In the Shadow of a Promise Derailed*

Seven months ahead of the stock market crash of 1929, my grandparents and many Americans associated a phrase in one of Herbert Hoover's 1928 campaign of prosperity ads, "a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard to boot." as a sign of a progressively upward trend for the economy. 

Granddaddy was a bricklayer and by '29 he had moved his little family with wife and two young boys from the country to the big city, following the building boom that soon fizzled with the crash. Granny became bread winner, taking in laundry, and sewing detailed baby smocks and pillowcases with tatted lace edges for those who could still afford frills.

It was while living in the shadow of the promise derailed, they began enjoying "chicken sandwiches". The "chicken sandwiches" of which I speak were just biscuits, split, buttered and sprinkled with black pepper. I used to think my parents had lost their minds when they remembered and revived the "chicken sandwich" at our dinner table years later.

By the way, web research says Herbert Hoover never uttered those words, but that they were put out there by the party in campaign mode. So maybe the promise was never made by an individual, so much as by a group. Further, one site suggested another political "H" as the source of the "chicken in every pot" portion of the quote: Henry IV, 17th century beloved king of France is quoted as having wished his peasants might enjoy "a chicken in his pot every Sunday".

Does anyone else remember a Great Depression era food tradition? (Also, was our family the only one that did the "chicken sandwich"?) Meanwhile, pass the pepper, please. I got a "chicken sandwich" waiting on me here.

* This article first appeared in 2010 as part of my Allrecipes blog Chopsticks in the Kitchen.  Ultimately, when the  Allrecipes (AR) site was sold, the new owners removed all the contributing cooks' blogs.

 AR  remains a good place to search for recipes, but those of us who had "gathered" there to chat on the member exchange page and read and write blogs still miss the previous owners' format. Friendships were made...real ones. People actually met in homes, traveling across states to gather. International connections were made as well.  We prayed for one another during crisis, and rejoiced with one another in even the smallest successes. Some have continued to connect via FB.