On Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 12:30:06 PM UTC-10, Julie Bove wrote:
> "dsi1" <> wrote in message
> ...
>
>
> In this part of the world, Chinese food just turns icky soon after it's
> served. I can't think of any that would be much good the next day. Stuffed
> bittermelon might be OK but that's the only dish I can think of at the
> moment. Give me some time to think of others. :-)
>
> I don't have any problem with canned foods. The reason it's fallen out of
> favor is because most everybody has refrigeration and access to fresh stuff.
> Take that away from people and canned foods will be a godsend. Canned foods
> are important during disasters and wars. It was originally designed to
> support military troops in the field and it still serves that purpose well,
> over 200 years later. Anybody that looks down on can foods have had too easy
> of a life. The reality is that canned foods have sustained life, not
> shortened it.
>
> ---
>
> Here, if you order Chinese food you usually get so much that there will be
> leftovers. I think the rice is fine the next day, as well as things that
> aren't breaded. I don't think they are any better the next day though.
>
> When I lived on Cape Cod, I learned to live on canned food through the
> winter. There just wasn't any good fresh produce available then for any
> price, anywhere. That may have changed. I could buy some things like
> carrots, potatoes and onions and they were okay but no celery, peppers,
> tomatoes, greens... Any that were available were brown or mushy or in some
> other way just not fresh.
>
> In NY I also bought dried foods, but did eat a lot of canned vegetables as
> well. Once again the problem came in winter. Some good produce could be at
> at some stores but none near where I lived.
>
> And that canned stuff got us through during the power outage in the summer.
> It was so hot and muggy that everyone pretty much felt sick from that and
> didn't want to eat much. There was no way to cool off because the outage
> was so wide spread. There was no way to cool off anything. We pretty much
> lived off of nuts and canned vegetables. I'd open a can of green beans or
> kidney beans a couple of times a day and we'd split it three ways. Eaten at
> room temp. which was pretty warm because we had no way of heating them.
>
> Even after power was restored, we were all urged to eat nothing but canned
> foods and to avoid restaurants for two weeks. Why? Unscrupulous grocers
> and restaurants were trying to sell or serve us spoiled food. All fresh or
> frozen food had to be thrown out and all surfaces scrubbed down before fresh
> food could be brought it. Inspectors were checking for this.

I'm glad you made it. Back in the old days, you'd have to eat rabbit and wild hickory nuts. :-)