Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Are you weeding that garden or getting ready to make a salad?
Are you interested in wild edibles, and not just mushrooms?Does weed-eating have some cultural and
environmental implications?How would you
compare Slovakia and Italy in this regard?
The title of the book Honey from a weed, reminded me of a time when I was about fifteen years younger. I used to spend a lot of time helping my grandmother with growing plants in her kitchen garden. Strawberries, sweeter than any other I’ve had in my entire life; leguminous plants including species that you don’t usually see in stores; potatoes, carrots and parsley that gave me the knowledge that the edible part of some plants could be underground; and many other fruit and vegetable plants are inseparable parts of my childhood. My grandparents were able to name each and every living plant in their garden and I don’t mean just the domesticated ones. The weed grown in their garden was mostly harmful to other plants, yet there were some species used as crucial ingredients to lots of meals. The one that stuck in my mind is honey from dandelions, which was the most spread weed in their garden as spring came. Moreover, my granddad was always into mushroom hunting. It’s a pleasant and enjoyable way to vary your daily menu because nature offers much more than what you can find in grocery stores. One must know a lot about them and be careful when scouring the hillsides for wild fungi, but the characteristic smell, not to mention the taste of fried parasol mushrooms is worth a risk. Another thing that came to my mind were the plenty of summers spent in Italy. Italians have a much more recognizable taste of food than we do in Slovakia. Climatic conditions could be the main reason. As we know, Italy is a country with both sea and mountains, higher temperatures and humidity than in Slovakia, therefore their possibilities in agricultural regard are much broader. Furthermore, there is something in their temperament and traditions that keep them maintaining the open-air markets with such high-quality food. Similarly, such food traditions can be observed in many Asian countries, compared to Slovakia, there is much more importance attached to particular ingredients and traditional recipes. However, the main difference between places where wild edibles are eaten and those where not, is the modernity of the region. In our society, most of the people living in cities need to eat instantly and whenever they want without wasting plenty of time by planning and preparing the food. And wild edibles are definitely not fast and easy to get. Yet there are people preferring an unspoiled version of life. Not only they don’t live in a city, but they also do their own gardening. Personally, I wouldn’t change the “jazzy” life of a city, even though the food I eat is carefully chosen. But it’s hard to combine living in a city and enjoying the gifts of nature at the same time. In conclusion, remembering the time from my childhood when we ate a lot of wild edibles, I don’t think there is some crucial difference between Italy and Slovakia in this regard. On the other hand, there is a huge difference between city life and living in a village when talking about eating the wild edibles.
I enjoyed reading about your personal experiences and felt very nostalgic as well. You mentioned weeds being a crucial ingredient in lots of meals yet you only mentioned honey. I would love to learn more about using unconventional ingredients in Slovak cooking as I find it fitting the ever popular avant-garde cooking.
In the end, I feel like you could have elaborated on the significance of foraging. For instance how foraging has a rather recreational significance in Slovakia. For example in Asia I remember from my parents' post war stories that rice was the only thing to eat since meat and dairy was scarce. To spice it up a little, people added things such as abudant coconuts, weeds growing at every corner, nuts, insects and appetizing brined rotten fish water. These remnants of the past may have stemmed from poverty but today it's the proud face of the Việt (Vietnamese) culture. Maybe in a few years crickets and crabgrass will be the next hipster thing to put on your plate.
The title of the book Honey from a weed, reminded me of a time when I was about fifteen years younger. I used to spend a lot of time helping my grandmother with growing plants in her kitchen garden. Strawberries, sweeter than any other I’ve had in my entire life; leguminous plants including species that you don’t usually see in stores; potatoes, carrots and parsley that gave me the knowledge that the edible part of some plants could be underground; and many other fruit and vegetable plants are inseparable parts of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents were able to name each and every living plant in their garden and I don’t mean just the domesticated ones. The weed grown in their garden was mostly harmful to other plants, yet there were some species used as crucial ingredients to lots of meals. The one that stuck in my mind is honey from dandelions, which was the most spread weed in their garden as spring came.
Moreover, my granddad was always into mushroom hunting. It’s a pleasant and enjoyable way to vary your daily menu because nature offers much more than what you can find in grocery stores. One must know a lot about them and be careful when scouring the hillsides for wild fungi, but the characteristic smell, not to mention the taste of fried parasol mushrooms is worth a risk.
Another thing that came to my mind were the plenty of summers spent in Italy. Italians have a much more recognizable taste of food than we do in Slovakia. Climatic conditions could be the main reason. As we know, Italy is a country with both sea and mountains, higher temperatures and humidity than in Slovakia, therefore their possibilities in agricultural regard are much broader. Furthermore, there is something in their temperament and traditions that keep them maintaining the open-air markets with such high-quality food. Similarly, such food traditions can be observed in many Asian countries, compared to Slovakia, there is much more importance attached to particular ingredients and traditional recipes.
However, the main difference between places where wild edibles are eaten and those where not, is the modernity of the region. In our society, most of the people living in cities need to eat instantly and whenever they want without wasting plenty of time by planning and preparing the food. And wild edibles are definitely not fast and easy to get.
Yet there are people preferring an unspoiled version of life. Not only they don’t live in a city, but they also do their own gardening. Personally, I wouldn’t change the “jazzy” life of a city, even though the food I eat is carefully chosen. But it’s hard to combine living in a city and enjoying the gifts of nature at the same time.
In conclusion, remembering the time from my childhood when we ate a lot of wild edibles, I don’t think there is some crucial difference between Italy and Slovakia in this regard. On the other hand, there is a huge difference between city life and living in a village when talking about eating the wild edibles.
Kornélia
DeleteI enjoyed reading about your personal experiences and felt very nostalgic as well.
You mentioned weeds being a crucial ingredient in lots of meals yet you only mentioned honey. I would love to learn more about using unconventional ingredients in Slovak cooking as I find it fitting the ever popular avant-garde cooking.
In the end, I feel like you could have elaborated on the significance of foraging. For instance how foraging has a rather recreational significance in Slovakia. For example in Asia I remember from my parents' post war stories that rice was the only thing to eat since meat and dairy was scarce. To spice it up a little, people added things such as abudant coconuts, weeds growing at every corner, nuts, insects and appetizing brined rotten fish water. These remnants of the past may have stemmed from poverty but today it's the proud face of the Việt (Vietnamese) culture. Maybe in a few years crickets and crabgrass will be the next hipster thing to put on your plate.
- Marek