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Do you think there could be a second Great Depression?

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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

Call Me a Cab
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Coastal North Carolina, USA
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
 
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IndianaWay

New in Town
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Indiana
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."
 
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. :p
 

Atticus Finch

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

cheese.jpg


AF
 

LizzieMaine

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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.
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
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9,154
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Da Bronx, NY, USA
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.
 
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:
 
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