I. Preface
Sunlight penetrates the gaps in the curtains and spills onto the walls. I half-opened my sleepy eyes and stretched out in the lazy afternoon. His eyes fell on an old box in the corner of the room, and he suddenly remembered that this box contained old things from his childhood.
With a creak, I got up and walked over and opened the lid of the plastic box. An old smell came to my face, and the boxes were filled with all kinds of daily necessities bought from the supply and marketing cooperatives decades ago.
They may be worn out or old, but because of this familiar atmosphere, it suddenly reminds me of the old days.
I picked up one object after another, as if I had gone back in time. The dazzling array of goods in the supply and marketing cooperatives can always bring us a refreshing feeling. Memories are like a thick picture book, and I flip through the yellowed pages and look through a piece of the past that appears in front of me.
Second, the supply and marketing cooperatives overview
In the decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China, supply and marketing cooperatives became the main place for people to buy daily necessities. Due to the scarcity of social materials at that time, the supply and marketing cooperatives were able to carry out centralized and unified adjustments to ensure that each citizen could get a certain amount of daily necessities as much as possible.
I still remember that when I was a child, it was an exciting thing to go shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative. Walking into the gate of the supply and marketing cooperative, the dazzling array of goods inside can always bring a small surprise to our family.
Standing in the long queue of people waiting for my turn, listening to the sounds of ordering goods around me, was enough to make my child happy all day.
What's even more enviable is that if anyone in the family works in the supply and marketing cooperative, it is simply synonymous with happiness. Because as long as there is a relative who works in the supply and marketing cooperative, he can get more scarce materials for his family, such as extra cloth tickets, meat tickets, and so on.
In times of material scarcity, this is simply an invaluable benefit.
Because of this, before the reform and opening up, "marrying a daughter and marrying a supply and marketing cooperative" even became a well-known proverb. The supply and marketing cooperatives witnessed the lives of ordinary people in that era and left a unique collective memory.
1。 Dark soy sauce in bulk
Turning over the shabby little soy sauce jar at home, full of memories came to my heart. It turns out that in the era of supply and marketing cooperatives, soy sauce was not sold in bottles, but in bulk, and customers needed to use their own containers to scoop it.
I still remember when I was a child, I followed my mother to the supply and marketing cooperatives to buy soy sauce, and the clerk always stood in front of a large soy sauce jar filled with fragrant homemade soy sauce.
We need to hand the soy sauce jar at home to the clerk, and then the clerk will scoop a scoop of soy sauce, and the overflow will flow directly into the jar and mix it again.
At that time, bulk soy sauce was made from home-cooked sorghum, wheat and other grains. Compared with the various flavored soy sauces in supermarkets today, it has a more mellow and smooth taste.
I still remember that every time I ate, my mother would pour a spoonful of dark soy sauce over the rice, and the unique aroma was simply evocative.
Time has passed, and now soy sauce is all well-designed and packaged products. But every time I open the soy sauce bottle, I still miss the fragrant loose soy sauce and the days of homemade soy sauce.
4。 Clam oil
The cold winter in the north is always so cold, and the biting wind makes people's cheeks ache. But there is one small thing that makes us no longer afraid of the damage caused by the cold to the skin, and that is the clam oil in the supply and marketing cooperative.
I remember when I was a child, my mother would go to the supply and marketing cooperatives to buy a jar or two of clam oil before winter came. It comes in a small, flat round box that requires a bit of effort to open.
The white paste exudes a faint smell of the ocean, which is slippery to the touch and melts when spread on the back of the hand.
Whenever the north wind blew, my mother would take out the clam oil and rub it on our cheeks, the back of our neck, and the back of our hands. A thin layer, like the armor of the ocean, protects our skin from the wind and snow.
I remember my brother and sister smearing clam oil on each other, sniffing each other, getting a white piece on the tip of our noses, and giggling. In the cold winter, this small gift from the sea brought us warmth.
5。 Malt milk essence
Speaking of malt cream, it's a very sweet symbol in my childhood memories. Because when I was a child, malt milk essence was only purchased from the supply and marketing cooperatives as a drink for guests during festivals or important visits.
I remember that every Spring Festival or wedding banquet in the countryside, my mother would go to the supply and marketing cooperatives in advance to stock up on a few boxes of malt milk essence for our family. When the guests come, you can take it out and soak it in hot water and serve it to the guests to drink.
A small bowl of hot belly, the sweet taste goes straight to the heart, full of happy taste buds dancing.
For us, being able to drink a bowl of rare malt milk essence is like a symbol of luck. I would quietly take a few more sips and then give the empty bowl to my mother with a satisfied face, looking forward to the next chance to drink it.
Malt milk essence gave my childhood a bit more luxury and ritual, and it became a unique scenery.