How The Great Depression Turned Meatloaf Into An American Classic

Simple, sturdy, and delicious: Meatloaf stands as one of the most iconic American meals. For decades, it has served as a dinnertime staple in households across the country. But along with this status comes a pretty unglamorous reputation. For many, it is seen as a dish made out of necessity, something cooked by budget-minded parents to stretch across large families. A symbol of American food, and not necessarily in a good way. Its, well, loaf-like structure and use of processed ingredients is typically cast as the ultimate in hodge-podge American cuisine. Neither meat nor bread — something that floats in the ether. It often serves as a punchline, poking fun at the low-brow food at the heart of middle-class cuisine. 

You might want to hold off on those meat loaf jokes, though, as the dish is more than just a loaf of meat. In fact, it’s an icon of the Great Depression and a culinary example of the resourcefulness that helped many Americans push through times of economic hardship. Like other fascinating Depression-era foods such as mock apple pie, the famous water pie, and Hoover stew, meat loaf became popular during the 1930s as a way of stretching  resources. Of course, this is just a portion of meatloaf’s cultural and culinary impact. Its place on the American dinner table was forged by a convergence of factors, and its enduring popularity was spawned by increasingly industrial methods of food production.

Meatloaf did not simply crop up on American plates during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Iterations of the dish have been around for centuries. In fact, an early version of the food first appeared in a Roman cookbook called “Apicius.” However, this recipe was not a direct copy of our current meatloaf. It did feature minced meat, bread, and flavorings, but it also included animal brains, an ingredient distinctly absent from most modern meatloaf recipes. And the Romans weren’t alone in their love for minced meat patties combined with bread. Many European nations throughout the centuries have consumed dishes consisting of meats mixed with breads or oats and dried fruit in order to get more meals out of less desirable cuts of meat.

As to how the dish made its way to America, well, that’s a different (and conflicting) story. There are two dueling tales of its origins. Some food historians credit German immigrants by way of the Pennsylvania Dutch for introducing the meal. This dish is a combination of pork and cornmeal called scrapple, which is still popular throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Others give credit to Italian American immigrants for introducing the less dense, more meatball-like meatloaf to Americans. In truth, the meatloaf that we now know and love is a product of several influences. Take for example the tradition of placing whole boiled eggs in meatloaves, which has definite origins in Jewish and German cuisine and still endures today.

Several factors led to meatloaf’s prominence during the Great Depression. After all, the modern version of this dish would not exist if not for the invention and popularization of the meat grinder in the 19th century. This made it easier for people to process their own meat at home. Paired with the increasingly industrial production of food, meatloaf started to become a staple food for American diners leading up to the Depression in the 1930s. 

When the Great Depression made meat scarce and expensive, many home cooks found ways to stretch what little meat (and food) they could afford. They did so by adding ingredients such as oats and flour to ground protein, and meat loaf was the result. Products such as condensed soups, crackers, and condiments like Heinz ketchup were also often added to these recipes. These additions were a part of a growing repertoire of industrially created and distributed food products that helped home cooks stretch a penny and create reasonably consistent meals for their families. 

What meatloaf represented was a unique culinary ingenuity born out of necessity, fused with the increased reliance on commercially produced preprepared-food products that would come to color the culinary landscape of 20th-century America. Meatloaf also proved to be symbolic of the endurance of many Americans when faced with scarcity. This symbolism only strengthened when the meal was once again popularized during World War II rationing.

Meatloaf’s place in the American kitchen did not end with the Great Depression. Even as the post-World War II economy boomed, the meal remained a dinnertime staple. In fact, a 1958 cookbook entitled “365 Ways to Cook Hamburger” featured a whopping 70 recipes for meatloaf. But why did suck a scrappy dish endure even through times of material success? For one, meatloaf is simple to make, a quality essential to much mid-century cuisine. Additionally, meatloaf often uses mass produced food products, such as ketchup, canned soup, and seasoning mixes, which, since the Depression, had become essential to American dining.

It is perhaps for this very reason, however, that meat loaf has become a bit of a punchline. It is often seen as American cooking at its worst: A Frankenstein combination of processed meat and mass-market ingredients that requires little effort to make. But then again, that’s just one way of looking at things. At its best, meatloaf is symbolic of the hardscrabble roots of much of American culture. It isn’t just one thing, but an amalgam of disparate cultures, economic circumstances, and ingredients that come together to form something that transcends the sum of its parts. Plus, you can’t deny that despite its humble looks and ketchup glaze, meatloaf is actually and unapologetically delicious just as it is (or paired with canned green beans and mashed potatoes).