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I was a child during the 90& #39;s recession, and I think my parents& #39; strategy for dealing with the lack of money was to use their farm to be as self sufficient as possible
We didn& #39;t buy juice; we made juice from the currant berries we grew. We didn& #39;t buy candy and baked goods; we made rhubarb pies and blueberry swiss rolls with foraged fruits. Bread and cakes were homemade. Never had rice and pasta; we were able to grow plenty of potatoes
On school lunches and field trips and visiting friends I would get access to non-homemade things though. Ice cream. Rice dishes. Orange juice. Hot chocolate. Cheesecakes. Pasta salads.
On trips to the grocery store I would sometimes very carefully try to request we buy nice tasty things. There& #39;s only so much potato and lingonberry jam and oatmeal and apple crumble you can stomach. Most of the time the response was a severe NO.
But mom and dad never said "No, we can& #39;t afford that." Maybe they didn& #39;t want us kids knowing we& #39;re poor. Maybe they thought we& #39;ll blurt it out in front of friends. Maybe they were so ashamed that they couldn& #39;t internally frame it in terms of poverty.
Instead, wanting certain foods became to me this moral and aesthetic failure. Good kids don& #39;t prefer pasta over potatoes. Good people make their own juice. Good people don& #39;t buy prepackaged meals and white bread. Good people don& #39;t like sugary drinks and fresh exotic fruits.
I still find the echoes of this in my shopping and eating. Things like orange juice, fresh cherries, pre-marinated chicken, bananas, canned pineapple and candy feel sinful and expensive and self indulgent.
