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My grandfather lived his whole life in a village and took care of the farm, the cattle and grew a vegetable garden. He was rarely in the shop, he didn’t buy much food, but rather only necessities like matches, candles and household goods. All the foods he ate came from his garden. However, special attention is due to the 3 foods he ate every day and to which he owes his longevity.
EGGS
“Having a farm and not raising chickens is the same as living in the countryside and going to town for fresh air,” said grandfather. Until I was twelve, while my parents hadn’t taken me to live in the city, we had an amazing life: early in the morning I collected eggs in the henhouse and took them to the kitchen, where my grandfather ate them. I liked collecting eggs, it gave me pleasure comparable to the unexpected discovery of a small treasure and my grandfather often paid for my work with honey and honeycombs.
He most often ate them raw: he took a couple straight from the basket, cracked the top, salted them and drank them.
HONEY
My grandfather never ate sugar his whole life. Absolutely not. Not because he had fiery perseverance, but because he had his own apiary, access to honey, honeycomb and bee pollen. He loved sweets, but at the same time hearty foods: milk with honey, pancakes with honey, crushed walnuts with a few tablespoons of crystal-clear honey and even strong black tea, again with honey.
“Why do I need sugar when I have honey? Sugar is the food of slaves on a plantation and honey is a gift from the bees.” he used to say. ,, Besides, it’s easy to get used to sugar, but not to honey, ” and in that he was really right; it was a pity to give up my own dependence on sugar, but when I switched to homemade honey, everything fell into place.
,, If you’re tired, make yourself some warm water with a few teaspoons of honey and you’ll buzz like a bee until the evening. ” Grandfather advised. As a child I myself loved this invention of his, although above all I adored milk with honey: tasty and healthy. And because I was an active child and often needed a “recharge”, I often ran for honey and milk – there was more than enough energy, the main thing is not to overdo it.
MILK
Milk is the third pillar of grandfather’s energy. On hot days grandfather drank cold fresh milk that had cooled in the cellar, and on a cold winter day warm milk with honey. My grandfather was a proponent of simplicity and liked to eat food “as it is”, so cheeses and other dairy products were served only by grandma, but milk was always there. One of the sentences I remember most: “Why drink water when there is milk?” All my friends who came to me after hot football battles or playing “war games” quenched their thirst not with water, but with fresh milk.
Grandpa’s love of milk can also be explained by the fact that he literally loved all his cows, looked for the best meadows for them, fed them at home and gave them names, he had a gentle bond with the animal that feeds him, and the word “cattle” used for his farm animals is something I never heard from him at all. Fresh, natural products from your own garden, from your well-kept cows and goats, lovingly made hives for the bees and honey – how can you trade that for sugar or preservatives? For modern city dwellers it is unfortunately increasingly difficult to understand.
