Quote:
Originally Posted by sglancy12
I have a real fascination with the idea of cuisine ala TW2K.
Personally I never much cared for the drought that's supposed to show up and knock the whole country back to Ethiopian/Somali levels of famine. I think the country will have problems enough being knocked back to 19th century levels of industrialization, transport, farming and medicine. Throw in political chaos and there's plenty of chaos and starvation for everyone.
Anyways, two things stand out for me concerning post TW2K food. The first is the return to "Regional Cuisine." With no transport net, and no refrigeration, most places are going to revert to regional cuisine. All food will be whatever can be grown and prepared locally. No more olive oil unless you've got olive trees in the neighborhood. No more orange juice in Indiana. No more lobster in Kansas.
The second thing that stands out is technology of food preservation. With electrical supplies non-existent or critically rationed, food can't simply be preserved by refrigeration. Your going to have to keep your meat fresh by keeping it alive until the day you plan to eat it. Otherwise you are going to have to become adept at smoking and preserving meat. Then there are preserved fruits... and lost arts like canning suddenly come into play.
Grain can be stored long-term... but that means you need cats to keep your rats at bay. Not sure how long flour last... but you've got to keep the bugs out of it. Any cereal or grains can be preserved indefinitely if it's turned into alcohol.
Alcohol is perhaps the greatest preserver of labor in the post TW2K world. Lots of labor went into creating that grain. But it might not last if it's not consumed or if it gets moldy, or attacked by vermin. Once it's been distilled into alcohol it can be preserved indefinitely. You've also turned an agricultural product into something that can be used as an antiseptic, a pain killer and a fuel... not to mention a great way to forget about how sucky the Post TW2K world is. Marvelous trade good that ethanol.
A. Scott Glancy, President TCCorp, dba Pagan Publishing
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Scott,
I totally agree about regional cuisine. But it is a plan for trade in the future eh?
Food preservation is NOT as difficult as many think it would be. The 'easiest' is drying, provided you have weather that cooperates. All meat, vegetable, and fruits can be dried. It has been done for milleniums with success. Yes, there will be a learning curve involved, but it's doable. Salt for curing will be come worth more than gold, bullets, or what ever... it could become a 'currency' as in the days of the Romans. Smoking is not a way of preservation per se, rather a means to keep vermin from what you are drying, plus with good wood ads greatly to the palatability.. same with salt.. salt is used to draw out moisture to speed the drying.
Canning comes in second IMO to drying as you need more materials to do it and the real drawback is the lids for canning jars.. you can reuse the jars, but the lids are not safe for second use.. not to say it can't or hasn't been done, but botulism is a problem.
Grains and legumes (beans) can be stored for a period of time, best in sealed containers, such as the METAL garbage cans with lids fastened down. Rodents WILL gnaw through plastics!!! They have taken wheat from Egyptian tombs 3000 yrs old and they were still edible.. but not sure of viability. In reguards to flour/meal, it is best to keep levels to a minimum and grind what you need from the whole grain. Whole ground flour goes rancid due to the oils from the germ..
IMO alcohol is greatly overrated. You would NOT distill grains needed for human consumption to make alcohol. If the grain is not fit for human/animal consumption, then yes.. but generally no... Food growing will be done by hand for some period after fuel runs out. And unless stored in tight containers it will become hydrated over time (take in moisture from the air) which could be taken care of by redistillation, but...
What can a human eat:
wheat, rye, tritacale (cross of wheat and rye), corn, oats, millet, sorgum, barley, rice -- rice, oats and barley take more preperations than the loose hulled.
dry beans, lentils, peas, peanuts, soybeans, sunflowers, canola-- if you have a crusher, use it on the oilseed to extract the oil, and use the meal to supplement your diet for high protien, as well as your livestock.. The oil does NOT have to be sopanified as they claim. I have witnessed straight run oil used in diesels from 1974 on. Not good in cold, but none the less it can be used with care.
Vegetables..
potatoes will probably become scarce unless well managed since it take the eye of the tuber to get a new crop. Also storage for the roots is trickier than for preserved foods.
Seed saving.. while hybrids are a 'problem' since they don't breed true, it does not mean they can not produce.. just not like the previous generation. They regress, but you still have some crop. The days of 200 bushel corn will be gone. If you can average 30-50 bushels/acre consider youself lucky after year one. Utilizing the offspring of hybrid's will be a trial and error. Just select the BEST for the next and eat the rest.
Grae
long-time Twilighter, and logistician.
ag is my bag, especially pre-WW2, since that is where we would be if not further back.
how to survive the aftermath is my avocation, Twilight is the training field for scenarios.