Rice distribution during a Chinese famine, photo courtesy of Arthur Rothstein via Wikimedia Commons
China has a long history of famines, an average of almost one per year for the past two thousand years. One of the worst was the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961. It was caused by a combination of drought, poor weather conditions and the policies the government ironically called the Great Leap Forward. It’s estimated that during those years of famine, somewhere between 20 and 43 million people died. A staggering number!
My late husband was born into another famine, one caused primarily by war: the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. During his early childhood, after the invading Japanese army confiscated their rice and farm animals, the Chinese people experienced years of scarcity, malnutrition, and even starvation. My husband’s family and their neighbors never had enough to eat. Those difficult war years taught him a lesson he never forgot: FOOD MATTERS.
When I married him, I didn’t understand his intense and sometimes seemingly irrational devotion to food. On an impromptu picnic, no matter how scenic the location, if I didn’t bring a picnic basket stuffed with fried chicken, potato salad, and apple pie, he couldn’t enjoy the outing. On every car ride longer than forty-five minutes, he insisted on packing more snacks than we could possibly eat. And when our refrigerator lacked for anything at all, it bothered him.
I had a hard time accepting what I considered his extravagance when it came to food. A lightly stocked fridge seemed more sensible to my Scottish thriftiness.
Besides, weren’t the Chinese sticklers for having fresh ingredients? An over-stuffed refrigerator means you either have to eat food that’s no longer fresh or you have to throw it away … which leads me back to thriftiness.
I don’t like to be wasteful. I grew up in a time when children cleaned their plates and mothers saved buttons and scraps of fabric.
Photo courtesy of Glysiac, Wikimedia Commons
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. If I were to guess, I’d say that what they learned from that experience was to be thrifty and also to grow some of their own food. My maternal grandparents had four large apple trees and two filbert trees in their back yard and a large garden along the side. My grandpa fished on the weekends, and my grandma canned—jars and jars of applesauce, green beans, peaches, pears, apricots and dill pickles.
media courtesy Jaskarn.dhatt
Not having lived through either a famine or the Great Depression, my refrigerator preferences are probably a reflection both of my personality and of the easy availability of food everywhere I’ve ever lived. Walking through my neighborhood supermarket, it’s oh so easy to trust that I’ll always be able to find more than enough to eat.
Although one nearby supermarket just went out of business (Top Foods), I still have three other enormous supermarkets close enough to walk to. Even if it snows (which it almost never does here), I’ll be fine.
What about you, do you prefer having lots of food on hand, or do you like to keep your fridge stocked with just enough? Do the other members of your family agree with you?
Do you bring snacks along when you’re going on a trip (or just across town)?
Have you ever experienced food shortages?
Interesting blog post! I was also a child in a poor family during the late depression and rationing of WWII. I’ll confess that I keep a full refrigerator (half left-overs, never wasted) and a pantry stacked with canned goods. A daughter’s friend used to laugh about how there was always something to eat in our refrigerator and never anything in hers. None of my children is overweight, though; everything was nutritious.
Our attitudes toward food are so varied. One of my daughters loves to cook and shop at open air markets and try new things, and her fridge is always full. Another buys in bulk to save on shopping time. And the third loves to shop, but clothing and home decorating are higher on her list than food. Food and the way we feel about it are endlessly fascinating topics.
My mother often says, “To eat is happiness.” She means that if you have the means to spend money on food, it is a wonderful thing. My mother doesn’t like us to buy gifts, such as flowers, as “What is the point of flowers? Can you eat them? Will they fill you?” but my mother wouldn’t mind us eating out and enjoying food. My mother went through the second world war in Singapore and she understands poverty. Another favourite saying of my mother is, “Can you bring the money with you to the coffin? No, so let’s eat while you can.”
Reading your comment, really made me smile. All your mother’s sayings sound so typical of Chinese who’ve been through the war.
Great post that illustrates well how family experiences determine a lifestyle sometimes for generations. My parents were children during WWII so they taught me to be careful with food, to respect what comes to my plate. Nothing was wasted at home and this behavior has certainly made me more aware of the luck I have to get plenty to eat. When I moved to the US I was surprised to see the amount of food that was offered at the restaurant and also on the playgrounds. People arrived with lots of snacks for their little kids as if they were ready for a week-long camping trip. I have been through a long winter power outage when we lived in New England and we lost the contents of our fridge and freezer. Within days we had little to eat and the weather was too bad to get anywhere. Neighbors got together and we had pot lucks. As soon as snow was plowed and it was safe enough to drive to the supermarket my husband went and only bought food that didn’t need refrigeration. It was fun for a few days, this situation. But with four little kids I was fully aware of the quick consequences. Food is vital to us humans, so I like to have enough at home but not too much either since I like fresh food best and that cannot be stored for ages. Great post, Nicki. Thank you.
The year before we moved to the Philippines, a huge typhoon hit Manila and the power stayed off for most people for the next three weeks. A year later people were still talking about all the food in their freezers that went bad. In Seattle we seldom get snowed in for more than a day or two, but even that makes you realize how dependent we are on all the infrastructure, services, and normal flow of life.
I do stock my fridge and kitchen with things I cannot find in our small town. Whenever I go shopping in the city, I buy things like herbs, smoked meat, good chocolate, liquor and imported fruits and veggies.
My late grandparents did stock preserved and dry food. They had survived many violent events in this country. There were times when Chinese people did not dare to show their faces outdoors. I guess my grandparents felt safer when they knew that we got enough food to eat for a week or two.
They were also forced to learn many ways to preserve food. I guess that is why pickles made by Indonesian Chinese are especially delicious. They are the pro! 😀
I haven’t tasted your cooking, Hari, but I know you’re a much better cook than I am. That’s why you need to stock your fridge with many good things.
The reason there are so many Chinese in the world is that they became skilled centuries ago in everything related to food: raising animals, planting and harvesting many varieties of fruit, vegetables and grain, and preserving and cooking food. Without all those skills, the population of Chinese would not have grown so large.
You think so?
I thought that the population growth was caused by the ultimate obsession to have offspring to carry on the surnames. 😀
There was a sort of “competition” to dominate the population.
In our community, the Nanmin people is the dominant sub-ethnic. That is why our “ghetto” language here is “Hokkien”.
I think most people want to have offspring. But centuries ago, when people in most countries around the world didn’t even know about boiling water, the Chinese were already knowledgeable about all aspects of growing, preserving, and cooking food. That knowledge gave them a headstart and the ability to give birth to children who would grow to maturity. Now and in modern history, I think the situation is quite different.
There was a lot of hunger in my husband’s family, and its aftermath is more obvious as the years go by. Both parents were Bohemian artists in Berkeley and probably had no business having four children.
To watch the obsession with, “next we’ll have breakfast”, “next we’ll have dinner”, BEFORE their forks are set down during the current meal is as fascinating as it is embarrassing, and infuriating.
Great, thought-provoking, community-building topics, Nicki.
For most of human history, women took it for granted that one of their main jobs in life was to make sure everyone was well fed. My mother, for example, always had to be home in time to fix dinner. Now women feel the need to accomplish other things. Cooking can feel like an annoyance, something that interferes with more important goals. And yet, we all have to eat. We may love eating, but trying to fit three meals into a day can be, as you say, “infuriating,” whether one is obsessed by food or not.
My parents also have a loaded fridge and freezer at all times. They both lived through famines after WWII and try not waste anything at all.
Whenever it seems that I waste something my mother starts talking about the hardships she endured as a child, so her memories must be still vivid.
A great post which reminded me to ask my parents about their experiences as I am still staying with them today
Chinese people love to snack when going on a trip. Even for 2-hour train trips they will pack bags and bags and eat it on board. I’m not sure if it has to do with the famines though.
Your article made me remember my late grandma. She lived through the Spanish civil war (1936-1939) and the subsequent famine (the 1940’s are called “the hunger years” in Spain). So she was always insisting that I ate more, and more, and more. For her, I never ate enough, haha.
When we visited my in-laws, my mother-in-law would always tell my husband to eat more. “Eat, eat.” Then afterwards she would tell him he needed to lose weight.
I’m always shocked by Seal-A-Bags commercials claiming that the average family will save $2400 a year on their grocery bills because they will no longer be throwing away food.
We almost never throw away food ~ to me, that would be like flushing money down the toilet. We don’t buy more than we can comfortably consume while it’s fresh ~ in the fridge, the freezer, the pantry, or on the counters. If necessary, I plan meals based on what needs to be used.
On road trips, we pack snacks. And bring water for even short jaunts.
It is shocking to think the average American throws away so much food. Like you, I often plan meals based on what needs to be used.
This is a fascinating topic. My mother grew up in Germany during WWII. Towards the end of the war, there just wasn’t enough food….ever. The photos of my grandfather before and after the war are startling in their contrast between a well-fed prosperous engineer and the gaunt, haggard survivor pictured on his ID card in 1945. My mother is, if not obsessed, at least concerned about food. Her pantry and freezer are loaded with food – this being her way to have enough food to survive another war and also not be wasteful. All joking aside, this kind of hunger (something I’ve never endured) has to have lasting impact on the survivors. How could it not? Great post!
I didn’t mention freezers. I’ve never had a big freezer, but my mother had one. She bought berries by the flat when they were in season and froze them, carefully labeled. She baked pies and froze them so she could thaw them when unexpected guests showed up. And for a couple of years she and some friends bought a steer, had the butcher package it, and then divided up the packages.
When I was younger I stocked more “stuff” so I could make anything on a whim. As I (and my husband) got older, we eat considerably less and food was getting old. Within the past few years I started stocking minimally. I have some meats in the freezer and don’t worry about starving! Since I’m not a snacker, I never take snacks anywhere. I did have a Chinese friend who was a child in the war. Her family emigrated to Malaysia. She was neurotic and protective of food. She had a garden but she would not give out any extra tomatoes (or anything else) until she knew she wasn’t going to can them. Often by then they were wrinkly and soft. She would hoard all sort of things.
I used to keep baking supplies in stock. But now I bake so seldom, even the flour gets old. I buy my cake one slice at a time (the expensive way) as a way to keep myself from eating too much.
My in-laws have also experienced famine. When they stayed with us, they bought a lot of rice and other things that would not turn bad easily, but they didn’t buy too many vegetables at once, they always seemed to buy just enough. They did like to prepare more dishes (and bigger portions) than we could probably eat though. My in-laws are thrifty too, so they’d always eat left-overs (they wouldn’t let me eat left-overs since I was pregnant and they wanted me to eat fresh food).
I like leftovers. If you have enough, you don’t need to cook the next night.