{"id":1961,"date":"2014-07-20T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-20T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/?p=1961"},"modified":"2014-08-23T21:46:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-24T04:46:00","slug":"the-bulging-fridge-of-a-famine-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/chinese-food\/the-bulging-fridge-of-a-famine-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bulging Fridge of a Famine Survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rice<\/a>

Rice distribution during a Chinese famine, photo courtesy of Arthur Rothstein via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019s estimated that during those years of famine, somewhere between 20 and 43 million people died. A staggering number!<\/p>\n

\"Eugene6<\/a>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\u2019s family and their neighbors never had enough to eat. Those difficult war years taught him a lesson he never forgot: FOOD MATTERS.<\/p>\n

When I married him, I didn\u2019t understand his intense and sometimes seemingly irrational devotion to food. On an impromptu picnic, no matter how scenic the location, if I didn\u2019t bring a picnic basket stuffed with fried chicken, potato salad, and apple pie, he couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0265\"<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

Besides, weren\u2019t the Chinese sticklers for having fresh ingredients? An over-stuffed refrigerator means you either have to eat food that\u2019s no longer fresh or you have to throw it away \u2026 which leads me back to thriftiness.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like to be wasteful. I grew up in a time when children cleaned their plates and mothers saved buttons and scraps of fabric.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo courtesy of Glysiac, Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. If I were to guess, I\u2019d 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\u2014jars and jars of applesauce, green beans, peaches, pears, apricots and dill pickles.<\/p>\n

\"media<\/a>

media courtesy Jaskarn.dhatt<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019ve ever lived. Walking through my neighborhood supermarket, it\u2019s oh so easy to trust that I\u2019ll always be able to find more than enough to eat.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Do you bring snacks along when you\u2019re going on a trip (or just across town)?<\/p>\n

Have you ever experienced food shortages?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s estimated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,87],"tags":[435,434,427,430,478,431,432,428,429,433],"class_list":["post-1961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinese-food","category-war","tag-american-supermarkets","tag-canning","tag-chinese-famines","tag-hunger-and-malnutrition","tag-long-term-effects-of-experiencing-hunger","tag-stocking-the-fridge","tag-the-great-depression","tag-the-great-leap-forward","tag-the-second-sino-japanese-war","tag-thriftiness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-vD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4129,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/4129\/","url_meta":{"origin":1961,"position":0},"title":"Second Anniversary of my Blog","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"September 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Okay. I admit, I missed it. I should have celebrated the anniversary of my blog on August 7. But the occasion totally slipped my mind until one day I clicked on Timo\u2019s post, \u201cSecond Blogaversary.\u201d You see, Timo started his blog Crazy Chinese Family a few days after I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Celebration","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/celebrate.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/art\/tiger-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1961,"position":1},"title":"Tiger Love","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"October 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Cats and Dogs I\u2019m a cat person. Calicos and tabbies, a polydactyl Russian blue, a pair of Siamese, a not-too-bright long-haired white, I\u2019ve had them all. And though I\u2019ve owned a few dogs, including a regal Saluki and a pair of adorable beagles, I like cats better. I like their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0626","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0626.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0626.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0626.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0626.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3155,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/where-have-all-the-tigers-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":1961,"position":2},"title":"Where Have All the Tigers Gone?","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"During the holidays my family\u2014seven adults, one child and a teenager\u2014visited the Indianapolis Zoo. Despite the unwieldy size of our group, we succeeded in staying together for a while. (The shark-petting pool with its small hint of danger appealed to us.) Before long, though, some of us rushed through the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2014-12-23 tiger3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/2014-12-23-tiger3-e1420585890529.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4534,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/south-china-morning-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":1961,"position":3},"title":"South China Morning Blues","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Book Review of South China Morning Blues When I look back on my twenties, I\u2019m amazed at how much I crammed into that decade\u2014and also at how far-reaching the consequences of my decisions were. I shouldn\u2019t be amazed. We\u2019re meant to choose our path in life during those years. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"South China Morning Blues by ray hecht","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ray-hecht.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1719,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/tiger-tail-soup-the-novel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1961,"position":4},"title":"Have I Piqued Your Interest Yet?","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"June 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Have I succeeded, dear readers of my blog, in arousing your curiosity? Over the past ten months, have I been able to spark your interest in topics related to my novel? Have I stimulated your hunger for more? 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First\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"promobanner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/promobanner.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/promobanner.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/promobanner.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/promobanner.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1961"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2455,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions\/2455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}