Do you think there could be a second Great Depression?

[V.C. Brunswick]

I don't know about Government Cheese but I once had Government Crackers made in 1962! I was at an army navy store some years ago and they had free samples of emergency ration crackers. I looked at the tin and it had a 1962 manufacturing date. lol

 

[Atticus Finch]

I was thinking of abstaining from this thread for fear of being anti-politico hammered...but now y'all are talking about gov'ment cheese. I'm here to tell you, if the early sixties is part of the Golden Era, its only because of gov'ment cheese. On the one hand the sixties brought us Vietnam, race riots, widespread drug use, new diseases, rebellious youth and the general decline of the American family. On the other hand, the sixties brought us the Buffalo Springfield and gov'ment cheese. Those last two things balance the equation.

For the younger among you, the distribution of cheese by the government was part of what later became our current food stamp program. In those days, the government actually distributed “surplus” food and other household necessities directly to poor folks. Poor people would stand in line for hours at the distribution centers for the free goods. My mother, who spent her career with the North Carolina Department of Social Services, was in charge of Carteret County's Distribution Center in the mid-sixties. If you have ever heard someone described as being the sort of person you’d meet in a cheese line, what you’ve heard is a euphemism which harkens back to those days. It means the person being described is way down on his luck.

Without doubt, the best part of the program was the cheese. Everyone knew it and the term, “gov’ment cheese” became a generalization for all the goods distributed by the program. It was about the best cheese I've ever tasted...even up 'till now. It was dark yellow cheddar. It came in large wax covered cakes and was so sharp that you could shave with it. Lord it was good! In fact, it was so good that more fortunate people who were not eligible for welfare would buy it (illegally) at a premium from the people who were.

AF

 

[dhermann1]

Here's a very well reasoned article from today's NY Times on the parallels between 1937 and today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/business/financial-aftershocks-with-precedent-in-history.html?_r=1

 

[jamespowers]

Here's a very well reasoned article from today's NY Times on the parallels between 1937 and today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/business/financial-aftershocks-with-precedent-in-history.html?_r=1

Boy, that was a rosy approach.

 

[IndianaWay]

NYT... and cheese

Interesting NYT story. Who knows... Re: gov't cheese, I remember my grandparents getting cheese in the '80's, I think - but if I remember right it was more a "government supports dairy farmers by buying cheese" than a food stamp-type program. I seriously doubt that my grandparents ever were on food stamps - in fact, at the suggestion I'm pretty sure my grandma would be turning over in her grave. Somebody feel free to confirm or correct me on my understanding re: "80's cheese."

 

[jamespowers]

Interesting NYT story. Who knows... Re: gov't cheese, I remember my grandparents getting cheese in the '80's, I think - but if I remember right it was more a "government supports dairy farmers by buying cheese" than a food stamp-type program. I seriously doubt that my grandparents ever were on food stamps - in fact, at the suggestion I'm pretty sure my grandma would be turning over in her grave. Somebody feel free to confirm or correct me on my understanding re: "80's cheese."

If I remember right it was some kind of senior citizen thing then. All I know is that it was the worst tasting cheese I have ever had then. It was bland and like a block of orange iron.*yucky* I never had the stuff from the 60s so I can't compare the two but the previous incarnation sounds like a dream next to what I had the dubious honor to taste.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

The Government Cheese we make still tastes better than anything else we produce.

 

[jamespowers]

The Government Cheese we make still tastes better than anything else we produce.

Was your company making it back in the 70s and 80s?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We've been in operation since the 1960's, so it is a possibility.

Was your company making it back in the 70s and 80s?

 

[jamespowers]

We've been in operation since the 1960's, so it is a possibility.

Was it just one type or several types like American, Sharp etc?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We make a few different kinds.

Was it just one type or several types like American, Sharp etc?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

The big block of uncut Gov cheese that I was unfortunate to taste in prob the '80s...tasted like a disgusting bland 'processed' cheese to me.
HD

 

[Atticus Finch]

As unappetizing as it looked...it really was good. Or maybe we were just hungry.

AF

 

[jamespowers]

The big block of uncut Gov cheese that I was unfortunate to taste in prob the '80s...tasted like a disgusting bland 'processed' cheese to me.
HD

Ok, then it wasn't just me. lol lol lol It was indeed horrible.:eeek:

 

[LizzieMaine]

I really enjoyed government cheese, but even better were the canned luncheon meat (generic spam) and peanut butter -- the ingredients of many a bag lunch, and even if you were never on relief you probably ate it without knowing: it's the same stuff that was used by the USDA School Lunch Program in the 60s and 70s.

 

[jamespowers]

As unappetizing as it looked...it really was good. Or maybe we were just hungry.

AF

If you were eating cheese made in 1954---in the 1960s then you were hungry.

 

[Atticus Finch]

If you were eating cheese made in 1954---in the 1960s then you were hungry.

Old cheese is good cheese! You just had to scrape it a little...you know, to get the fur off...before you ate it.

AF

 

[jamespowers]

Old cheese is good cheese! You just had to scrape it a little...you know, to get the fur off...before you ate it.

AF

:roflh wait :eeek:

 

[dhermann1]

Our school cafeteria head used to go crazy inventing new unappetizing recipes to use that cheese in. We all knew that Spanish Rice was really a LOT of that cheese, mixed in with a little rice and canned stewed tomatoes.
When she ran out of recipe ideas, she started making up new names for the same old stuff. I remember once she renamed succotash "Kernel Corno". Nobody was fooled.

 

[jamespowers]

Our school cafeteria head used to go crazy inventing new unappetizing recipes to use that cheese in. We all knew that Spanish Rice was really a LOT of that cheese, mixed in with a little rice and canned stewed tomatoes.
When she ran out of recipe ideas, she started making up new names for the same old stuff. I remember once she renamed succotash "Kernel Corno". Nobody was fooled.

Geez, I feel sorry for you if you had to eat that stuff.:eeek::eusa_doh: