The Good Food

Today I will be talking about food. However, I will be talking about very natural food I used to eat, and probably never I will experience the same taste again. Someone may ask why? Firstly, my grandmother is resting in piece, recipe or way of doing left with her, and ingredients are not the same as they used to be. In short, the person, the process and the ingredients can not be duplicated at this moment. So lets go back in time over 30 years ago to a small town of just about three thousand people where my grandparents and parents used to have a small farm consisting of a one cow, one pig, one horse, and chickens and roosters. Occasionally we had rabbits too, a seasonal breeding. When my grandfather passed away, we ended up selling the horse. My dad had his own business so he didn't really have time to utilize the horse in the farm. It was easier to just contract out for a necessary task - and it worked. The farm also consisted of many hectares of land, mainly used for potatoes, hay, and then for regular vegetables that were stored over winter time. Around the house we had many different trees such as apples and plums mainly, and lots of current bushes and goose berry. This was our garden of Eden.

Lets now go back on track and talk about the food. There was no pesticides, that means always needed to watch out biting into these high protein worms - you learn how. Fruit was always available all year long. Fresh from the tree or bush in the summer, and fresh, dry or jarred in the winter. The only fruit we ever bought in the store, were exotic ones such as oranges, grapefruit, or lemons. Or other fruit that needed special attention like melons or grapes. It was kind of cool not to have them all the time, because when we did we appreciated it more. We never bought vegetables in the store. Okay I lied, may be tomatoes, but that because we didn't have the heat to grow them, but my mother had a way to used them and make a green tomato salad.

You know what happens when you have a cow around. Yes, you get a fresh milk, in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and in the evening. I think me and my father were the only two individuals in the house who never milked the cow. Because I just couldn't do it, so I got the responsibility to hold the tail and keep the flies of cow's back. My grandmother specialized in making butter and cheese. There is nothing like fresh bread, butter and cheese sandwich sprinkled with a bit of salt on top, or if you had sweet tooth - homemade jam was added. Add glass of milk to help the flow. As I mention my grandmother was master in making butter. I still remember her slim figure with long arms beating the life out of the milk using wooden barrel and holed beater. Cheese wasn't so bad, it was more a function of heat and time, and separation task using a cheese cloth. As I am writing it now, I am feeling hungry to go back in time.

You know what happens when you have chickens around. Yes, fresh eggs, and fresh chicken soup on Sundays. Sunday was a special day, the chicken was sacrificed for lunch. Hardly ever we had different type of soup on Sunday. We always fought who is going to get the chicken heart or other internal organs. Yes, many people just don't eat that stuff any more because the way chickens are fed - just way too much of unnatural stuff that is fed through the organs. But then it was different, all the food was grown by us, with not pesticides or any fertilizers, except the natural fertilizers - you remember the cow.

You know what happens when you have a pig around. Yes, annual sacrifice - I mean lots of meat. We used to smoke it all or preserve it in the jars. The very common way was to preserve in gelatin. Some people would say - yak, but I like it. The other good stuff was ham and sausages. Again, nothing like bread, butter and ham or sausage sandwich. However, we used to melt lard with bacon bits, it was good but pure fat and deadly. Also, I never liked the pig killing time - sad, and especially when my father had to do it. I have to tell you he just had no skill, and I would like to put that part behind me because wasn't pleasant.

The last thing we had lots of land mainly used for potatoes for us, and grass, wheat and sugar beats for cows, pigs, and chickens. Then around the house garden, a garden full of vegetables and fruit that was consumed during late spring, summer and early fall, and then preserved for winter. I don't think I have to describe the fresh salads, vegetable soups and snack vegetables. The fruit was unlimited.

As a kid myself and my family back then lead healthy life. I continue to lead healthy life, but then there are limitations. For example, an egg may look the same, but the composition is not. The food will never be the same, unless I go back in time.