Not Butter: Depression-Era Sandwiches Relied On This Cheaper Salty Spread

When resourcefulness meets desperation, sometimes the result is a lard sandwich. During the Great Depression, food had to be cheap, nutritious, and filling. For this reason, one of the common staple sandwiches that got families by during the Depression era (1929 to 1939) used lard as a filling. Most lard is pork fat that has been melted to separate the liquids from the solids, a process known as rendering. The lard is then chilled to solidify into a smooth, creamy spread with a distinct porkiness. Nowadays, commonly used forms of lard include leaf lard (a delicate, sweet, specialized form used to achieve a flaky texture in baking) and processed lard (which is clarified to become shelf-stable and flavorless). Back in the 1930s, however, households would likely have been using rendered lard, which is available today in the refrigerated section at some grocery stores and butcher shops. 

During the late 1800s, lard was a widely available ingredient in U.S. home kitchens, as the industrialization boom turned pork production into a global industry. In a Facebook post, food history buffs traded variations of lard sandwiches that got Americans through the Depression era. "My grandpa use[d] to make buttermilk biscuits made out of lard with fried fatback in them," wrote one commenter. Another shared, "Daddy ate bacon grease sandwiches, sometimes with a slice of onion." The dish seems to have been especially popular in rural areas, where hogs were raised on family farms.

Lard was an economical, natural fat source that didn't require commercial processing and could make the most out of a pig's belly, butt, and shoulder fat. Ostensibly, the ingredient would have been readily available to households in farming communities. Meanwhile, the rise of industrialized farming in the U.S. coincided with the development of the railroad and refrigerated railway cars in the 1800s, creating an efficient distribution system between agrarian communities and urban stockyards. This made store-bought lard available to city dwellers at the time of the stock market crash in 1929.

During the Great Depression, children were known to bring lard sandwiches to school as their packed lunch. If students had access to hot lunch, this sandwich or a butter sandwich may have been accompanied by a steaming bowl of peanut butter and tomato soup. A 1934 government-issued cookbook titled "School Lunches with Recipes to Serve 50 Children" describes an innovative enriched soup made from canned tomatoes, flour, smooth peanut butter, chopped onions, and salt. 

While thick, off-white lard spread over sliced bread can feed the hungry, other households skipped this old-school paste. Those who were slightly better off could enjoy bread and butter sandwiches instead — a two-ingredient "meal" that's exactly what it sounds like, no more, no less (but especially no more). Many of the foods people ate during the Great Depression were designed to make the most of cheap pantry staples, from hearty Hoover Stew to avant-garde culinary creations that slammed unlikely ingredients together (peanut butter-stuffed onions, anyone?).