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Early 1980s in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Local news declared that the local unemployment rate had reached 30%, worse than the Great Depression. All of us entrenched in the working-poor blue-collar laboring mob was convinced that data was false, that the real unemployment rate was higher.
A local fast-food joint advertised for a part-time worker and we saw grown adults, young to elderly with ample middle-age males and females lined up around the outside of the firm waiting to turn in their application. The same occurred with other firms seeking workers. A horde descended ready to work so the basics of life could be acquired.
Folks unable to pay the rent moved in with family or friends or lived in their cars or anywhere where they could sleep. I was paying a middle-aged divorced gal $100 monthly (over $300 in 2021 dollars) to sleep in her garage and use the bathroom and kitchen. I also did the yard work and to keep her happy and me with a roof over my head I would make dinner for her and do the dishes. That also kept ME eating since I was using her food and she did not mind me making enough for two to eat and joining her for the meal. I also did the dishes. Gotta’ do whatcha’ gotta’ do to stay alive and in at least semi-comfort.
I had friends who were struggling to get by. One family had a mom and dad and three kids barely scraping by. His job paid a pittance and after paying rent and utilities there was not much left for food, clothing, toiletries, etc. A meager existence. Luckily for many folks, the federal government started releasing food that it had stashed away in warehouses. It was some sort of commodities program designed to prop-up farmers and various food-related industries by using mega-millions, maybe billions, of taxpayer dollars to, I believe, ensure that the already wealthy corporate farmers remain that way. I am unsure about that since that stuff is so complicated and us “little folks” are out-of-the-loop in regards to what goes on in the socioeconomic groups so high above us peons.
Whatever the reason for the food’s existence it did serve a purpose. And we were very very grateful for its availability. I did not qualify for the hand-outs due to my making just enough to be slightly above the poverty level. I made that money working at the egg farm outside town. Thousands of squawking chickens eating, shitting and laying eggs. Damn that place stank!!!! But, it WAS a job and it let me scrape by.
When my friend’s wife lost her part-time waitress job things were critical food-wise for that family. At the egg farm I noticed that double-yolk eggs were not sold to consumers. They were tossed into the 55-gallon drums that a food processor made regular pick-ups to grab and take to their firm where the eggs’ contents were used in processed foods. Those eggs did not earn the egg farm much money so when the kindhearted owner heard about my friends predicament he allowed me to box-up a carton of the double-yolk eggs and take to my friend where we all ate those yummy eggs with twice the yolk of a normal egg. Yummy!!!
That egg-farm owner was a World War Two veteran who piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress over a very hostile Germany. He made it home and started his egg-farm. His son became a military officer in the army special forces and was severely wounded in South Vietnam. The son was seen limping around the egg-farm but did no work due to his physical and mental impairments that greatly hindered his ability to lead a normal life. Such is life, I suppose. That egg-farm owner did a good deed helping to feed some folks facing tough times. And all of us who ate those yummy eggs appreciated his kindness!!!
My friend’s wife made great us of those eggs. Cooking them in many ways. Scrambled was a favorite and when she blended in the canned government commodities (GC) pork they were extra yummy!!! That pork was precooked and had some juice inside that could be used to make gravy or left with the pork to flavor anything the pork was added to. We heard many complaints from others about that canned pork but we loved the stuff!!!
Another prized GC food was the Velveeta-style cheese. It is a processed-type food that most folks are likely familiar with. The stuff melts easily so makes great grilled cheese sandwiches and when omelettes were made with the double-yolk eggs the mini-tribe munching on them quivered with gustatory delight. Yum!!!
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I brought enough eggs to my friend’s apartment that we regularly fed friends and neighbors an egg-based meal. The pork and cheese was not available in large quantities so we kept that for the immediate mini-tribe; that 5-member family and me. However, eggs abounded so whenever somebody hungry visited they were fed some eggs.
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There was a glut of double-yolk eggs for awhile and we had eight-cartons of the critters on the patio porch. We rotated eggs into the refrigerator as space became available. Despite the warning on the carton we had no problems with leaving the edible delights unrefrigerated for the amount of time we left them outside. Some cartons were outside for two-weeks with no apparent harm since, when cracked open, they smelled okay and tasted fine when cooked.
After a few months we did tire of eggs, somewhat, but hunger is a great motivator and we tried a bunch of ways to use the prenatal chickens. When ramen noodle soup was on sale for 5-cents per package we pooled our money and bought those by the case. Beef, chicken, pork, oriental and another flavor or two that I forget four decades later. Is that a sign of old age? Sniff. Mix in some canned pork and enhance the flavor. This was a time when a little of the juice from the can added to the taste. A regular inclusion was scrambled egg from our huge stock. Alone or with other added ingredients the egg added some nutrition, taste and variety by offering a texture different from the ever-present noodles found with those ramen packets.
A week before the Thanksgiving holiday the egg-farm owner (I forgot his name long ago but I do omit names nearly always anyways to preserve folk’s privacy) surprised us with a huge turkey ham. The biggest I had ever seen. We received the gift at the end of the work day and I headed for the tribe headquarters. When I walked up the stairs to their second-story apartment and burst through the front door I shouted we glee “We eat again!!!!!!” The herd looked on in amazement at the size of the turkey ham I cradled in my arms. They, too, had never seen one that big. We tossed the gift into the fridge and Thanksgiving mid-day our resident chef, my friend’s wife (my friend, too. the kids considered me a part of their herd, also), started heating the precooked ham and rustling up mashed potatoes and pork gravy using the entire contents of the canned pork and I forget what veggies we had and what was for dessert, if any. I do recall the yummy turkey ham, mashed taters and gravy with oodles of meat swimming within. Good eating!!!!
Situations change and in the spring I stopped working at the egg-farm. I can not remember what job followed that one. My friend’s moved out of their apartment and headed for somewhere I forget now but we remained in touch and I left the lady’s garage and damn if I can recall where I lived after that. It was sometime in that period I returned to long-haul trucking where you always had a place to sleep and the truck stops offered showers and food.
The period where a tribe relied upon government hand-outs (well, our taxes DO pay for all that “free” is not accurate) and freely-given eggs by a kind egg-farm owner was only for a year or so but it was a pivotal time in our lives that I remember parts of and have a large enough impact upon my thoughts for me to share today.
***** UPDATE *****
Found a video about the yummy cheese that helped the lower-class folks with evading hunger!!!
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HAPPY EATING!!!
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I Adore Food 