豊富過ぎる食品 Too Much Food

 豊富過ぎる食品　

昭和１８年生まれの私は、昭和２０年代、３０年代は貧しい生活を送った。豆腐やコロッケや、せいぜい煮魚が食卓に出た。麦飯に味噌を付けて食べたり、味噌汁とか醤油をかけて食べたものである。菓子はなく、芋やトウモロコシを食べた。給食に出たハムがびっくりするぐらい美味しくて、こんなものが世の中にあるのかと思った。バナナも滅多に食べることができなかった。

今のスーパー食料品売場には驚かされる。豆腐も納豆も、それぞれ２０種ぐらいある。パン売場では、ありとあらゆる菓子パンが山積みである。菓子の棚に行くと、チョコレートだけでも２０種以上並べられ、あられだけでも二段か三段に並んでいる。冷凍ものは餃子やシュウマイ、チャーハン、ハムバーグなどこれも滅茶滅茶に品が多い。狂ってはいないか。

戦後育ちの私にとっては夢のような豊富な食糧である。こんなに豊富な食糧が手に入るなんて、罰が当たるのではないかと思う。

今の子供たちは不幸だ。これ以上食糧が豊富になることはないだろう。豊かな食物に囲まれて育って来ているから、食糧の供給や種類が減少した時にどう思うだろうか。

Too Much Food

I was born in 1943, two years before the end of World War II. Therefore, I had to live a very poor life during my childhood (during 1940’s and1950’s).

Our family’s main dish was tasteless mugimeshi (rice cooked with barley). Side dish was cheap tofu or croquette (deep fried mashed potatoes covered with bread crumbs). Roasted or boiled fish was rarely served, because fish was expensive. I poured miso soup or dropped shoyu (soy sauce) on mugimeshi and forced it to drop through the throat. I and my siblings ate sweet potatoes and corns for snacks. I still remember the surprisingly delicious ham served at the school lunch. It was a dreamlike food. Bananas were expensive and served only for sick people.

Today, I am surprised to see so many kinds of food at supermarkets. There are more than 20 kinds of tofu or natto (fermented soybeans). Countless kinds of bread and sweet buns are piled up like mountains at bakery corners. There are too many kinds of chocolate to choose from. There are shelves after shelves of arare (cubic rice crackers). Frozen food section is flooded with gyoza (meat dumplings), nikuman (pork buns), shumai (raviolis a la vapeur), chahan (fried rice), hamburgers, etc. Mountains of foods will ruin the Japanese, I am afraid.

For me, who was brought up immediately after the war, today’s foods are too abundant. Heaven will punish us, Japanese, in the near future.

Today’s children are unfortunate. I think the amount of food supply has hit the limit. The time won’t come when food is more abundant than today. What will happen to today’s children who were born and brought up in the abundance of food. How do they live when food supply decreases?

リスボンの意味 What does "Risbon" mean?

名古屋市民大学講座（深草正博講師）で地名に関して面白いことを教わった。

紀元前15世紀ごろに地中海の現在のレバノン辺りにフェニキア人の居留地があり、彼らは地中海沿岸部の町と交易をおこなっていた。現在有名な地名はフェニキア系の植民地である。その名前が面白い。

リスボンは「素晴らしい海」、スペイン「兎の多い土地」、バルセロナ「バルカ家の町」、コルシカ「森林の多い」、カルタゴ「新しい都市」、シチリア「鍬を持つ人」、クレタ「神話の主人公ケルド」、サルディニア「足跡」、マラガ「商館」などである。

都市や地名に意味があるのは日本語でも同じだ。水主は「船乗り」、木場は「木材集積所」、杁中（いりなか）は「池の水を通す樋」などだ。

What does ’Risbon’ mean?

　　Professor Masahiro Fukakusa told about some interesting geographic names in his lecture at Nagoya Citizens’ College.

　　Phoenicians lived near present Lebanon around B. C 15^th century. They bartered goods with the merchants on the coat of Mediterranean Sea. Some of the famous geographical names were made in the Phoenician colonies. They are interesting. Let me introduce some of them:

Lisbon means ‘beautiful sea.’ Spain, ‘a place with a lot of rabbits.’ Barcelona, ‘the Barca Family’s house.’ Corsica, ‘abundant forests.’ Carthage, ‘new city.’ Sicily, ‘farmers with hoes.’ Crete, ‘kurudo? from mythology.’ Sardinia, ‘footmark.” And Malaga, ‘trading house.’

 The same can be applied to Japanese. Kako means ‘sailor.’ Kiba, (timber collection spot.’ And Irinaka means ‘drain pipe for pond water.’