Chapter 4: Backward Food Culture
Thinking about this, she opened the lid of the pot and looked at the wild vegetable rice soup in the pot. It was actually just a little coarse rice and a handful of wild vegetables. The soup was very thin and not very nutritious. There was a boiled egg on the beam above.
According to custom, any eggs laid by the hens at home were eaten by her, and neither Su Xueyi nor the two treasures were allowed to eat them.
I guess these two babies have never eaten many eggs since they were little.
Eating like this is not nutritious at all.
But productivity was low in that era, and an acre of good farmland would only produce two to three hundred kilograms of grain when the harvest was good, which was incomparable to the thousands of kilograms of grain produced in modern times.
Moreover, many families only have two or three acres of land to grow crops, and the amount of edible food is limited. Some families do not even have land and can only rent land to grow crops. After growing crops, they have to give a lot of them to the tenants, and there is very little food left, sometimes not even enough for the whole family to eat.
I'm hungry most of the time.
It’s a blessing if you don’t starve to death.
Of course, the Su family could not afford to buy land, but they acquired three acres of land through reclamation.
Then there are two dilapidated adobe houses, and that’s all.
She knew that the Su family had worked hard since settling in Liuhe Village four years ago, and their living conditions had gradually improved. However, because of Su Xueyi's leg treatment, she not only had no money left, but also owed the doctor several taels of silver.
There is not much food left at home now.
Shen Yueyao searched for a while and found that there was only a jar of coarse noodles and a small jar of coarse rice, and no other food.
Fortunately, there is a cellar at home, in which there are more than ten white radishes and several cabbages.
These were all stored last winter.
That's all.
On weekdays, the family is reluctant to eat it, and they can only fill their stomachs with wild vegetable soup.
Then there are pickled mustard greens. After pickling, cut them into shreds and eat them as pickles.
But eating like this alone has no nutritional value at all.
"Radish is a good thing."
Shen Yueyao thought about it, took out a big radish from the cellar and washed it.
"You can use the radish to make shredded radish pancakes, so the two little ones can have something delicious to eat."
As she spoke, Shen Yueyao picked up a knife and used it to cut the radish into thin strips.
“Crack…”
Soon, the sound of shredding was heard.
Shen Yueyao is very skilled in using a knife, and she is very fast at slicing.
Then, she placed the shredded radish in a small wooden basin.
In that era, pots, pans, and utensils were not as cheap and plentiful as they are today. Just the usable clay pots and basins cost more than ten cents each.
There are only two wooden basins in this house, a large one for washing face and a small one for cooking.
She found a small basket of raw eggs that had been placed in the house.
There are two old hens at home, which can lay two eggs a day. My predecessor used to eat one egg every day and save one. When he saved enough, he could sell them at the market and use the money for himself.
These memories flashed through her mind, and Shen Yueyao couldn't help but sigh.
Shen Yueyao took out two raw eggs, beat them on the shredded radish, added seasonings and a little flour, mixed them together, and then fried them in a pan.
This is a simple shredded radish pancake. Due to limited seasoning, I can only make a simple version.
It would be nice if there was pepper powder.
According to the memories of the body in her mind, she found that the food culture of this era was very backward, and the daily seasonings used by ordinary people were only salt and soy sauce.
When she was about to use the oil, she found a very small oil can nearby, with only a little oil left at the bottom.
It can be seen how difficult the conditions of this family are. They are almost out of food and oil.
Shen Yueyao sighed helplessly.
After finishing these, it’s time to light the fire and fry.
However, there was only one big pot at home, so I could only serve the porridge out of the pot first.
In fact, such a thin porridge can't even be called porridge, it's just a wild vegetable thin soup.
Take out the food and clean the pot.
Then it's time to light a fire
When she was about to use the oil, she found a very small oil can nearby, with only a little oil left at the bottom.
It can be seen how difficult the conditions of this family are. They are almost out of food and oil.
Shen Yueyao was a little helpless, and whispered to herself: "If I want my family to have enough food, it looks like I have to find a way to make money quickly."
“There are so many things to buy.”
Especially oil and salt used in daily cooking are indispensable.
She searched her memory and murmured, "Is salt so expensive in this era?"
A pound of fine snowflake salt costs eighty cents, while coarse salt is a little cheaper.
Ordinary people buy coarse salt.
"I think I just added a big spoonful of salt."
In the past, this spoonful of salt could be used for several days.
On weekdays, the family eats dishes by stewing them, and only sprinkles a little salt on the stewed dishes before serving.
For the people here, being able to eat enough is good enough, and they don’t care about how the food tastes.
In this case, eating will feel like a task to everyone, just to fill their stomachs, not to enjoy the food.
But in this era, most of the ordinary people at the bottom are like this.
Every household is busy all year round, and only during the Chinese New Year do they spend some money to buy some delicious food.
So both adults and children look forward to the Chinese New Year, because during the Chinese New Year they can wear new clothes and eat delicious food.
So in this era, the Chinese New Year is also very festive.
After finishing, she went to the yard to get firewood.
At the foot of the wall in the yard was a pile of firewood, including thicker wood and some dry branches.
There are a lot of small dry branches, which were picked up by Dabao and Erbao at the foot of the mountain.
Although the two treasures are small, they pick up a little bit every day, and they accumulate a lot, which can be used for burning.
At this time, Dabao and Erbao were washing wild vegetables in a corner of the yard.
The two of them were very skilled at washing vegetables, and it was obvious that they washed vegetables frequently.
Erbao whispered to Dabao, "Brother, what does a bad woman want to do?"
The second child grew up in an environment of abuse by his predecessor. He is timid and doesn’t dare to speak much, so he doesn’t speak much for a long time and his pronunciation is a little unclear.
But Dabao knew what his brother meant, and he whispered, "We'll do whatever she tells us to do. As long as we're obedient, we won't be beaten."
"Brother, tell Daddy."
Dabao said patiently: "Daddy is sick, we have to be sensible."
Dabao knew that sometimes his father couldn't stay at home all the time because of something. If they complained and made the woman angry, the woman would beat them twice as hard as long as his father was not at home.
So after a long time, they stopped saying anything.
Dabao only wanted to protect his younger brother and prevent him from being beaten again.
Last time my younger brother was beaten, he couldn't hear clearly in one ear.
So when Dabao whispers into his younger brother's left ear, his younger brother can't hear it, so he can only speak into his younger brother's right ear.
…
Shen Yueyao was unaware of the two treasures' little thoughts, she was concentrating on cooking.
She first lit the match, and when the pan was hot, she added oil and fried the shredded radish pancakes.
Soon, the fragrance spread out.
Dabao and Erbao were both dazed when they smelled the fragrance.
Erbao looked at his brother, his mouth watering. He couldn't help but take a deep breath and said, "Brother, it smells so good."
Dabao's stomach also started to growl, but he seemed to be used to the feeling of hunger.
It smelled very good. It seemed that the woman was preparing something delicious in the house.
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