On 22 Dec 99, at 11:21, Cyndi Norman wrote:
> I lived without a refrigerator for most of the 6 months I spent in
> Nicaragua in 1986. Actually, there was a fridge in the house but it was
> broken.
I lived without a fridge till I was 8 years old. I remember one of the
wonders of our moving to Canada was having a fridge in the house.
I remember standing in front of the fridge, and opening and closing
it for several minutes. It surely was a wonder. That and the phone in
the house, and the tv that did not need to have coins inserted in the
slot to work.
> Cooked food such as beans could be left on the (cold) stove in a covered
> pot all night and eaten the next day. Eating it on the third day wasn't so
> good though.
Similarly with rice.
>
> I didn't eat meat but of course it had to be used up the same day it was
> bought. Same for fish and most dairy. There are limits to keeping food
> without refridgeration, especially in a hot humid climate.
One of the reasons yogourts and cheeses developed. They are a
means of extending the storage life of milk.
>Even fresh
> vegetables and bread products didn't last more than a couple days.
Many cultures have recipes for dried breads that can store longer
than fresh yeast breads. The breads are either rehydrated before
use, or used as crackers.
>
> The markets were far away (1-2 bus rides) so that was a pain but at least
> we could get fresh tortillas and vegetables from vendors who went door to
> door every morning. And the owner of the house I lived in was a cake baker
> so we always had a good supply of fresh eggs. Dried beans and rice lasted
> forever too.
I think where refridgeration is rare, door to door sales, and smaller
neighbourhood stores and markets are far more common. In
England there were three choices available to us. There was a
vendor who had the equivalent of a small corner store in his truck
who came door to door. One could special order chickens from him,
but you had to be willing to pluck the chicken yourself.
There was a small corner store at the end of the street. You could
buy cheese off the block there. I remember being fascinated by
watching the cheese being cut with a wire.
There was a longer walk to the downtown of the village we lived in.
This was usually done 2 or 3 times a week to keep the load
manageable and to make sure the perishables could be used
before they went bad.
Milk was delivered to the door daily in reusable bottles.
>
> I got food poisoning once though I don't know if it was due to the lack of
> refrigderation or the eggs or something else entirely. I had ameboas and
> it was miserable (and easily cured with some strong drug). I might have
> had it a couple other times it's hard to know. I was the only person in
> the household who got sick as I wasn't used to the bugs there. Btw, the
> water was completely safe, though it had to be stored in buckets for the no
> water days (twice a week, morning till night) so that might have been why I
> got sick.
Different people are also more or less sensitive to bacteria and
other neat stuff in the water supply. When we used to wilderness
camp, my husband could drink water straight out of clean lakes, but
I would have to boil my drinking water or get sick.
>
> If I had to live without refridgeration again in a hot climate I'd at least
> have fresh food year round. If it was a cold climate, I'd have a cold
> cellar and might even be able to freeze foods. I'd also can a lot of my
> food.
Or dehydrate the food.
>
> Mind you, given a choice, I want my fridge.
If having the fridge meant the difference between being able to be
on or off grid electricity, I would probably pass on the fridge.
sph
Sandra P. Hoffman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.flora.org/sandra/
