Food in the depression

They relied on their cows.  They all had their own little managerie of animals.  They reared as many calves as possible and they always had pigs.  It was a ritual that at certain times of the year they’d kill a pig.  Now that was a terrific highlight and it meant that we were living in luxury.

John “What were the occasions that they killed the pig?”

Whenever the weather was suitable because you had to be careful not to kill on a frost or that sort of thing.  And as I say they were so good at handling that.  It was never unusual to walk into a farm kitchen and see attached to the roof, hams hanging there, being smoked by the wood stove.  That was a way that they were all cured and when ready they were brought down and course they were eaten then.  Most people had a few sheep and in those days there were rabbits by the millions and that was magnificent tucker.  The people I see now who can just walk into a supermarket and they have everything there just within their reach.  Well, I don’t know I think its more of a habit forming than making people be more independent within themselves and providing for themselves.  And the further it goes on with all this artificial cooking and everything I think the old original techniques are more or less gone forever and I think the human race is going to be the poorer for it.