# Food Help to the Poor US Population in the 50.s
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 12, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675 "2018-02-12T10:40:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/1 "2018-02-12T10:40:48Z")
Hi everybody, I am reading a book ("AVA’S MAN, by Rick Bragg), in it it’s mentioned that sometimes in the early 50.s,
the poor of the south received from the government food in the form of cheese, caned fruits, caned meats, etc. they mention at one time a whole boiled chicken slide from a big can. Can anybody remember those days?
I would appreciate some more first hand stories. Thanks
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/2 "2018-02-12T10:55:57Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#):
>
> Can anybody remember those days?
Boy the way Glenn Miller played…
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/3 "2018-02-12T11:59:31Z")
We got them here in the Northwest too. Use to like the canned mutton. We called the stuff commodities.
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### Author:  [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/4 "2018-02-12T12:24:08Z")
As recently as the 1980’s surplus milk was made into government cheese. The elderly lady across the street would get the block of American cheese, because her income was fixed and low. Now, she owned her own house, and was in fairly good health, and had financial support when she needed it from her three grown up sons. And as an Italian-born naturalized citizen, I found it hard to believe she actually liked mass produced American cheese. But, they urged her to get her share, and she made everyone who visited her a grilled cheese sandwich if they wanted one. Pretty nice, all and all. She also, infrequently, got other bulk foodstuffs, but I can’t really recall what they were, maybe pickles?
I remember the 80’s TV show – _In Living Color,_ made jokes about the government cheese. It seems its really very common.
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### Author:  [@keno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keno)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/5 "2018-02-12T12:44:22Z")
Went to public schools in San Francisco in the early 50s. Every lunch always included a big block of American cheese. We were told it was US government surplus provided gratis to the school system.
Don’t recall any food besides cheese distributed that way.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/6 "2018-02-12T13:09:35Z")
Back in the 70’s: Flour, corn meal, cheese(which was edible once you cut away the blue parts), corn syrup, peanut butter and a few other staples.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/7 "2018-02-12T13:42:49Z")
**Moderator Action**
Since this is looking for personal experiences and memories, it is better suited to IMHO.
Moving thread from GQ to IMHO.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/8 "2018-02-12T15:48:21Z")
It was called the “Commodities Food Program” and was more about farm supports than feeding poor people - they were just a way to get rid of the excess farm products. The oddest item, that we could never figure out how to use was a generic type of Karo Syrup.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/9 "2018-02-12T15:51:49Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> It was called the “Commodities Food Program” and was more about farm supports than feeding poor people - they were just a way to get rid of the excess farm products. The oddest item, that we could never figure out how to use was a generic type of Karo Syrup.
Damn stuff wasn’t even fake-maple flavored.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/10 "2018-02-12T16:53:07Z")
> [@Arkcon](#):
>
> As recently as the 1980’s surplus milk was made into government cheese. The elderly lady across the street would get the block of American cheese, because her income was fixed and low. Now, she owned her own house, and was in fairly good health, and had financial support when she needed it from her three grown up sons. And as an Italian-born naturalized citizen, I found it hard to believe she actually liked mass produced American cheese. But, they urged her to get her share, and she made everyone who visited her a grilled cheese sandwich if they wanted one. Pretty nice, all and all. She also, infrequently, got other bulk foodstuffs, but I can’t really recall what they were, maybe pickles?
I was just out of college back in the 1980’s and struggling - I, too, was a recipient of commodities even if I made (barely) too much to qualify for food stamps.
The block of cheese wasn’t bad, although one could get tired of eating a lot of cheese. In addition, most months there was also a choice of either 5lbs of flour or cornmeal and a pound of butter. From time to time we got other things, sometimes canned goods marked “salvage”, other times something like a bottle of corn syrup, and so on.
> [@](#):
>
> I remember the 80’s TV show – _In Living Color,_ made jokes about the government cheese. It seems its really very common.
It was.
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Back in the 70’s: Flour, corn meal, cheese(which was edible once you cut away the blue parts), corn syrup, peanut butter and a few other staples.
I never once had to “cut away” any part of the cheese. I’m not saying it never happened, but while the food was often pretty basic it was wholesome.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/11 "2018-02-12T16:58:01Z")
I remember the cans of pork product packed in liquid fat, and finding bits of corn in the flour and bits of “something” in the corn. Sometimes they gave us the dark Karo syrup for a change-up.
edited to add: And the large cans of peanut butter that needed to be stirred up every damn time you opened it. The sandwiches were either oily or hard as a rock.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/12 "2018-02-12T17:01:02Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#):
>
> a whole boiled chicken slide from a big can.
[Chicken Inna Can thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823372) from last April.
I did eventually get one. Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t _good_, but it wasn’t bad. I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re boiled chickens. I think they are cooked in the can like other canned foods.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/13 "2018-02-12T17:25:33Z")
I think “wasn’t good, wasn’t bad” pretty much applied to all of it - it was edible food with some nutrition, but it wasn’t fantastic. At least in the Chicago area it wasn’t means-tested, they handed it out to whomever showed up at the appointed date, place, and time (middle of the typical work day, which meant most folks were at work and not at the food pickup). If you were hungry and in need of food help you’d be glad to have it, but if you could afford better you’d most likely go out and buy it.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/14 "2018-02-12T17:37:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> [Chicken Inna Can thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823372) from last April.
>
> I did eventually get one. Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t _good_, but it wasn’t bad. I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re boiled chickens. I think they are cooked in the can like other canned foods.
Those showed up in a basket on “Chopped” one time.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/15 "2018-02-12T17:42:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> I think “wasn’t good, wasn’t bad” pretty much applied to all of it - it was edible food with some nutrition, but it wasn’t fantastic.
The ‘Government cheese’ we got from the elderly woman across the street in the '80s was quite good.
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### Author:  [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/16 "2018-02-12T18:20:06Z")
There were alot of “older people” I recall as a kid in the 70s who thought Chicken Inna Can was the height of convenience and delicacy. One of my grandmothers and her maid thought it was wonderful and they used to make chicken and dumplings with it. My mother was horrified and thought they were both blasphemous and knew better, and she wouldn’t have been caught dead buying a canned chicken.
Seems like a name brand was Sweet Sue.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/17 "2018-02-12T18:22:25Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> The ‘Government cheese’ we got from the elderly woman across the street in the '80s was quite good.
If I remember correctly, it was basically mild Cheddar.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/18 "2018-02-12T18:40:07Z")
I grew up eating Government Cheese in the late 50s and 60s in the Bronx. With 6 kids in the family and a father who couldn’t work, we needed it.
There were of course huge blocks of orange cheese that came wrapped in plastic in cardboard boxes. As I recall, it was pretty good, being pretty much standard American Cheese.
There was also rice, powdered milk, and canned meat, which sometimes included something like spam and sometimes stringy brown lumps of meat with big chunks of fat in it ([kind of like this](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/818vFj1KSHL._SY450_.jpg)). The latter actually wasn’t bad fried up with onions. It was all labeled US Government Surplus.
I don’t remember canned chicken. If we ever got it, it wasn’t very common.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/19 "2018-02-12T19:47:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Those showed up in a basket on “Chopped” one time.
Yes! This is what I was going to say. It certainly looked disgusting.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-help-to-the-poor-us-population-in-the-50-s/808675/20 "2018-02-12T21:13:35Z")
I think my mom said she got government cheese and spam.
According to her, the government would buy surplus dairy to keep the industry afloat, and then turn the surplus dairy into government cheese for the poor.
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