Foods Of Ancestors

The Food Story Of The Past 

A hundred years ago, the common natural food used by our ancestors was very simple. But in that era, the health of our ancestors was very good. Do you remember that there were only two classes in that era? A royal class in which the king and his courtiers, feudal lords, and religious nobles. The second class consisted of common people. Which was not less than 90% in any era. The majority of them have been living a life of extreme poverty. However, due to the lack of scientific development, poverty was not felt so strongly because the necessities of life were very simple and less expensive.

70% of the population lived in a one-room hut made of mud, grass, or wood. A pair of clothes was a garment that was not changed until there was room for grafting. Meat or any reasonable food was only available on a festival day or on the occasion of a wedding, which did not occur more than four or five times a year. Now you can imagine the place of terms such as favorite foods, nutrition, vitamins, minerals, and medical precautions in this era, or if these

terms even existed because the majority of the population needed something to eat to survive.

There was no question of nutritious or preferred food. It may not have happened for some time in some areas. But on the whole, the situation remained the same. You can gauge the seriousness of the food problem from the famine in which crores died. I am particularly referring to our region, which is called the sub-continent, which now has a population of one and a half billion. I am talking about the food situation in the past. Even then, the population of this region was in the millions.

Amazing Sory of Food

 Elderly people who are above 80 years of age I have asked many times what your elders used to eat at that time and what they said about the availability, usefulness, and importance of food at that time. I would like to briefly mention some foods to increase the knowledge of the new generation so that the new generation can know what kind of food the old people ate and were healthier. Despite this, they had many children, did hard physical labor, and had many marriages. The games of that era were more about expressing physical strength than skill.

The elders said that we are the witnesses to the food of our elders. We used to get up early in the morning with our elders. We used to eat bread with milk from cows, buffaloes, camels, goats, and sheep that were left overnight. And bread made of wheat, millet, or barley was eaten as breakfast with milk. There was a shortage of wheat in that period, so the elders also took the names of such a species, which is not considered edible anymore. These were self-fertilizing plants on which the seeds were harvested and made into flour to satisfy hunger.

When I asked what food was eaten for lunch, the elders told me that when we came home from work, we ate whatever bread was available with butter, milk, onion, or jaggery. And when these three foods were not available, bread was eaten with water. This scenario can still be seen in many poor countries today, even in modern and prosperous times. I would like to inform our new burger-loving generation that despite this simple diet, they could not eat to their fill because wheat, millet, etc. were scarce.

Painful Facts of Food

Many houses were considered to be happy because they had wheat for the whole year. I am a poor citizen of a poor country. This concept of happiness is still with us. Because it is believed that if wheat is available in the house, even if curry is not available, at least a person does not die of hunger.

When I asked what the food was in the evening, the elders told me that the families who were a little more prosperous would usually cook some pulses or vegetables, and the poorer ones would repeat this activity three to four times a week; otherwise, they would only eat the afternoon meal. The two common foods mentioned by the elders were bread with milk and pure ghee. People took milk and ghee daily and night for bread, but these foods were also in the homes of a little more prosperous people.

When I asked about the use of meat and sweet foods, the elders heaved a collective sigh and said that meat or sweet foods were blessed to be eaten four times a year when there was a festival, someone got married, or someone slaughtered a sick animal. Yes, elders said that meat has been an important food in the diet of cold regions. I further asked if there was any food. Then an old man who seemed knowledgeable said that I now understand that physical exertion, clean air, and simplicity are no less than good food, which in modern times is not for everyone.

Another elder remembered something and said loudly, We have forgotten to mention other meals. On being asked, he said that hospitality was common in the olden days. When a guest came to our house, it was served with local chicken and local ghee, or molasses halwa. Thus, all the members of the house would get meat and sweet food. The use of two other foods was also common: one curd and the other egg.

I asked the elderly people about their health, who were still living on simple food. Two of them said under oath that they first visited a doctor at the age of forty, and that was when malaria struck. The rest of the elders were also not suffering from any complicated diseases. The remaining three had no symptoms of blood pressure, diabetes, or heart or kidney disease. The interesting thing was that no one knew the name of blood pressure. These five elderly people whom I met all walked easily. All of them had good eyesight. What surprised me was that their memory was impressive, along with the safety of their eyesight.

Surprising Effects of Simple Food

What was more surprising to me, and surely to you too, was that no one complained of physical weakness. However, according to modern medicine, they were still deprived of nutritious food. When I asked them individually the reason for their good health, the unanimous opinion that came out summarized that it was simply natural food, spending more time sitting with friends, walking more, and if you can’t help others, don’t want to hurt them.