May 19, 2010

Dandelion Salad


There's such a story in this photo. England was being hit hard, supplies were low. These two dressed warmly, went out, and picked dandelions. I wonder if they talked about doing that as girls or about the older women who told them they could be eaten. They came in and cleaned the greens and cut them into a beautiful bowl, all to stay healthy and have something fresh. I wonder how many people ate this salad. I wonder if they all appreciated it.

England
1941
from The BBC, seen at Uncertain Times, possibly my favorite image blog.

17 comments:

Sarcastic Bastard said...

That is a touching story. However, I hate salad. I would eat dog shit first. I'm quite serious. Well, maybe not.

That Hank said...

Hey, your loss. Maybe they just have crappy veggies up there in the cold? I'm a salad fan in general. Fresh greens, good maters, corn, peas, beans, cheeses, shrimp, eggs, nuts - I don't care, it's all good. I volunteer to throw myself in the path of any salads that may come your way.

Sarcastic Bastard said...

It's just that I don't like to eat anything that's good for me. My body can't fall apart fast enough.

Steph(anie) said...

dry oatmeal, dried cranberries...

My aunt makes garden salads with fresh strawberries and blueberries that are better than many deserts I've had.

Steph(anie) said...

That would be desserts. I don't usually eat deserts. Wretched speller I am.

That Hank said...

SB: That's where the blue cheese comes in.

Steph: I once saw a man eat broken glass.

Sadako said...

I've never had dandelion salad, but I kind of want to. It sounds sort of fun.

Also Old Ben Brewer in the Babysitters Club books used to eat them. Er, not that I read those or anything.

Ms. Moon said...

And Ray Bradbury tells us how to make wine of the dandelion. I've always wanted to do that.
I think that people have always eaten the first dandelion greens of spring as a tonic. Before greenhouses and shipping, fresh green things were few and far between by the end of the winter and those greens probably tasted pretty darn good. Fiddleheads of ferns, too.
I love that picture. I love that story.

That Hank said...

Sadako: to be honest, I've always wanted to and never had. Maybe next year.

Mama: I used to have a friend who would eat the leaves off a fruit tree in her yard every spring. She would pick them and smear them with mayo! Said she looked forward to it all winter.

Anna said...

Did you know that England was under rationing for 17 years? When my grandmother first immigrated to the U.S. from England in 1946, she sent boxes and boxes of canned food to her relatives. Clothes and shoes, too.

That Hank said...

Damn, I knew it was a while, but I didn't realize it was that long.

Anna said...

My grandma once told me that she literally cried when she ate a banana in New York City on her way to South Dakota! She was part of a bunch of British women on a bus going from the harbor to a train and they made the bus driver stop so they could buy them. She also asked the grocer in Hayti how many oranges she was allowed to buy. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for people during the war.

That Hank said...

It's kind of no wonder that the US is so gimme-gimme, eat everything. I mean, we're almost entirely settled by people who were running from starvation or rationing.

white rabbit said...

Oh a salad needs to be properly done. The French are good at this. The English less so.

Apparently the wartime diet was frugal but healthier than anything before or since.

That Hank said...

I've heard that. Exactly what they needed and no more.

leila said...

"It's kind of no wonder that the US is so gimme-gimme, eat everything. I mean, we're almost entirely settled by people who were running from starvation or rationing."

That's got to be the best and simplest explanation for it I've ever heard or read.

That Hank said...

It just makes sense.