s oranges were scare. So getting our orange and nuts was a treat. We also had simple gifts and board games were popular. Socks. I still cut up old Christmas cards to make tags for next year's gifts. Save wrapping paper. Merry Christmas!
I still insist on oranges for my little people's stockings along with nuts, chocolate, and a good peppermint stick! All our stockings were embroidered by a member of our family. My Nana made mine, I made my husband's, and my sister-in-law made my children's. They make me so happy. Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!
Thanks for the reflections of Christmas past Max. I, too, remember the orange in the toe of my stocking. As my mother put it, this was a rare treat back in the depression. They still made real plum pudding by boiling in a cloth for hours rather than the interesting little substitute you made. Cheers and Merry Christmas.
So when you mentioned the eggwhites, I thought, oh, but I thought he was allergic? Then I thought oh but he's cooking the pudding, so maybe that stops the eggwhites from being an allergy for him....I missed that it wasn't cooked and then at the end when you had a reaction I was like, ohhh noooo! And then I went back to check and saw no, it was put in the fridge and not cooked! Oooopsy!!!! I'm glad you're OK!!!! ❤🤗
The stories of the kids who knew their parents were doing the best they could and decided to play along just really gets me in the feels 😭. Oh yeah, my mom also keeps the tradition of putting oranges in the stockings. Really fun, didn’t know this was where it came from.
The Ralph Wiggum "I'm in danger" vibes at the end was hilarious. Hope the Benadryl worked! FYI: silphium was rediscovered! Styxhexenhammer has a video today about it & mentioned you!
My dad would always buy everyone a mango for their stocking. No idea where the choice of fruit came from but he was carrying on the tradition from his childhood (in the 60s) and I was always STOKED to get my Christmas mango
@@daughterofthecreator2585 I didn't mean anything about price. Simply that I would appreciate a christmas mango far more. Oranges ARE the tradition where I live (though chocolate oranges are more popular in the current day) and I got one every christmas.
One of the very best channels on UA-cam. No politics. No social engineering. Just interesting food, cool history and excellent production value. Thanks for all the work you put into every episode. Some of us really enjoy and appreciate the effort.
We got an orange every year in our stockings, stuffed into the toe to make it fill out nicely. We also got nuts, always in the shell, a deck of playing cards, and lots of little things I can no longer remember.
According to where you live (ie Kentucky) you could forage nuts and some fruits (and many farmers grew their own) so maybe that’s why it’s considered less expensive.
I'm glad you said you were taking some Benedryl. We received oranges in our stockings every year. This year I am giving my sister a quilt I made and quilted, and giving my nephew a painting. Homemade gifts are still awesome. Merry Christmas, Max. Thank you, this was an especially awesome episode.
That bit about the card is really frank yet heartwarming. Even during a disastrous economic downturn, neighbors and family members still stuck it through, and it seems many of children were humbled by the experience as well.
The christmas poem cracked me up. And as a person with OAS, eating something only to feel your mouth tingle and think "oh wait, there's raw X in here" is very relatable!
@@FirebladesSong Oral Allergy Syndrome. My wife has OAS and it causes her to have allergic reactions to literally dozens of things and is so bad she can ONLY eat what we make ourselves at home using fresh ingredients or vetted commerical products. It's not a fun condition to have.
My mother was a child during the Depression and she said she stopped believing in Santa Claus when she noticed her wealthier friends received luxury type gifts, while her poorer friends got more practical items or nothing. She would have been about 7 years old when she realized that the quality of Xmas gifts had nothing to do with a child's behavior and a magical man, but rather the income of ones family. For that reason she never pushed the myth of Santa on my siblings and I - and none of us missed the illusion.
The tradition of giving oranges and citrus in stockings really resonates with me. Every Xmas I'd look in my stocking and I'd also see my father's stocking, and they always had an orange or a grapefruit in the stocking. I really thought my dad was quirky or just really liked oranges. But later in life, I'd see the stocking that my grandfather who grew up in the Depression had. And he had an orange in his stocking. And to this day, even though I'm on the verge of 50, and my father is pushing 80, and my grandfather is no longer with us.... we still put those oranges in our stockings. And now i know the history of putting oranges in stockings as a gift.
We used to get one orange and one apple in our stockings when I was growing up. I could care less about the apple (my grandparents owned an apple orchard, so every fall we were well stocked), but we didn't get oranges very often, so I was thrilled with that gift. 🍊 Still love citrus to this day.
My grandmother, God rest her, loved collecting the Charles Dicken's houses, too, Max. I ended up with them a few years ago when she passed, and I just got them all set up over this past weekend. I love them, too.
My parents were born in 1927 and 1931. My dad's family was relatively well off during the Depression (Grandpa was a small business owner) but they still had to be very frugal. My mother grew up in a very poor rural area in west central Wisconsin. There was one Christmas when her only present was a hair comb. We always opened Christmas presents from Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve. We got gifts from Santa in our Christmas stockings on Christmas Day. They did it this way because they felt that children can understand that some kids' families have more money than others so their parents are able to give them more presents than maybe other kids would receive from their own parents. What children shouldn't have to do, however, is think that Santa gives more and bigger presents to some children and gives very little to other children. So our stocking gifts were always an orange, an apple, some nuts and small candies, sometimes a deck of cards or a book.
I love walking around midtown Manhattan during this time! It’s so beautiful! Now I know when it’s all started. Thank you for your videos, Max, they always make me smile! Happy holidays
My grandma used to give us kids what she called "junk bags". Ole Byron and Betty were antique dealers, and so throughout the year and going to various shows, grandma Betty would find little bits and bobs she thought each of us kids would like and she'd add it to our bags. On Christmas day, she'd add something of hers to each bag...a piece of her jewelry, or statue we always played with. The joy of getting "junk" for Christmas was so good. And grandma could also be thrifty in her spending.
Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season Max. Both of my parents grew up in the depression, living their entire childhoods in that era. They talked about it frequently but I never recall them complaining.
Gosh, my mum too! In the 1970s and 80s in the UK it was called 'lametta', and I hated it! It makes the tree look so messy, IMHO, but my mum insisted on it! Thank goodness you can't get it anymore, or she'd probably still be using it to this day 😂
There were live candles on our Christmas tree when I was a small child in the sixties. They were beautiful and somehow we didn't burn the house down. We blew out the candles after singing a traditional song, but we had electric lights by then as well, so the tree was still pretty. I just love your mashup of history and food, two of my absorbing interests. Merry Christmas to you and yours and your many subscribers (nearly 3 million now -- congrats!).
When I was a kid (in the 80s) we still made most of our decorations. We did have some commercial decorations, but we did popcorn garlands and hand made ornaments (fired clay, decorated egg shells, and construction paper things). We mostly didn't make our gifts (though my parents often gave one another household items they needed rather than actual gifts). No lights though, till I was 8 or so when we got electricity. (Via the rural electrification act in fact! Full electrification took a LOT longer than most folks think. Phone too: At that time there were still a bunch of towns in my state that didn't have individual phone service, still using party lines.)
You brought up a great memory for me. I grew up in LaVerne, CA. On Christmas Day the fire department went around to all the neighborhoods and Santa handed out In N Out bags filled with an orange, peanuts in the shell and some candies. They still do it I believe. I LOVED running outside, even as a teenager, to get my Christmas In N Out bag with goodies.
I hope you are ok! ❤ My Depression-era grandparents always made sure we had a predominantly-orange fruit bowl with a sack of nuts to crack every Christmas. I still have their nutcracking tools and so many wonderful memories of how excited they still were to enjoy the season as they remembered it. Thank you for this video!
I didn't grow up in the depression era however! I admire the the creativity minded individual's who could make something from nearly nothing, for many it makes you really appreciate the real meaning of gift giving when made from the heart. I was raised by my grand parents who raised their children in the depression and I remember her making clothes for my doll better then Mattel inspiring me to dress my Barbie in pretty patterned napkins or paper towel and tape. Thank you grandma.
I would just like to highlight that line about the rural electrification program. "What has the government ever done for anyone?!" [Gestures at *literally all of the infrastructure that exists* ]
English lassy here. We still do the cute stocking with an orange in it. The reason this pudding would have been cheaper is because it has fewer ingredients than traditional pudding and above all isn't cooked for hours. Fuel costs!
That makes sense. I was surprised they still kept the nuts and stuff because those are pretty expensive these days at least where I live. I suppose you might be able to find them at parks and stuff for free if you know where to look though.
We went from oranges from the store, to oranges from the tree my dad grew and kept in a basement greenhouse (roulette for if it tasted like an orange or yuck), to a Terry's chocolate orange.
9:34 wait, I kinda love this. Old doll designs are kind of notorious for being seen as creepy today. The Little Orphan Annie doll looks pretty much like an old fashioned design of something you could sell today. On the other hand her comic version has blank white soulless eyes that wouldn't look out of place as the picture for some creepypasta.
We're almost to 3 Million so make sure to subscribe please! Also, follow my adventures and cats at instagram.com/tastinghistorywithmaxmiller/ . And lastly check out my new show (FREE) on Roku at therokuchannel.roku.com/details/ac4b4f1105e22f705a067215671aafa2/clash-of-the-cookbooks . Happy Holidays to all!
re: realizing your mouth and tongue are going numb and that you just tasted a bite of something including raw egg whites
I'm allergic to alliums (e.g. onions, garlic, shallots) and my mouth and tongue burn (think really hot pepper burn), _or_ go numb, _or_ burn and _then_ go numb, and then there's a roughly 50/50 chance that there will also be swelling. While I haven't had a life threatening reaction (at least not for this particular food allergy), because it developed as an adult, and I've only become more sensitive as I aged, the concern is that it will progress until my throat swells up.
Needless to say, there is always a moment of panic when I feel that initial numbing or burning sensation. Honestly, I felt more seen and understood by Max's response when he realized what had just happened than I can possibly express!
@TastingHistory - I have to admit, having an allium allergy really sucks, but _I suspect having a raw egg allergy and being both a foodie and having a career centered around food must suck even more!_
How bad has your DMs been blowing up since they think they rediscovered Silphium?
Just heard it from Styx and he mentioned you.
@ happens every 6 months. The article is from about 5 years ago but they repost it every 6 months 😂
When I was living on campus in college, each dormitory would do a "Secret Santa" week, where we'd put small gifts in "Stockings" (an ordinary sock) for our "Santees." One year, I got a student I didn't know very well, and so for the first day of that week, I picked up an orange from the cafeteria for tradition, and to fill out the gift a little more, a four pack of instant chicken noodle soup. I managed to sneak them into her sock before she could see me... And as I was putting the key in my room door, I heard her come in behind me and exclaim: "An orange! And Chicken Soup! Just what I needed. I'm coming down with a cold..."
Are you ok? You are such a pro, continuing with the video even though you might be getting sick, I hope it wast too bad, btw, I got your book for Christmas last year!
I chuckled when you mentioned getting an orange for Christmas. My Dad's family grew up as poor Southern Virginians. My grandpa used To tell us grandkids about how Christmas day gifts were given out at church, you would get a paper bag with an apple and an orange, maybe a single stick of Wrigley's chewing gum and maybe maybe got a little bit of chocolate.
My dad said something similar, however by then finances had improved just a smidge so you would probably get two sticks of chewing gum and a banana.
Towards the end of my dad's life, he lamented just how monetary and materialistic Christmas had gotten, and he was very saddened to see how Christmas was all about spending as much money as possible....
One of the very last gifts I ever got him was a brown paper bag filled with goodies. Now I went a bit far LOL. I stuffed it with his favorite candy, got him a toy fighter jet because he was in the Air Force, and he got all the fruit: Apple, orange, banana. Two packs of chewing gum instead of just one!
Of all the gifts I ever got my dad, that was the only one where I saw him cry... Only gift I ever saw him brag about on Facebook to everybody else in the family.
For just a split second he was taken back to his childhood... Miss him every day.
That's a beautiful thing. I just lost my grandpa who grew up in that ear as well. I wonder if he had a stocking or a brown paper bag?
I currently live in Southwestern VA and I still get a brown paper bag with an apple and orange in it lol 😂 a lot of churches and other places give them out as free gift bags and my bus driver would give them out when we got off the bus back in my school days
awesome. every time he went back to that bag for a treat, he remembered those times, and his love for you, thanks for sharing your story.
Many of my relatives expressly ask to not be given gifts. They have every material thing they could need.
A slightly strange new tradition is the family christmas lottery. Add one item of no more than $5 to a pool and randomize them using a small game and some barter.
What a great present! We are rather monetarily challenged ourselves, so if anyone gets a gift it is homemade.
I really cant overstate how much i appreciate that despite the sharp rise in obnoxious and clickbaity thumbnails--even amongst major channels--this channel has stuck true to its roots and not really changed the thumbnail formula much at all over the years.
Getting your success off the quality of your work and just being an absolute gem is something the platform needs more of.
the face at 14:33 where you realized it had uncooked egg whites. Very "(chuckles) I'm in danger. "
I know!!!!
I can't even imagine being allergic to egg whites
As I watched Max beat the egg whites I thought "I don't remember meringue in the thumbnail...wait". Silly goose!
Hopefully, he had an epi-pen ready.
@@Macrocosm_Of_Dorian If he was that allergic I doubt he'd have sat there calmly giving his feelings on the food. From the sound of it he has a mild allergy that's more uncomfortable than dangerous, or at the very least would require eating more than a spoonful to be dangerous.
I looked at the bowl of egg whites and really hoped it was that substitute he mentioned. Then I hoped there was another cooking stage.
Oops! At least it seems to be a mild allergy.
I've never seen a dude so chipper as he's getting an alergic reaction. Never change
Right?? “I’m going to go take some Benadryl!” with a beaming smile! 😂
Might be time for a designated food taster/cupbearer.
I almost spit out my tea when this happened! MAX!!
Max trying to remember his allergy is such a mood; I'm constantly forgetting my own.
Yup
Yes. I recently developed an intolerance to lactose and am constantly forgetting that things have cheese or butter in them... or forgetting that it matters.
I fee for y'all!
I wondered if he swapped out the egg white with aquafaba and didn't mention it to keep the flow and reveal it in the end, but nope, right into the allergy.
I sometimes forget I'm lactose intolerant and forget to take my Lactaid pills. Oops. I won't die, but the next couple of hours are going to be less that pleasant.
I have a sensitivity to chlorinated water (Think like a lactose intolerance but to tap water.) And my issue is more a matter of 30 minutes after I eat discovering that the so called filtered water wasn't, finding out the salad greens were rinsed, not just wet with condensation, or that the juice was reconstituted from concentrate. Or re-affirming that yes, just a few sips of soda is too much. *sigh*
So while you avoid milk, it's the only thing I can safely drink out in public or when traveling (though traveling I carry a Lifestraw with me and it seems to help)
I'm an English lass. We still do the lovely stocking with an orange inside. This pudding would have been less expensive because it contains less components than regular pudding and, most importantly, does not require hours of cooking. Fuel prices!
Thank you! Now it truly makes sense!
or brandy, which due to prohibition (1920-1933), most people would not have been able to get.
I’m from Texas and we always got an orange and an apple, along with chocolates and firecrackers. We wanted those firecrackers!!! 😂
Fuel prices indeed!
@@albuszx Seriously, I have one of the most expensive utility companies in the USA and I do 95% of my cooking with tabletop appliances instead of the stove or oven. No way would I heat up the oven for an hour to roast veggies when the air fryer can do it in 20 minutes on 110V instad of 240V. I still have a large toaster oven I bought 15 years ago that holds a 12" pizza or even a Bundt pan.
Depression era recipe + Gelatine, I'm sure that's how you summon B. Dylan Hollis
😂
"A mock Christmas pudding..."
"...from the Great Depression!"
"How did you get in my kitchen, Dylan!?"
"... I don't know. I'm scared!"
Gratefully this didn't have LARD in it too
Be sure to leave out MOO JUICE and EG-gies for Dylan!
This would be a great collab.
I'm enjoying reading everyone else's comments about getting oranges in their stockings; my parents, although growing up later than the Depression, never had Christmas stockings. My mum, however, loved the idea of them and made sure my brother and I always had them. So when I went away to college, I decided I was going to make stockings for my parents so they could have that fun too. They were rather odd looking, since I made them myself out of an old dress that my roommate gave me (which was blue floral) and some red orange grosgrain ribbon I had left over from another project. But they still had a proper stocking shape! And then I got gifts to fill them according to a little poem I had come across in an old book: "something to play with, something to read, something that's sweet, and something you need." I remembered that people used to put oranges in the toes and decided that would be the "something you need" because who doesn't need a little extra Vitamin C in the form of a juicy orange! I was so excited, sneaking down after every one else was in bed to put their stockings out for them, and one of my favorite memories is of them the next morning - a little confused, but also very happy - to find their very own Christmas stockings waiting for them!
Lovely
Thank you for sharing your story! Merry Christmas! =^[.]^=
I've been hit with a financial crisis and have been holding myself together for my kids sake but all this mention of depression and how families made Christmas happen despite not having much really made me cry. Christmas isn't going to be much this year but if I can distract my kids with flour dough crafts and art projects then maybe they'll have happy memories. They know money is tight and they're good kids, like the little girl with the old doll, so they'll be happy with just being together. I don't mean to leave a sad comment, just wanted to thank you for reminding me that Christmas means more to kids than how we adults stress over it being. ❤
I love you guys and Merry Christmas to you both 🎄
I was very poor - really homeless much of the time - as a small child and I have amazing memories of doing crafts and things with my mom. Definite recommend on popcorn and paper chains! Also if you have a news seller nearby or similar who can give you old inserts I have fond memories of little presents wrapped in funny pages or shiny ads :). Good luck and Merry Christmas!
I advised A friend who only had $10 left one Christmas to go to the dollar store and splurge
Her daughter was four years old and satisfied with the unwrapping process as well as the toys
Start a new tradition. You can have a nice Christmas, I was a single mom and I had gifts for her but money was tight. So we watched movies, read books. Showed her a few "poor people recipes" from my mom's youth. She loved them. So did my grandsons decades later. They thought that was cool. ❤ I hope you have a very merry christmas. ❤
We used to have "garbage bag" christmas. My mom would collect newspaper/magazines throughout the year and cut them up into a large black garbage bag and everyone would put their gifts for each other in the bag. The gifts were a mix of inexpensive gag gifts and nicer gifts and one at a time we would dig for our gifts. If we got anyone else's gift it would have to go back in the bag. At the end there was newspaper everywhere but even the clean up was fun as everyone pitched in. It was fun and so memorable!
Christmas, really, is about love and togetherness. You've got this! Have a cozy holiday with your children, they will remember it fondly.
My father's mother grew up during the great depression and we continued the tradition with CHOCOLATE oranges.
But I remember when my grandma was still alive how she would careful peel the wrapping paper from tearing so she could reuse it later.
It is really difficult to understand the hardship she went through as a teen...
Such a lovely memory of her though.
My grandmother (born 1943) does the same wrapping paper thing. It drives my grandpa nuts.
I had a family member who was after that generation but her parents instilled so much of it in her she also would cut and save wrapping paper too. We don't do that anymore but we do still reuse gift bags. They're exciting to revisit year to year
Yes! my mom would always give us a chocolate orange in our stockings :)
Yep, my grandmother used to do that, too.
Our family wraps gifts in fabric. Each person has fabric specific to their interests, which makes it easy to tell which gift is for each person. After opening the gift, you just fold the fabric, and it's used for your gifts next Christmas, as well as for your birthday. I really like how it is a fun and sustainable alternative to wrapping paper. This is the family I married into. I felt so accepted and loved the first Christmas they bought fabric for my gifts.
This one hit me hard. Both my parents are gone, so I don't have them to ask about this stuff... but growing up in the 60s, I would get those oranges and nuts in my stocking, and there was an ancient Chinese checkers board in the basement that would sometimes come out during the holidays. My folks would have been kids during the time period you reference... it all becomes clear.
Did you live at my house and I never noticed? 😮
We had the same stocking stuffers and a Chinese checkers board I assumed was my older brother's. While reminiscing years later he said it predated him. Wish I still had it.
Same =) The nuts always fell down to the toe. An orange, an apple, nuts and a few kisses. One year I remember being special cause we got a pear.
I was born in 1960, and I got a tangerine at Christmas which I always looked forward to. And Mom kicked my butt at Chinese checkers.
My childhood was also in the 60s. My parents didn't bother with stockings, but we always had Mandarins in December. They would buy a box, and then we could only have one a day until Christmas Day, then we could polish them off. Just two kids, so they went further. We also had a Chinese Checkers board...it was a round piece of tin. It had belonged to my Grandfather, then my Mom inherited it. And now I have it. I don't have any one to play with, but it is precious. Also, they had real glass colored marbles to play with. One of the red ones had a dint in it the color was slightly darker than the others....my Dad always played with the red marbles and he called the 'dimpled' one his red cherry. Another precious memory. Both Mom and Dad have both passed as well, so these are precious memories indeed. Thanks for keying this conversation!
@@HarmonyInspired - I wish I had memories like that.
I had wondered who the 'Guest Taster' would be (because of the egg whites...) but I never thought you'd have Ben Adryl over to join you, Max... Thank you for all the great cooking programs, and so happy that this channel is doing so well!
I guess Ben Adryl came over at the behest of Auntie Histamine... ;-)
@Lucius1958 yes!!!! an entire family tree... And so many more recipes for tasting history!!!!
Everyone's favorite Christmas decoration, in our family, is a homemade decoration made by my Grandmother. It's a victorian style card with a boy and girl, taking a small tree home with a $2 bill inside the card. It commemorates the Christmas when Grandma and her brother were facing not celebrating Christmas at all. Their Dad was away at war and there just wasn't any money. When her little brother realized how upset she was at the prospect of not having a tree, he broke open his piggy bank and took all the $2 to go get a tree. Her brother ended up coming home with a tree, not much smaller than he was. It is one of her favorite Christmas memories. I recreated a version of that ornament for our tree so family history can be passed down and stories aren't forgotten.
That is one of the most endearing stories I've ever heard
My grandkids always come home from college and spend Christmas with me and if they put a really good orange in my stocking, I’d be ecstatic! Mainly I’m just grateful they come and see this old man. I wish you all the very best!
My grandma once got a dozen eggs from her best friend who raised chickens and they had "Merry Christmas" printed on them.
That's great! I got some similar Christmas gifts (once we got a bag of cat food, useful) and I liked them. No depression era or anything, my family just don't make a big deal of gifts (except I when I stress over the icing of gingerbread as I only have an idea for edible gifts but not anymore).
That's brilliant. I adore practical gifts!
Heck I'd be happy with that gift now! Fresh eggs? Heck ya
How delightful.
I have a Dicken's village! My mother started it in the late 80s, we've got 6 houses, Scrooge, Bob Cratchet & Tiny Tim & assorted other little pieces & trees. Its my favorite decoration to put out every year. I lost my Mom this year & it's brought me a lot of joy to have it up & think about many happy past Christmases. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season & peaceful new year!
My mother, a child of the depression made for us the date pudding her mother made during the hard years. It was a dark, most sheet cake with dates. When cut, each serving had butter caramel sauce poured over it and topped with whipped cream. It was divine.
Recepie?
Sounds like sticky toffee pudding ❤ one of my favourite puddings
That sounds exactly like the British sticky toffee pudding - a sponge cake base made with brown sugar and lots of dates, with caramel sauce poured over it - yummo! A very good winter warmer, and no expensive ingredients.
Sounds delicious!!😊
Exactly what I was going to say! I just made sticky toffee pudding for my potluck group Christmas (our theme this time was English Christmas). It's dense and rich and delicious. (I can't tell if anyone is replying to me specifically, but even so, share the wealth- if anyone wants the recipe I use for Sticky Toffee Pudding, it's David Guas from Food & Wine, except either double the cake part, or half the toffee sauce, you'll have a ton of toffee sauce if you don't double the cake, you'll still have a lot).
What a perfect Christmas pudding for those of us who live where it's hot during Christmas, like Australia and New Zealand. Thanks, Max & have a great Christmas yourself.
Greetings, another recipe that I have made for years is a plum pudding jell-O mould that is in an official Jell-O booklet from 1922 and it goes as follows.
Plum Pudding. Dissolve a package of Lemon Jell-O in a pint of boiling water, while it is still hot stir in three-fourths cup Grape Nuts or one cup coarse dried and browned bread crumbs, three-fourths cup stoned raisins, three fourths cup English walnut meats, three-fourths cup cooked prunes, and one-fourth cup citron- all cut fine; one-half teaspoonful cinnamon, one-fourth teaspoonful cloves. Salt to taste. Mix and let harden. Serve with whipped cream or pudding sauce.
Growing up in the Soviet Union, oranges as gifts for New Year's (since Christmas was not celebrated) were also common. Weird but funny to hear how they were a desirable presents for kids during the Great Depression too. :)
I thought the same, here too they were a common gift in hard times, post wo II.
Same in Ireland. As a country we were considered between quite poor to extremely poor up until the late mid '90s, so oranges and nuts were common in Christmas stockings as a big treat.
Oranges as gifts are thing in Chinese-American culture too.
I think it’s because oranges are bright in color, smell, and taste; even nice to touch/hold. Bright for so many of our senses.
So this sent me down the rabbit hole of "Where did the Soviets get citrus?" And turns out the had up to 300 square kilometers planted in "fruit trenches" and pruned them until they grew sideways like a creeping vine that never got more than 25 centimeters tall.
Also they just bought them open market from Israel. Stalin was the first foreign leader to recognize Israel--which he did just to anger everyone else, but it bought some good will
My husband’s aunt would do stockings for her entire family. A walnut had to go into the toe followed by the orange, then assorted nuts and candy. Chocolate bells had to be one of the candies. The stocking was finished with a candy cane and a box of cracker jacks or a bag of homemade caramel corn.
Yes! Seeing the candy cane sticking out let us know that Santa had been there.
Omg thank you for this. You’ve unlocked a memory of my grandmothers house with the chocolate bells and rice crispy rectangles as well as nuts and a mandarin orange. She’s been dead for over 20 years 😢
Oh my gosh yes I had forgotten about the walnuts! Oranges walnuts and my grandmother always put in a toothbrush and toothpaste 😂
My mother still insists that every stocking has to have an orange "because it fills out the toe" and a candy cane hooked over the edge "to let you know you were good this year" Even if my son always passes off the candy cane since he can't stand peppermint.
When I was a kid, the orange and candy cane were supposed to go together. You would roll the orange around to break up the pulp inside and then stick the straight part of the candy cane through the skin into the orange and suck until it turned into a straw and you could suck the juice out.
@@vickyreuter5239 I remember getting a stocking like that for Christmas 🎄!, great memories !
My grandpa was 8 when the stock market crashed. He and his brothers would go out and hunt rabbits, squirrels, anything you could get with a .22. They never ate the rabbits because you could sell them for a dime and that money was better used to buy flour and other necessities.
A dime was a loaf of store bought bread back then. Maybe even two if you bought day old. A 24 pound sack of flour was about 60-65 cents so about 3 cents a loaf if you made it at home. Meanwhile the rabbits, while nice for the protein, wouldn't have had as many calories as the meat from wild rabbit is very lean.
I remember seeing a black-and-white cartoon, decades ago. I don't recall now if it was in some kind of mass-produced cartoon collection, or on a VHS my grandfather had made on his own - he had a huge library of tapes both purchased and self-curated. But I loved this particular one a lot, because it featured a man going into an orphanage while everyone slept, and he sort of took bits of EVERYTHING in the place, to create decorations and make a big meal and all sorts of little presents. Including popcorn on a string around their tree, which I thought was genius. (Little less sure about using the soot from the stovepipe for anything but hey, cartoons.) My grandfather was born in 1926, and I knew that it had been a rough childhood because he NEVER spoke about it, not even to talk about where he grew up. He had tons of stories about his military service - from lying about his age (16 then) to get into the army, to being posted in Alaska for two years ("that's what I got for lying!"), to becoming an ordnance disposal specialist in Germany... so many interesting things! But never a peep about the Depression.
I've had more than a few poor-man's Christmases and I'm grateful every year for my husband and his take on the holiday - which is basically to shrug and nearly not care. His family never celebrated it much, and he had no upsetting associations like I had. So since being with him and his family, Christmas is actually an enjoyable time. I make a big huge dinner, we see about getting one or two presents, and we spend time with the family and leave it at that.
After all - the point of the season really isn't so much the spending, is it? As you said: it's the warmth, the sharing of joy, and the welcoming of a new year and hopefully better days.
ua-cam.com/video/1dfeokaw2xc/v-deo.html is the cartoon; hope you enjoy it! The Fleischers were the best!
My mom, a depression child, made pies for Christmas. Green apples from our Apple tree. A pumpkin where she pulled out the insides, and beat ( by hand) through a cloth to get pumpkin for a pie. Standard basic pie crusts. Left over pie crust dough was rolled out, filled with butter spread, cinnamon and sugar, rolled up and cut into disks, and baked just like the pies. These hand held little disks were in lieu of cookies. My sister and I made Christmas ornaments by replacing the sugar with salt in a pie crust recipe, cookie cutters for shapes and putting holes at top for hanging purposes. Lasted for years!
I remember using leftover piecrust the same way. We called them dibble dabbles and I liked them better than the pie.
The testimonies of the Great Depression kids on their experiences really choked me up and put a tear in my eye. It's touching how in such hard times people still did everything they could out of love for their family and for one another. Thank you for sharing those.
I collect cookbooks and particularly antique books. My favorite is a handmade one made as a Christmas present. It is beautifully penned and decorated with little pictures she cut out of magazines. She wrote little comments in red with the recipe like "yum" or "family favorite ". What a gift!
I grew up in the Midwestern US in the 90s & we still always had that orange in the toe of our stocking. No matter what other candies, toys, or practical items (we pretty much always also got lip balm, a little jar of Mentholatum, and some dental floss, for example) might be in the mix, we always knew there would be an orange waiting at the bottom. Never knew when that tradition started, but I wouldn't be surprised if that really was one of the big treats in my grandparents' stockings during their Great Depression childhoods.
Mock Christmas pudding? I would never.
Dammit yours was better. I'll stick to the poetry
I hate how I wheezed at your comment 😂
The bird flu? Yeah, they tend to do that.
Apartment complex? I find it quite simple.
HA haa!! :P
As a multi-generational family of musicians, we are neck-deep in sheet music. I was elated to see that your copy of "Winter Wonderland" is the exact same one we own, that three generations of singers and instrumentalists learned from in our house.
We still do oranges in the stockings for the grandkids, just like our parents and grandparents did for us, but to maintain a blend of several traditions, the stockings with goodies (and obligatory citrus) are dispensed on St. Nicholas' feast day (Dec. 6th).
Wishing you and everyone a holiday season filled with all good things, peace and joy.
When I was little we looked forward to our stockings as much or more than regular presents. I was born in '54 and my parents had lived through the depression. We always got 2 oranges and 2 apples and 2 bananas along with pecans from my uncle's farm, small chocolates, ribbon candy, and little presents like silly putty, sets of card games. Of course some of it was contributed to the fruit salad for Christmas dinner. I have really sweet memories of those times. I think this is about my favorite of your videos because it brought the memories out. 🎅🧑🎄🎄🎁🍊💕
As a young boy, in the early 50's, our Christmas tree was covered with lead tinsel. It always looked beautiful and who knew, or cared about being poisoned. The funniest thing that I remember about the tinsel was walking past the tree and causing the tinsel to move in the slight breeze. The effect on the TV set was a sudden interruption due to the static from the metal. Having only rabbit ears for an antenna it was sitting just a few feet from the tinsel which caused interference. Wonderful memories that I would never want to forget.
Amazing how many modern 2024 Christmas traditions started within the last 100 years: the pudding made of gelatin really spread, reinforced with Jell-O existing for decades prior; using popcorn and tinsel for Christmas tree decoration. The shift from steamed puddings to gelatin puddings that we know now is very interesting. Also, things that persisted in those who grew up during the Depression, such as making things and, sadly, hoarding things because you never knew if you would need it later and couldn't afford to replace it.
Thank you for the very thoughtful video and recipe, Max!
(Edit) Hope the reaction wasn't too bad and the Benadryl helped!
The process for making cheap gelatine sheets or pellets etc improved. Gelatine was not unknown, but the process for making it was cumbersome.
Gelatine was a new wonder dish here as well. Both sweet and savory gelatine dishes, ones with meat or fruits of carrots etc.
99% of "modern" traditions were started in the victorian and early depression times. and if you think on it, the past 100 years man we have gone places tradition wise. also I am too praying for max's recovery because I have food allergies and they suck!
My parents were both children during the depression. We always got a tangerine or other citrus in our stockings (which were my dad’s socks, btw). But they also gave us a very 1970s thing: one of those tiny boxes of cereal. Christmas breakfast, comprised of otherwise forbidden sweetened cereal (you MUST turn the tiny boxes into a bowl to eat it out of) and our tangerine was absolutely our favorite thing!
My Grandfather was a minister in a poor neighborhood in Tennessee. From October through Christmas, he would raise resources to buy small dolls or fire trucks, bushels of apples and oranges, and chocolate covered cherries, and sometimes a small bag of nuts. He would put an orange, an apple, some cherries and nuts, and a toy in a lunch style paper bag. At the end of the Christmas eve service, he would pass out these small bags. I remember I was about 10 when I got to help pass out the bags. I remember how stunned I was to hear and see the excitement the kids showed when they got these small, inexpensive toys. I overheard one mom thank my Grandfather because she had gone 2 or 3 years witho ut a present for her children. Later that night, I went with Grandfather add he took gifts and food to other people in the area. I've tried to emulate his service, but not as successfully as I should.
It’s never too late for random acts of kindness. 😊
My 92 year old mother-in-law still puts oranges in all of our stockings. Such a sweet story.
Your grandma sounds absolutely lovely. My own maternal grandmother grew up in the depression too. When it first happened her father a Banker took his own life because he just couldn’t handle the losses it caused and took his own life. Her mother stood strong and cared for her and her many siblings as best she could, my grandmother was a very strong woman.
My dad was born in 1937 in Norfolk in England. He doesn't remember much about the 1930's because most of his early memories are of the war. However, he does remember his first orange! Around 1948 a cargo ship ran aground off Norfolk and had to jettison cargo to re-float. The cargo was oranges. These drifted on the tide and thousands of them were washed up on the beaches near the town where my dad lived. He and some of his friends were fishing and came home with fish for dinner and as many oranges as they could carry for dessert!
That is a nice story. Fishing and you get free oranges.
8:12 Whoa. Childhood memory unlocked.
My grandparents always put a chocolate orange in my stocking as a kid. I loved those things and to this day I associate them with Christmas.
I can imagine how excited a kid from the Depression era would’ve been to get a fresh, juicy orange.
That's funny, my dad grew up during the depression. We always had nuts and an orange in our stocking. I gave my own children orange filled chocolate shaped like an orange, and wrapped in gold foil. Also candy 🍬 and small toys or personal items. I once asked my dad what the best gift he ever got was, he said he got a doctor's kit that he loved, and second was a flashlight. He and his brothers learned to make moving toys, out of a bent Bobby pins, thread spool, and a rubber band.
I don't know about the rest of the country but chocolate oranges are a huge thing in the South. You can walk into just about any store and find hundreds lining the shelves and they still sell out. I guess it's just the natural progression of the original tradition.
I make a grab bag for each of my niblings: chocolate orange, candy coal, finger traps, clickers, kazoos, bubble wands and liquid, silly string, and this year I found holiday spinners! Some of the family does not appreciate the traditional rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on kazoo.
We got oranges too! I was always excited. I do it with my kids, they don’t understand or care, but it’s fun to hear someone else do it for generations too
Hot Tomato Bouillon is a great name for a jazz ensemble.
Hey Max, I have an idea of a video for you: as a European, I love blackcurrant, and I was puzzled to discover that it is banned in the US. A video about how that came to be with a recipe of a blackcurrant dessert could be fun 😊
Lofty Pursuits, the candymaker, has a good video on this topic: ua-cam.com/video/aF_aXsEor2s/v-deo.html
That would be great!!!
Monopoly was originally intended to show the dangers of monopolies and capitalism. It's based of a game made in 1903 called The Landlord game.
And the toy company stiffed the lady who created the original game.
In "The Carnival of Immortals" by Enki Bilal (1980) the Egyptian gods stranded in a starship above Paris are briefly gifted a game of Monopoly. They find the very concept of the game distasteful and deem it to be a trap to sow discord. In one page, they have their gifted copy burned by a servant.
@@jerseygirlinatl7701 why am I not shocked at that fact? 😒
Yes, and that's why it's highly ironic
One person ends up with all the money and good properties. Everyone else ends up broke. Much of it amounts to blind luck (dice rolls) and it can cause a fist fight at family dinner because the "banker" is dipping from the till. Sounds right.
This video made me cry a little. I really appreciate your work with the history part of these videos
this video made me miss my grandmother so much. She always put a grapefruit in my stocking, always.
It's good for people these days to hear about that period. Inexpensive cooking, holiday festivities, and general housekeeping is going to be very relevant for a lot of folks. Everyone deserves a Merry Christmas (or any holiday of their choice), and to not be shamed for not meeting up to the standards of the treadmill of consumerism.
I'm from The Netherlands. We get our December gifts on Saint Nicholas' night. As a child in the 90's, early 00's I also got citruses as gifts from the OG Santa. Mandarins specifically.
I wondered if this is related to your story, so I did a Google search on the topic. Apparently there's a story about Saint Nicholas: three poor girls wished to marry, but their father had no money for a dowry. They prayed to the saint, and in the night he gave each of them a ball of gold to use as dowry. A ball of gold looks quite similar to a citrus fruit. And indeed, if you look at historical paintings of Saint Nicholas, he is often depicted with three golden balls … or lemons. Perhaps there is a connection there to your experiences.
Those three bags of gold is also why often you'll see three balls on a sign in front of the local pawn shop.
How Nicolas also became the patron saint of pawn brokers is beyond me 🤷
I was also reminded of the little mandarin oranges we'd always get in our shoes from Saint Nicholas. I was a kid in the 90s. And we weren't poor, not rich either, but we certainly had oranges all the time. Still they made me happy as a gift. They are just so yummy and cheerful and bright. I still love them and are going to have one right now :)
@@MeMe-c1w9s Pawn brokers used to be less usurious thank bankers, until people caught on and stopped coming back for their pawned items.
Back in the 50s in the Netherlands we had mandarin oranges to in our shoes from st Nickolas. But we sometimes got them on Christmas instead or as well. I think it depended on when they arrived in town. Christmas was the decorating and lighting of the tree, terrifying to me since we still used candles and I have a phobia for fire. Then a big dinner, usually rabbit stew and people visiting and playing cards.
I think the tradition of Christmas oranges in Britain and through there to the US goes back to the days of sailing ships. By the time they'd been harvested in Spain and Portugal, made it to the coast and reached England it would have been nearly Christmas so they got associated with the season. I imagine the Netherlands was in a similar boat (if you'll pardon the pun;).
02:07 All of us yelling and waving our arms at Max. Noooooo!
I was pleading through the TV, for you to not eat the pudding with egg whites, hoping that you would have a guest taster. Bless you for going to such lengths to wish us all a Happy Holiday... As I do for you.
My mom's family actually even made their own ceramics to give each other. They lived outside of town on a mountain in West Virginia. My aunt had a kiln her brother made her😊. We still set them out as decorations almost 4 generations later. They're really pretty🎄🌟☃️🎁✨
It’s interesting how at this point in history (and today) a gelatin dessert would be considered an inexpensive alternative when only about a hundred years ago jellied desserts tended to be labor intensive centerpieces for the wealthy.
The industrial process for making sheets or granules of gelatine really improves.
Sometimes old recipes use gelatine in small amounts, like a glaze over another dish or as a top layer of a baked dish.
I agree...especially right now with eggs so expensive, I couldn't bring myself to buy them just for the whites. Chocolate too. I'm with Max...I think this was a timesaver dessert for a family where all the adults may have been working to help out with the finances
Hope you mean the 1800s when it was made from meat and bones and drained
@@denasigman511egg whites can be replaced by the chickpea water from a can of chickpeas.
The key I think is that this uses less *cooking* time, meaning less fuel usage. You are just heating the ingredients up such that they can be combined, not thoroughly boiling it for hours.
Every year during our Christmas programs at church, they always gave the kids paper bags filled with oranges, walnuts and some old fashioned candy. As a kid I always thought it was weird and would typically give it to my grandma who appreciated it more then I did. I'm glad to know where this tradition came from
My mom was raised by depression era grandparents and we’d get fruit and nuts in our stocking. She would also place oranges with cloves pushed into the skins around the house and they smelled amazing.
My late mother was born during the Depression, and she also did this.
My family also did the orange Pomander ball with cloves, that's what mom called it. Tied it with a ribbon and hung up to scent the room
My mom and dad were children during the depression, and would often talk about their slim Christmases. So when I was growing up Christmas was a very big deal and they tried to make it the best Christmas they could for us children. We always received an orange, nuts, candy cane, and See’s Candy chocolate balls in our stocking. We always received wonderful toys and had a very delicious Christmas Dinner. Most of the food my mother would fix we only ate at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Which made them special and we would look forward to having them again year after year. Thanks for posting. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! ❤🎅🏼🎄
I'm from the Faroe Islands. My mom (born in late 50's) remembers how special it was to get oranges on Christmas. Grandpa used to buy a box of oranges for them to eat over Christmas, and each child (they were 6 in total) got 1. But my mom loved and atill loves fruits, so sometimes she would sneak to the kitchen to get another orange while the others either were asleep or out 😂
Citrus fruits are still very much eaten during Christmas here as they tend to be in season more, but now children will usually get a mandarin or clementine in the Christmas goodie bags from school or other children Christmas events alongside sweets and gingerbreads. So getting a citrus fruit in the stockings is very much alive here.
If I'm not mistaken, your country celebrates Christmas Eve reading and eating sweets. If you're also eating juicy fruits, do you end up getting citrus fruit juice on your books' pages? 😊
@myridean2k4 Yeah, that's not true for my family or relatives. No food allowed while reading 😅
Also - don't everybody eat sweets on Christmas? Pretty normal in all Nordic countries as far as I know.
Living in New England in the 1960/70s oranges were scare. So getting our orange and nuts was a treat. We also had simple gifts and board games were popular. Socks. I still cut up old Christmas cards to make tags for next year's gifts. Save wrapping paper. Merry Christmas!
I still insist on oranges for my little people's stockings along with nuts, chocolate, and a good peppermint stick! All our stockings were embroidered by a member of our family. My Nana made mine, I made my husband's, and my sister-in-law made my children's. They make me so happy.
Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!
Thanks for the reflections of Christmas past Max. I, too, remember the orange in the toe of my stocking. As my mother put it, this was a rare treat back in the depression. They still made real plum pudding by boiling in a cloth for hours rather than the interesting little substitute you made. Cheers and Merry Christmas.
My grandma did the same thing with stockings! We always got an orange, an apple, mixed nuts in the shells and old time ribbon candy. I still love it.
So when you mentioned the eggwhites, I thought, oh, but I thought he was allergic? Then I thought oh but he's cooking the pudding, so maybe that stops the eggwhites from being an allergy for him....I missed that it wasn't cooked and then at the end when you had a reaction I was like, ohhh noooo! And then I went back to check and saw no, it was put in the fridge and not cooked! Oooopsy!!!! I'm glad you're OK!!!! ❤🤗
The stories of the kids who knew their parents were doing the best they could and decided to play along just really gets me in the feels 😭.
Oh yeah, my mom also keeps the tradition of putting oranges in the stockings. Really fun, didn’t know this was where it came from.
The Ralph Wiggum "I'm in danger" vibes at the end was hilarious. Hope the Benadryl worked!
FYI: silphium was rediscovered! Styxhexenhammer has a video today about it & mentioned you!
My dad would always buy everyone a mango for their stocking. No idea where the choice of fruit came from but he was carrying on the tradition from his childhood (in the 60s) and I was always STOKED to get my Christmas mango
A christmas mango is so much better than a christmas orange/banana.
@@Goldenkitten1 maybe those who could afford it. Oranges are much cheaper
@@daughterofthecreator2585 I didn't mean anything about price. Simply that I would appreciate a christmas mango far more. Oranges ARE the tradition where I live (though chocolate oranges are more popular in the current day) and I got one every christmas.
One of the very best channels on UA-cam. No politics. No social engineering. Just interesting food, cool history and excellent production value. Thanks for all the work you put into every episode. Some of us really enjoy and appreciate the effort.
We always had trouble stringing popcorn on the tree. We ate most of it. As an adult, I gave up on the tree and just eat popcorn.
Merry Christmas Max! Merry Christmas you old Building & Loan! Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!!
We got an orange every year in our stockings, stuffed into the toe to make it fill out nicely. We also got nuts, always in the shell, a deck of playing cards, and lots of little things I can no longer remember.
This "pudding" looks absolutely delicious! Maybe I will try to make it myself sometime.
The channel that we look forward to watching every Tuesday! Thanks so much!
Love reading all the memories! I’m tearing up a little.
I'm 60 y/o and grow up with my grandparents, I still remember how happy my grandmother was over oranges.
2:29 Mickey's Christmas Carol is a Christmas classic!
According to where you live (ie Kentucky) you could forage nuts and some fruits (and many farmers grew their own) so maybe that’s why it’s considered less expensive.
My Great Nana had a lovely recipe for plum pudding from the war. I’m told it was amazing!
I'm glad you said you were taking some Benedryl. We received oranges in our stockings every year. This year I am giving my sister a quilt I made and quilted, and giving my nephew a painting. Homemade gifts are still awesome. Merry Christmas, Max. Thank you, this was an especially awesome episode.
That bit about the card is really frank yet heartwarming. Even during a disastrous economic downturn, neighbors and family members still stuck it through, and it seems many of children were humbled by the experience as well.
The christmas poem cracked me up. And as a person with OAS, eating something only to feel your mouth tingle and think "oh wait, there's raw X in here" is very relatable!
What does OAS stand for? Google is being unhelpful and giving me an organization.
@@FirebladesSong Oral Allergy Syndrome. My wife has OAS and it causes her to have allergic reactions to literally dozens of things and is so bad she can ONLY eat what we make ourselves at home using fresh ingredients or vetted commerical products. It's not a fun condition to have.
My mother was a child during the Depression and she said she stopped believing in Santa Claus when she noticed her wealthier friends received luxury type gifts, while her poorer friends got more practical items or nothing. She would have been about 7 years old when she realized that the quality of Xmas gifts had nothing to do with a child's behavior and a magical man, but rather the income of ones family. For that reason she never pushed the myth of Santa on my siblings and I - and none of us missed the illusion.
The tradition of giving oranges and citrus in stockings really resonates with me. Every Xmas I'd look in my stocking and I'd also see my father's stocking, and they always had an orange or a grapefruit in the stocking. I really thought my dad was quirky or just really liked oranges. But later in life, I'd see the stocking that my grandfather who grew up in the Depression had. And he had an orange in his stocking. And to this day, even though I'm on the verge of 50, and my father is pushing 80, and my grandfather is no longer with us.... we still put those oranges in our stockings. And now i know the history of putting oranges in stockings as a gift.
I had actually been thinking about the egg whites as you were making this, I kept saying to myself. “isn’t he allergic to those?“😂
We used to get one orange and one apple in our stockings when I was growing up. I could care less about the apple (my grandparents owned an apple orchard, so every fall we were well stocked), but we didn't get oranges very often, so I was thrilled with that gift. 🍊 Still love citrus to this day.
My grandmother, God rest her, loved collecting the Charles Dicken's houses, too, Max. I ended up with them a few years ago when she passed, and I just got them all set up over this past weekend. I love them, too.
My parents were born in 1927 and 1931. My dad's family was relatively well off during the Depression (Grandpa was a small business owner) but they still had to be very frugal. My mother grew up in a very poor rural area in west central Wisconsin. There was one Christmas when her only present was a hair comb.
We always opened Christmas presents from Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve. We got gifts from Santa in our Christmas stockings on Christmas Day. They did it this way because they felt that children can understand that some kids' families have more money than others so their parents are able to give them more presents than maybe other kids would receive from their own parents. What children shouldn't have to do, however, is think that Santa gives more and bigger presents to some children and gives very little to other children. So our stocking gifts were always an orange, an apple, some nuts and small candies, sometimes a deck of cards or a book.
What lovely, kind parents you had!
I love walking around midtown Manhattan during this time! It’s so beautiful! Now I know when it’s all started. Thank you for your videos, Max, they always make me smile! Happy holidays
My grandma used to give us kids what she called "junk bags". Ole Byron and Betty were antique dealers, and so throughout the year and going to various shows, grandma Betty would find little bits and bobs she thought each of us kids would like and she'd add it to our bags. On Christmas day, she'd add something of hers to each bag...a piece of her jewelry, or statue we always played with. The joy of getting "junk" for Christmas was so good. And grandma could also be thrifty in her spending.
Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season Max. Both of my parents grew up in the depression, living their entire childhoods in that era. They talked about it frequently but I never recall them complaining.
My dad loves the silver tinsel! No body else in the house did but he would put it up one string at a time. Took like 45 minutes. Good memories!
My mom was the same way and we saved it year to year.
Gosh, my mum too! In the 1970s and 80s in the UK it was called 'lametta', and I hated it! It makes the tree look so messy, IMHO, but my mum insisted on it! Thank goodness you can't get it anymore, or she'd probably still be using it to this day 😂
@@dmbalsamyes! The repackaging of tinsel was quite an activity growing up.
@@FluttermothI actually wondered if it’s even still available. I have never looked for it myself 😂
My Dad loved the tinsel also.
I love this. We have so many things these days but i'm sure the kids were just as glad for their gifts then as long as they had food and family.
The moment you put it together, I was like "but how is Max going to taste it" 😂😂 Thanks for your sacrifice and happy holidays!
Same!!! I was expecting "but I'm not going to try this because I'm allergic to egg whites"
Have to love it that he forgot he shouldn't eat them and only realized after he had already eaten some :D
I'm also allergic to egg white (when it's not baked into something) and I was making this face while he added those -> D: lol
There were live candles on our Christmas tree when I was a small child in the sixties. They were beautiful and somehow we didn't burn the house down. We blew out the candles after singing a traditional song, but we had electric lights by then as well, so the tree was still pretty. I just love your mashup of history and food, two of my absorbing interests. Merry Christmas to you and yours and your many subscribers (nearly 3 million now -- congrats!).
When I was a kid (in the 80s) we still made most of our decorations. We did have some commercial decorations, but we did popcorn garlands and hand made ornaments (fired clay, decorated egg shells, and construction paper things). We mostly didn't make our gifts (though my parents often gave one another household items they needed rather than actual gifts). No lights though, till I was 8 or so when we got electricity. (Via the rural electrification act in fact! Full electrification took a LOT longer than most folks think. Phone too: At that time there were still a bunch of towns in my state that didn't have individual phone service, still using party lines.)
You brought up a great memory for me. I grew up in LaVerne, CA. On Christmas Day the fire department went around to all the neighborhoods and Santa handed out In N Out bags filled with an orange, peanuts in the shell and some candies. They still do it I believe. I LOVED running outside, even as a teenager, to get my Christmas In N Out bag with goodies.
I'm emotionally preparing for entering the holiday warzone: the kitchen before Christmas in my Romanian household, back home
I hope you are ok! ❤ My Depression-era grandparents always made sure we had a predominantly-orange fruit bowl with a sack of nuts to crack every Christmas. I still have their nutcracking tools and so many wonderful memories of how excited they still were to enjoy the season as they remembered it. Thank you for this video!
I didn't grow up in the depression era however! I admire the the creativity minded individual's who could make something from nearly nothing, for many it makes you really appreciate the real meaning of gift giving when made from the heart. I was raised by my grand parents who raised their children in the depression and I remember her making clothes for my doll better then Mattel inspiring me to dress my Barbie in pretty patterned napkins or paper towel and tape. Thank you grandma.
Thank you
I would just like to highlight that line about the rural electrification program. "What has the government ever done for anyone?!" [Gestures at *literally all of the infrastructure that exists* ]
English lassy here. We still do the cute stocking with an orange in it. The reason this pudding would have been cheaper is because it has fewer ingredients than traditional pudding and above all isn't cooked for hours. Fuel costs!
That makes sense. I was surprised they still kept the nuts and stuff because those are pretty expensive these days at least where I live. I suppose you might be able to find them at parks and stuff for free if you know where to look though.
American here, and we ALWAYS got some walnuts and a tangerine/mandarin/Clementine in our stockings. We also got some candy and other misc. things. 🧡🎄✨
I think the main reason it is cheaper would be because at the time Christmas pudding was soaked in multiple BOTTLES of expensive booze over months.
And don’t most recipes contain a lot of butter or suet?
We in Germany have Bunte Teller. All sorts of cookies, nuts, marzipan pralines AND oranges. We were always looking forward to it.
Fantastic history lesson and recipe once again. Thank you, Max! Merry Christmas to you and José!
We went from oranges from the store, to oranges from the tree my dad grew and kept in a basement greenhouse (roulette for if it tasted like an orange or yuck), to a Terry's chocolate orange.
My dad always out a Chocolate Orange in our stockings, to keep the tradition going but updating it
9:34 wait, I kinda love this. Old doll designs are kind of notorious for being seen as creepy today. The Little Orphan Annie doll looks pretty much like an old fashioned design of something you could sell today. On the other hand her comic version has blank white soulless eyes that wouldn't look out of place as the picture for some creepypasta.
I thought about that too!