Food.

I talked about how I read The Hunger Games last night. Well with that has come talking with friends who have been anxiously waiting for me to read them so, that we could talk about them. This for me has meant talking about food a lot and survival techniques. Yes, I know I could have competed in The Hunger Games and possibly won when I was 16/17 years old. I say this as do many others who knew me back then because I was not only an athlete but, I also was known for playing in trees and going camping and knowing edible plants etc. My other favorite past time happened to be throwing knives which until my ex messed up my wrist was a skill I was quite proud of.

These discussions ultimately come back down to food and eating squirrels, rabbits, and other wild game. My friends have all said they could never imagine eating these things and all I could think was well you have never been starving either. When I was growing up we weren't always that well off and there were times we went without a lot which has made me quite resourceful in the kitchen. We never had to eat wild game when I was a kid that waited until I lived with my ex husband and his friends would bring me game that I had to then figure out how to cook. I rose to the occasion and made some pretty tasty dishes with deer meat and even rabbit at times. I also was known for making meals out of what everyone considered to be nothing. Rice, butter, ketchup, a handful of spices, and miscellaneous canned goods this was the nothing I had in my kitchen to feed four for three weeks. Oh and can't forget the top ramen I picked up at some point 10 for a dollar. Not once did anyone turn up their nose at what was cooked and they actually ended up liking some of the meals and they became a staple in the house.

Ours had not as much meat.

Which brings me to my point those who have grown up hungry seem to have more imagination in the kitchen to make things that shouldn't be palatable pretty darn tasty and not just because you are starving but because they actually do taste good. I am not trying to brag about my cooking skills at all they to me are mediocre at best but, I do know how to throw things together and make them taste good. I can even follow a recipe pretty darn well. My point is that most of the people I know how never really had to open their fridge to find a bottle of ketchup and ice in the freezer only. Then to go on to open the cupboard only to find a huge bag of rice and a mixture of canned veggies, canned meat/beans, and canned fruit. Then throw in a handful of spices. All this is meant to feed 4 adults for near a month for three meals a day. Yeah we had three meals everyday for 21 days on what I just described they may not have been huge meals and they might have been soups with lots of water to help fill the person but, we had our 3 meals a day. Also yes the meals got better when I was able to get the 10 packages of top ramen but, I think we would have made it till the end without them with our rationing and my imagination on making new meals out of the same old thing so, that no one got tired of the meals they had to eat.

After a month like that it wasn't hard for me to go grocery shopping on $100.00 for the month to feed 4 people. I bought lots of dried beans, rice, noodles, canned/frozen veggies, flour, and  other baking stores. Then when a friend offered us game meat we jumped on it like crazy because it meant we had meat. I didn't care that it was deer and rabbit and wild bird all I cared about is that it was meat and would stretch our meals further. I lost any kind of pride I would have had against eating Bambi and Thumper because I had a family to feed and we didn't have the ability to be choosey. We also went out into the woods and picked wild berries and other edibles such as roots and leaves that made teas. I feel we were lucky that we were able to between me and my roommates figure out a way to keep our selves fed. Funny thing is rooting through the woods for things with my old roommates and trying to figure out how to make interesting and different meals out of what we had were some of the best times I had in TN.

I came out of that situation a better person I think and I am proud to say I know what it means to be starving and not care what you are eating so, long as you have food in your belly. I think everyone should experience that at least once in their lives in order for them to truly be grateful for what they have.