Oil-deficient stomach

There are many complaints about the canteen now. Often associated with noisy environment, monotonous variety and tasteless taste. I am a firm opponent of this understanding. I think this ignores the needs and feelings of the stomach. I believe that at my age, a person who has experienced hunger and famine, a person with a growling stomach, saw the canteen and smelled the smell of the canteen food, which is a wonderful enjoyment and memory. This memory is even unforgettable.

In my 68-year career, I am very reluctant to recall the days of the first 20 years. Especially the memory of food. I only remember that before I went to elementary school, the most extravagant thing was to wake up under the covers in the morning and touch a corn cake that my mother stuffed under my pillow. That's just a little bigger than a walnut, which is a big bite. I can't bear to stutter, I will chew bigger corn kernels at a time. I dare not think about it after that. Three years of natural disasters. Hunger is everywhere. The bark of wild vegetables has been eaten up. I'm so hungry that my hair is gone. Sad, stop it.

1963 has been improved. But also half hungry and half full. And mostly eat red sorghum and dried sweet potatoes. Red sorghum is constipated, and dried sweet potatoes are hard to swallow. At that time, what I was looking forward to most was eating a tortilla with a little bean flour. You can't eat any oil and water all the year round. But I haven't smelled meat for years. I have grown up gradually in my life.

A big pie hit my head.

When I was 20, a big pie suddenly fell on my head. That day, I was digging a canal in the field, sweating like a pig. The production team leader told me that you will have a physical examination tomorrow and become a worker. I didn't believe it at first, because the captain often joked with me and I didn't take it seriously. But this time the captain was not joking. In this way, I became an oil worker

It is my dream to be an oil worker. Because I have known their lives since I was a child. In the early days of oilfield development, my family lived in the oil team.

After the prescribed procedures, I was assigned to the Fourth Squadron of the Second Brigade of the Communications Department. It's to the south of the supply office. This change is too great for me, and I still remember every detail of this process clearly. What I can't forget most is the first meal I ate. Led by the mid-team leader, several of our new workers came to the office of the purser and bought meal tickets from the accountant.

As soon as I entered the canteen, I was stunned by the smell of the food. The feeling at that time was that I could write a few words now, but I couldn't describe them. Anyway, it's like getting drunk. This is a fragrance that I have never smelled before. It seeps from the nose into the stomach, just like eating.

I remember there was a blackboard in front of the cooking window with three dishes written on it. In order of price. The first kind is a dime radish vermicelli. The second kind is 15 meat fried cabbage. The third kind is stewed vermicelli with two horns. Because I haven't eaten meat for a long time, and I still have the taste of a full meal, I can't help but buy a fried cabbage with meat, although I feel very distressed. There are three big white steamed buns. Usually this kind of steamed bread can only be eaten during the Spring Festival. That dish is very full, with four or five pieces of meat, and the most important thing is that there is a lot of oil, and the soup is full of oil flowers. I've never eaten such oily food. This is the most delicious meal in my memory.

In the future, I have eaten a lot of fancy meals in restaurants and other places, and no meal can compare with this one. This meal makes me dizzy. Back to the dormitory, the brain can't adjust for a long time, like a dream. Will it be like eating such a meal in the future? I can't believe it. But after thinking it over, I decided that I was already an oil worker. I will eat this from now on.

The bigger surprise is behind. Our canteen is the first assistant canteen and the benchmark canteen in the oilfield. It is stipulated to eat seven or eight kinds of fried dough sticks and jiaozi at least once a week, which was the best meal at that time. In particular, there are often braised pork, and one and a half yuan is enough for one person to eat. At that time, there were surprises for the tip of the tongue almost every day. It was hard to eat at that time.

There are so many good things in our canteen. Once I happened to go to the warehouse of the canteen and saw a room full of flour, bag by bag from the ground to the roof. This is the first time I have seen so much flour. What surprised me even more was that there were more than a dozen vats in the other room, which were full of lard. This is the hottest thing. There are so many in our canteen. We'll find out later. The canteen manager is an able person and has something to do with Weifang Meat Joint Factory. We are a transportation unit, and we were very nervous when waiting for the bus. If we exchange needed goods, we will have enough pork and lard in our canteen. Knowing that there are so many things in the canteen warehouse, I feel very rich, so I don't have to worry about being hungry.

Getting a salary of 40 yuan a month after joining the company was considered a high income at that time. The father of a companion, who works with me, is the secretary of the commune. He is a middle-level cadre, and he only gets 35 yuan's salary every month. My father's rank is relatively high, the administrative rank is 17, and he goes to 77 yuan every month. Going abroad after two years, the basic salary plus car subsidy, plus the fare of seven or eight yuan per month, can earn nearly 70 yuan in January. This is equivalent to the salary of a local deputy division level.

At that time, unlike now, there was no burden of buying a house, a car and clothes, only eating. Now we are talking about local tyrants. At that time, we felt that we were local tyrants. But I still set a standard for myself, and the monthly meal fee is the highest 15 yuan. Because my three younger brothers and one younger sister are at school, I spent a lot of money. This is a medium standard. This standard can eat a hard dish every once in a while. So the food is more luxurious. Now that I think about it, the country is not thin for our oil workers.

Eat all over the world

My 4th Squadron is responsible for moving the drilling team, that is, moving the drilling and completion equipment to a new well location. This has a new enjoyment on the tip of the tongue. Is to eat in the well team canteen.

At that time, the meal tickets of our transportation department were collected by the whole oilfield canteen. Well team canteen is no exception. There are usually one or two cooks in the canteen of the well team. Chefs come from all over the world. When you go to work in a drilling team, you often eat meals with different local flavors. Although they are all cauldrons, most of them are delicious. And there are often unexpected surprises.

I drive a crane in Cowles, England. I remember it was about 1975, when a drilling crew was hoisting equipment at the estuary. At noon, it was steamed pork with flour, which cost 30 yuan. At that time, the most expensive braised pork was triangular money, both powdered and steamed, which felt that it had little to do with meat. Can you accept triangles? I hit it. It was half a lunch box, all wrapped in a layer of white fat strips. I immediately thought that these large quantities of meat are not expensive.

When I took the first bite, I almost exclaimed, it was delicious. I had eaten a lot of good things by then. Kung fu on the tip of the tongue is also a test. But I still can't figure out why it smells so good. This is a taste I have never tasted before. After eating a few slices, I thought about it and decided that the meat was actually sweet. There is too much sugar. This is beyond my understanding of meat cooking methods.

I believe I can remember this meal all my life, but it is an eternal delicious food left on my tongue. It turns out that this drilling team belongs to Wuhan Oilfield, and they are all fellow villagers in Hubei. Steamed meat is their hometown dish. Surprises like this are often encountered. Because our drivers have eaten all the oil fields.

Haoheng on the tip of her tongue

I also have many special memories on the tip of my tongue when I eat in the canteen. It was about the mid-1970s. In the middle of the night, the captain woke me up and asked me to go to the Yellow River to participate in oil construction. The pipeline leading to Qilu Petrochemical Company is broken and needs maintenance.

After arriving at the scene, I was arranged to drive to a boat and then go to work in the middle of the river. When I saw it, I was startled. This boat is too small. It's easy to capsize when the car is heavy and the boat is light. Especially when you get on the boat. The front wheel of the car presses the boat first, and the boat eats heavy. It's like turning over. At that time, the oilfield leaders personally conducted on-site command. The captain of an oil construction company is particularly powerful. That's what I said when I mobilized. If the equipment falls into the river, please replace it immediately. People are martyrs when they die. Because this is related to the normal production of Qilu Petrochemical, it has international influence. We can't let Feng Zixiu see our jokes.

Although mobilized, my blood is boiling, but looking at the rolling river, I am also afraid. What's the use of death if the revolution is not desperate? I have not shown any hesitation myself. It was winter, and I took off my cotton-padded clothes and trousers. If you can jump into the river, be prepared to swim a few steps to prevent capsizing. Despite several thrilling experiences, the task was finally completed.

I landed at dawn. I just feel hungry. You can come if you want. I saw a petrol car coming with four big apple baskets on it. This basket can hold 60 Jin of apples. But it's not an apple. It's a basket of roast chicken, a basket of fried fish and two baskets of steamed bread. There is also a thermos bucket of porridge in the car.

This is the first time I have seen this kind of container with this kind of thing. It's so eye-catching to see so many whole roast chickens for the first time. There are about 50 people at the scene. Obviously, you don't have to pay the meal ticket. What's more important is to eat freely.

They are all young people doing heavy work, and they are all hungry. Exhausted. More importantly, I just came down from a very dangerous construction site. Facing the piles of delicious food in the world. Needless to say, the next scene. We all eat whole chickens, fish and so on. I'm full anyway.

Maybe my job is more dangerous. After dinner, the oilfield leader said, Xiao Wang, take my car and go home. The car that the leader took was a Shanghai brand car. At that time, there were few cars in the whole oilfield. My own crane is still on board. This is the first time in my life that such a big leader called me. It's also the first time to take a sleeping car.

It doesn't matter what the taste of this meal is. The most important thing is to eat the most upscale food when you are hungry. And eat heartily.

I will never forget those wonderful memories left by the canteen.

About the author: Wang Xuzhou was born in 1952. Before retiring, he was an employee of Shengdong Group and a senior political engineer. Successive factory director and party branch secretary.