|
Wisdom of the Web
Readers Write to the Kitchen
To my readers: Y2K isn't only about fear. It is about working together to overcome adversity. Fear is normal and healthy when there is a threat. What we do in the face of fear makes the
difference. For me, Y2K is about facing the threat by connecting with other people. I believe that those who connect with others and cooperate in the face of danger have a better chance to survive and
thrive. Many of you tell me you are working with your friends, families, churches and communities. Your caring and generosity amazes me.
Here are some excerpts from mail from readers:
A reader who survived WWII in England remembers:
I am making a list of all the food items that were available at different times during the war. Depending on which merchant ships got through mostly from north America/Canada and Africa.
A start on the list includes the following but they were not always available.
Dried egg powder
Dried milk powder
Canned milk
Condensed milk (sweetened, my favourite)
Flour (if not available potatoe flour used)
Oats
Cocoa powder
Sugar (I later found out was made from sugar beets)
Lemon/lime juice (Limeys!!! saved a lot of scurvy)
Rice (brown) Triple boiling lightened it for deserts
Canned Corned Beef (nick named Bully beef)
Lard lots of it
Suet fat
Apples (Dried and canned)
Raisins
Sultanas
Currants
Potatoes
Turnips
Parsnips
Cabbage
Onions/leeks
Dried and canned beans
Dried and canned peas
Cheese (not the fine processed type) Large wedges which were allowed to dry out then be grated and remelted to eat. No fridges then)
Yeast Cake (Dried yeast ok. Or potatoe yeast is easy enough to make, stinks a bit when making it as in sour dough)
Jams
Fish (Being in London a port city there was a supply of fish,
Kippers "smoked herring" for breakfast were not my choice, but would keep for a long
time and were often the only thing available at times.)
Mustard powder and Worcestershire Sauce (pronounced "Wuster". No shire on the end always seemed available)
I think that cultural tastes would balk at some of
the items above but it is making me feel hungry just re-reading it. So when I think of it we did very well under conditions that were far worse than even Gary has predicted. There will be life after y2k. People's ingenuity will come through with food items that will be local. I haven't even touched North American foods ie corn, pasta, jello, Coke, pizza, Mac D's.!! But should people stock up on the above then I think they will be comfortable and saited.
Reader connects history and Y2K:
I am a "Living History Interpreter" and give school children demonstrations of living in the 1800s.(1840s-1860s) Most of the meals were prepared on the back of the woodcook
stove. Started in the morning and slowly cooked all day as the other chores were done. They were one pot meals and fed the whole family for the better part of the day.(often both noon and dinner,
just add more if too much is gone from the noon meal.) If we have a wood fire burning for heat, the pot can be cooking. It takes a great deal of stress off of the "quick fix" to feed the
family.
Rural reader testing the plan:
...To that end, my neighbors and I are doing y2k dinners starting in April. Linda is a very creative cook in the best of circumstances and I have all the hope in the world that she
will be whipping up some terrific stuff in the months to come. We plan to use camp stoves and keep track of cooking times and also just how many meals (in minutes) we can get out of one of those
Coleman propane cannisters.
Tulsa reader says we're not alone:
I just discovered your web site today (through Gary North's site).
I want to tell you how much I appreciate your perspective and to let you know that your faith in human nature and the American spirit is valid after all. I, like yourself, have spent a great deal of time researching Y2K since last April when I first became aware of how serious the situation could be. My response was like much like a person who has been told that they only have 18 -24 months to live. I went through fear, denial, anger, depression, and finally acceptance. Once I got through the emotional trauma, I began to prepare for myself and my family. I developed at detailed plan of what I needed to do and began systematically carrying it out. After considering "heading for the hills", I realized that not only did I not have any place to go, and that even if I did, that hiding out somewhere away from the rest of the world was, for me at least, a fate worse than what our family might suffer just hunkering down in our own home...
...one thing started to become very clear to me, "THAT MY NEIGHBORS WOULD EITHER BE MY ALLIES OR MY ENEMIES!" Once that inevitability became obvious, I came to the same
conclusion that you expressed in your "7 Faces of Y2K" article, and that is the purpose of this email.
I wanted you to know that I came to the conclusion that not only was it the right thing to do to prepare to feed and help my neighbors that haven't prepared, but that it was the only logical course
of action for my family's safety!
...So I want to let you know, that someone else has independently come to the same conclusion and actions that you have.
To me, this validates your faith in the magic solutions that will come forth as people work together to solve our mutual problems. While there are undoubtedly many others on the same path as you and I, I think we can draw hope from that fact that by independently coming to the same "solution" , we have shown that the human spirit will find ways to eventually overcome even the worst case scenarios.
www.y2kkitchen.com Copyright © Sally Strackbein sally@y2kkitchen.com
Get more! Buy Y2K Kitchen - The Book (703)262-0300 voice/fax
Y2K Kitchen, 12030 Sunrise Valley Dr., #300, Reston, VA 20191
|
