My paternal grandma grew up in difficult times. Her parents farmed the lands in Ponorogo, Java (Indonesia). Since life was very difficult in Java then, during her late teens/ early 20s she and her husband (my grandpa) came by boat to Malaysia and settled down in Rengit, Johor. They literally cleared the forests single-handedly, build a small hut near a water source, farmed the lands and raised their children there. Very "Bear Grylls" without the camera crew or modern gears.
My father was born in 1945, while she was harvesting the palm oil crop. How did the birth happen without any doctor or nurse in attendance? She merely said this is natural process, and it wasn't painful.
When I was born in the 70s, whenever we 'balik kampung' the car had to be parked a few kilometres away from the house and we walked on foot to grandma's house. Well, me and my brother were carried by dad & mum.. so no complaints there. In the 80s the government built a proper road and we were able to drive and park at the compound of the house.
From grandma's upbringing (I call her "Embah Wedok"- in Javanese "embah" means grandparent, while "wedok" means female), she learnt to be resourceful, patient (I personally have never seen her complain about anything) and absolutely frugal. She lived the simple life, saved money, bought and left lands to her children and the eldest grandchild, and left much cash eventually squandered by one of my uncles (we all have that person in our family, but this post is not about him).
Embah Wedok has a thing about not wasting food. If we ate rice and some pieces fall on the floor, these are thrown for the chickens to eat. If the rice in the rice pot is not finished, she pats them into flat round shapes & dries them under the sun. Once fully dried, they can be fried like crackers.. and they're absolutely delicious!
When there are special occasions, both her and Embah Lanang (grandpa) will slaughter one chicken for all of us to eat.. and (nearly) every part of the chicken can be cooked and eaten. I remembered her cleaning the chicken's smaller intestines, for them to be fried.
She saved her money for hajj, and does not splurge on anything. She comes to town to visit us, she prefers that we cook and eat at home instead of eating out. The only things that she lavishes on us are some sweet treats, the rest are harvests from her backyard.
Had she lived in the modern world, I don't suppose she'd be too interested in malls or online shopping. She's very pragmatic. If at all, she would probably just buy things for the house & her children.
So, in her spirit I have taken the attitude of never wasting food. My children know by now my attitude- that every piece of food is someone's effort to grow, pack, sell.. and my hard earned money. We have leftover days if there are unfinished food in the fridge; I have an inventory system to plan our meals with very little or zero wastage & the bio-degradable food waste is composted.
Embah Wedok passed on in 2008, not long after Embah Lanang's death. They had a loving wonderful relationship, despite being wed through arranged marriage. That though is a story for another day.
