M.F.K. Fisher’s How To Cook A Wolf

Legendary American food writer M.F.K. (Mary Frances Kennedy) Fisher wrote How To Cook a Wolf over eighty years ago during the darkest days of the Second World War. It was more of a meditation on survival than a cookbook, although it did contain recipes. A review from 1942 in the New York Times said:

Mrs. Fisher writes about food with such relish and enthusiasm that the mere reading of her books creates a clamorous appetite. She also writes with a robust sense of humor and a nice capacity for a neatly turned phrase. Her third book devoted to food and its preparation is called most aptly, considering war and taxes, ”How to Cook a Wolf.”

Possibly the most famous recipe is for sludge. Back when food blogging was a big deal, one blogger made it and said:

I have to admit I wasn’t excited to get up today and try a bowl of sludge.  When I pulled it out of the fridge, I was shocked to discover it had formed into a nearly solid mass.  I scooped out a cupful and microwaved it. I have to say, it’s not bad.  I added a little extra salt, and it tastes pretty much like a bland chicken soup.

What Is Sludge?

Fisher says if you are desperate (as many people during the food rationing days were) for something to eat, sludge could be a last resort. For 50 cents (about $9.50 in today’s US dollars) you could survive for four or five days on sludge. The recipe?

• Put fifteen cents worth of ground beef in a pot. Fisher warns against “Hamburger” I’m guessing on the grounds it might be low quality beef scraps, or even some mystery wartime meat like horse.
• Add ten cents whole grain cereal. Possibly oatmeal, or maybe at the time that meant barley or cornmeal.
• Use the remaining 25 cents for vegetables. She suggests a bunch of carrots, two onions, celery, and cabbage, and recommends looking for wilted and battered ones to save money. If money is left over, add squash, beans, tomatoes or garlic.
• Grind up the vegetables, add to the pot, cover with a lot of water, and cook for two hours or longer if possible. Let cool and eat over the following days.

If this sounds dreary, Fisher agrees. She says

It is obvious to even the most optimistic that this sludge, which should be like stiff cold mush, and a rather unpleasant murky brown-gray in color, is strictly for hunger.

Better Than Soylent

As dreary as it sounds, though, I think it would still be better than Soylent, the food product beloved by some Silicon Valley types. Wikipedia says sales of Soylent bars were halted in 2016 due to reports of gastrointestinal distress, and other products were said to cause considerable flatulence. But what’s more it’s not exactly cheap compared to cooking. 2000 calories a day from Soylent would cost about $20, and you could eat like a king for that amount — with ingredients far more appetizing than sludge.

We’re lucky people, Deadsplintereaters, to have a resource like FYCE, and with any luck we’ll never have to resort to sludge, or even worse, Soylent.