Today is Martin Luther King Day. Across America many people volunteer on this day to help out at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and do what they can to help the less fortunate. After we have finished our own morning shift helping out at the local Food Bank, we will be making our own poverty food. ‘Hobo Stew!’
At the end of the Civil War, many men were homeless and displaced. Here in Elmira there was a very big prisoner of war camp that held Confederate soldiers from the South. On their release they were given train tickets, some would hop onto trains and try and find their own way home. Some of these ex-prisoners from Elmira could well have become a few of the first hobos.
By the time this house we live in was built in 1910 and up to the Great Depression from 1930, there had become very many hobos and drifters across America. ‘Hopping’ freight trains looking for work or opportunities, staying in ‘hobo jungles’ alongside railroads, and trying to survive away from home.
It was a dangerous life. Far from home and with only each other, they would help each other out and developed a loose mutual support and ethical code. One way they came together was to keep a campfire going to gather around to keep warm. They would bond over sharing food, stories, and tips. By putting everything and what little they had together into a pot and cooking it up into a one pot meal, they could eat better than if they ate alone.
Today we will be making our own hobo stew using what left overs and forgotten foods from the back of our panty. My contributions will be the small amount of left over filling of potato, onion, and meat we used for making the Cornish pasties. This is the first we have in the pot. Once we have made our stew, we will sit together and talk about what we have learned but first, find out everything you can about the story behind hobo stew using the links and resources below. Take notes for our discussion, then let’s start gathering what we can to throw in the pot.
Discussion Ideas to think about
What do you think about the terms hobo, Mulligan, and tramp?
Do people still live in hobo jungles and hop freight trains?
What are the differences and similarities between the homeless camps we see alongside roads, the RV park we stayed in when we were homeless, and the hobo jungles during the depression?
Did the hobo community have any special language, terms, or symbols?
Find one famous hobo to tell us about.
Ask me about the time I spent traveling around Europe and the delicious hobo stew I ate on a hill in Spain.
Glossary:
“Hobo”, a migrant worker in the United States.[1][2] Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
"Mulligan" is a stand-in term for any Irishman, and Mulligan stew is simply an Irish stew that includes meat, potatoes, vegetables, and whatever else can be begged, scavenged, found or stolen. A local Appalachian variant is a burgoo, which may comprise such available ingredients as possum or squirrel. Only a pot and a fire are required. The hobo who put it together was known as the "mulligan mixer."
"Community stew", a stew put together by several homeless people by combining whatever food they have or can collect. Community stews are often made at "hobo jungles", or at events designed to help homeless people.
Some useful links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo
© Lee A. Elliott 2023
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