Health snobs bug me..

Perhaps being achy makes me cranky. More so than usual ;-)!
Smug people's sneering comments really p.... me off - but royally!
As if they are of an elite, and disparage others who are not.
So maybe they have great genes, and others have not.
So maybe they have the funds to buy their looks, and others have not.
So they eat healthy, exercise hours per day, and others do not, or cannot!
You know, growing up in a relative safe environment makes things too damn easy.
 

Getting a kinda 'nostalgia for the Bad old days' attack, here.

But, you know what? I say this (should you complain about this post ) in the ways of Vienna:

'Du kannst mir den Buckel 'runterutschen'.

'Du kannst mich wirklich gern haben'

Don't try to google translate this. It will not work.

Do google Das Goetz Zitat by Goethe, which kinda conveys the same idea. And it will increase your cursing vocabulary ;-)!


Growing up in a war torn city is not.

Bombed out Vienna Street..courtesyVienna.com

Modern Kachelofen in a living room.

No refrigeration, no central heat and cooling.
No imports from around the world.
One ate what was seasonal.
One ate what was filling, cheap,  and available.
One shopped every day.
Cooked for the meal in question, and repeated it all over the next.


On the other hand, storing fall's apples in the cellar for months for use later was possible. They did not rot. Yes, they shrunk and got dry, but soaking them in sugar water for a while plumped them back up and were usable for baking or cooking.

Eggs had very thin shells then, and needed to be carefully carried.
And then stored in jars with calcium rich water. For use later when hens were not laying! Sure they were not edible as 'sunny side up', 'easy over' or 'soft boiled'.
But they could be hard boiled and used for cooking.
Vegetable were eaten as they were available in their season.
Or dried and soaked before cooking - mostly to remove any worms which floated to the top, they were scooped off and the beans, lentils, peas were ready to be cooked for hours. No such things as frozen peas, green beans, spinach, etc.
Sauerkraut, came brined in barrels, servings were scooped out onto waxpaper to carry home by buyer.
Beef was expensive and not really very good for rare steaks, so it was boiled (Tafelspitz) and eaten with lots of spices and sauces.
Chicken was a Sunday delicacy.
And horse meat was also available. And still is in Vienna (below) but needs spicing up, tasting rather sweet but was lean.
Veal only for special occasions as Wiener Schnitzel, pounded paper thin, drenched in egg and flour then breaded and fried in (oh horrors) Schmalz.. that was what gave it that unmistakable flavor and crispiness.
Pork was most often the preferred entree as in roasts, chops, etc.
And if one had access to farmers and hunters one could get venison as well.
And fresh water fish-if one fished and fried it up immediately-as I said no fridge then!
Saltwater fish, shrimp, etc. only if one could travel to the coast somewhere...
When it comes to Salads...
well, there were Krautsalat, Erdaepfelsalat, Eiersalat,Gurkerlsalat, Paradersersalat,  Ruebensalat!
Very little lettuce, but lots of radishes and small wild greens if available (Vogerlsalat).
Romaine lettuce (aptly named Kochsalad mit Erbsen) was cooked with peas in a cream sauce with new jacket potatoes and perhaps a Debreziner (spicy paprika'd) pork sausage for flavoring.


But the breads and
desserts were phenomenal.
And filling.
AND FULL OF CALORIES, ANATHEMA TO HEALTH SNOBS, EH!
And relatively cheap.
Warm Breadpudding, Rice cooked in milk with raisins and cinnamon served warm, were often the main dishes in the winter. With, perhaps, garlic soup from bones (Knochensuppe), with breadslices floating in it as a starter!  All warm and filling during cold winters when only one room in most appartments was heated via a coke stove!

Summers, when on a farm vacations, we ate, warm from the cow, milk, left outside to turn into butter milk, with collected tiny wild strawberries and other berries. And collected mushrooms to be cooked with freshly laid scrambled eggs.


Or if the farmer was hunting, and willing to share, fresh venison and yes, it tasted wild  alright, but a good taste IMO!
And lots of fresh cheese made by hand on the farm, looking a bit lopsided, but tasted great! With woodstove baked farmer's bread with a hard crust and solid centers..
And fresh churned butter! The real thing!
We also dried the mushrooms to take back to the city in jars.
They were used later to flavor many dishes.
And we made jams of berries and other fruits. And canned stuff to take back, as well.
The butter was wrapped in huge green leaves and taken back and used for a week as a fresh spread, before becoming a bit rancid, then we used it for cooking still if some was left over :-)!


Well, enough of this nostalgia - an UNHEALTHY nostalgia for health snobs :-)!

But life seemed so GOOD then, and we were so Happy!