These Depression Era Makeshift Kitchens Will Make You Grateful for Your Modern Appliances!
Rose Heichelbech
During the Great Depression, many families traveled the country in search of itinerant work or on their way to more fertile lands during the Dust Bowl. Folks took what they could get when they could get it, which meant eating along the roadside or staying in a makeshift camp.
The makeshift kitchens of the 1930s were captured on film by the Farm Security Administration, documented as part of the growing phenomenon of families traveling the country in search of crops to be harvested, land to be sowed, and any kind of livable wage.
Making dinner on the running board of the car. Via/ Library of Congress
Having lunch along the highway. Via/ Library of Congress
From original caption: “Cooking facilities for migratory agricultural workers living in the attic of a potato grading station at Belcross, North Carolina.” Via/ Library of Congress
Carpenter, John Poole, cooking along the roadside during a travel job. Via/ Library of Congress
Migrant workers’ camp in Oklahoma. Via/ Library of Congress