Monthly Archives: September 2008

This is the title of an old country music song I used to hear while listening to the Grand Ole Opry radio show. Having been born and reared in the deep south, way back then during and after the Great Depression, many country music songs reflected the tempo of the people and that time period. Boiled cabbage with a hot pone of cornbread was a staple of noon time lunch. Most everyone had a garden with cabbage in it, and if they didn’t, cabbage was one of the cheapest food items you could buy. It’s a very nutritious food, but a far cry from filet mignon.
 
With food cost rising and talk of some scarcity, we might be hearing a revival of that song “boil em cabbage down boys.” I, for one, love boiled cabbage and the broth from it called “pot liquor.” When eaten with cornbread, it is very tasty and inexpensive.
 
If after this week’s news you are feeling a bit conflicted, confused, worried and apprehensive, prepare yourself a good Southern style “soul food” meal and chow down. Think about what an earlier generation experienced during times “that try men’s souls.” Then read my two articles earlier this week about what life was like for me during the Great Depression of the thirties. I do not recall the lyrics to the song, but think the second line said “the only thing they knew to do was boil em cabbage down.”