Your investments have disappeared. Your vacation fund has vaporized. New clothes for spring are only a daydream. But you have to eat.

Perhaps that's why the charm of Clara Cannucciari and her online show, "Great Depression Cooking With Clara," keeps her popular.

Clara knows what she's talking about. She was born in 1915 in Chicago, and says she quit high school to work in a factory as a teenager. These days, she shares her wisdom from upstate New York. Some Los Angeles residents, including Pat Box (at right), recently shared their memories of Depression-era food with The Times.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times