The bean that saved the world
By Bill Shepard
The little bean that saved the world! Tom Brokaw, in his book “The Greatest Generation,” gives credit to the young men of that period of our history as being the savior of our world from Nazism. I think we should give credit to the little lima bean that saved that generation from starvation!
During the period of the Great Depression, 1920’s and 1930’s of the past century, it was the lima bean and fatback meat that came to the rescue and kept a generation of folk alive! This writer has vivid memories of those years.
Bill Shepard
Starvation walked the land like a hungry wolf and there was little help to be found anywhere! World War I had left the world in chaos. Soldiers, seeking help, camped out on the White House lawn, and bread lines that were filled with hungry people were common. I can recall standing in my front yard and counting the hoboes riding the freight trains that passed along the Atlantic Coastline track, by the house where I spent the first ten years of my life. Those men were in search of a job that was impossible to find. I was a fortunate child; my Dad had a job at the big cotton mill in Darlington. The mill managed to stay alive, at least part time. Credit at the big company owned store, and Dad’s part time job kept us alive! The days when the mill was closed, Dad found work on the WPA. That, in itself, is another story.
I could not tell you the number of times that I heard the line, “All we have to eat at our house is lima beans and fatback meat!” The speakers were not bragging, but they were complaining. Today, if I heard someone speaking that line, I would accuse them of bragging.
Yes, Mr. Brokaw, let’s give credit where it is due. The young men that survived that period in history went on to defeat Nazism and save the world during World War II. During a part of that ugly period in our history, I worked as a clerk in a small store that was near the village where I lived. We sold a lot of lima beans and fatback meat. Lima beans sold for 5 cents of 10 cents a pound, depending on the size! The baby lima was the cheaper one, and I’ve never known why. Mama always cooked the smaller one. Maybe because it was cheaper! The large lima beans were referred to as “pocket books” and “baby ears” – anyone remember?
Fatback meat and lima beans complement each other like apple pie and ice cream! In today’s world, if you are overheard talking about having lima beans and fatback for dinner, you run the risk of being called a “braggart!” I take that risk often. Recently, while in a doctor’s waiting room, I was overheard telling how good lima beans and fatback is. The doctor overheard and called out, “Leave the fatback off!” I called back, “Not so, Doctor, I am over 90 years old and I owe my life to the lima bean and fatback meat!”
Could anyone in today’s world believe that fatback meat once sold for as little as 2 cents per pound? As a boy, working in that store that I have mentioned in this article, I must have cut and wrapped hundreds of pounds of fatback. It was not uncommon to sell a whole slab of fatback weighing as much as 10 pounds and costing only 20 cents! It happened many times when I was a boy.
I could write on, bragging about my favorite meal, but I think I have presented my case. I think we should give honor where honor is due. I have long proposed that a large bronze lima bean, mounted on a slab of white stone, to resemble a piece of fatback meat, deserves a spot on every courthouse lawn in America! It was the pair that won the war against starvation, during the Great Depression, and it was that generation
Mr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current resident of Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”. He has been sharing his tales of growing up in Darlington for decades, and we are delighted to share them each week. His mailing address for cards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C., 29673.