Poor Americans used to cook their own food from scratch.

In regards to an article written after a study on the poor's eating habits, referred to by Liberal commenter, Anita, claiming that the poor ate burgers and fries because it is cheaper and oh so filling, Miss C calls bullshit on the study. Often white Liberal ladies who are well educated go into poor, and especially minority households and are just so astonished at the habits of the underclass they can only see them as some kind of aliens living an an entirely different world. Somehow, even though the poor are living in the same universe and privvy to the same news and information, they are somehow exempt from having to feed their children properly.

This is wrong! Miss C grew up on welfare. In the old days, we did not get welfare credit cards which could be used at burger King and Taco Bell. We got food stamps. The food stamps were good for groceries. Poor people cooked real food. Often I would hang out at my friend's houses hoping to get an invitation to dinner. My friend's mom would regularly cook really incredible enchiladas. I lived a block from the supermarket and when I saw my friend's mom walk past me I knew she was going to cook something good, I would walk up the hill and hang out til dinner time. My other friend, whose mother was from Heber Springs Arkansas, was a very good cook, indeed. She made a killer chicken fried steak and summer squash. She was also on welfare.

As for me and my mom, we made everything from scratch. We made spaghetti and chili and Cornish pasties and Swiss steak. We made bread from scratch, even croissants. Except when we made Bisquick, which is why I will not eat it to this day. Coffee cakes, pancakes, biscuits, all with that peculiar Bisquick taste.

The poor were actually much less likely to eat out than those of a higher income. My co-worker and I agreed that to even eat at a McDonald's was considered a big, big treat. I would go with my friend to a place called Giant Burger's and sit with her. She would order a burger and the cooks would ask me if I was going to order anything and I would say, "No." after a while they would put a big plate of fries in front of me. I didn't do that too often though. I didn't want to push my luck.

The problem, as I see it, is now there really is no excuse for being on welfare. Those that do not take advantage of a free education and plentiful job opportunities are most likely of low cognitive ability or just plain lazy, shiftless and no account. many of them just are not able to make intelligent life choices. People that fit those discriptions probably aren't going to get off their asses and cook much, when they'd rather just sit in front of the tube all day eating chips. So why waste money on studying them?

I am very tired of people who make it their business to "study" the habits of the poor. The soldiers in the war on poverty are wasting our money. We pretty much know what habits make people likely to be poor and stay poor. Why don't they study the habits of rich and successful people? They have habits that might actually be useful to the rest of society.