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Casacalenda, Molise, Italy | Date: Centuries-old remedy | Notes: Prior to World War II Italians living in the countryside relied on home-based remedies to reduce various aches and pains. Nowadays, this type of healing might be called homeopathy, naturopathy, or alternative medicine. Back then it was just the way things were done (Like, what's the big deal). As few individuals back then could afford the services of "conventional" medicine, "alternatives" had to be used. Cheap alternatives at that. Strangely, or not so strangely, many of the cheap remedies that were used to heal minor aches and pains have now been scientifically proven to be of medicinal value. Garlic, once used throughout Italy, to cure everything from the common cold to constipation, is now being tooted as Nature's "power" food. Harvard University-trained doctors are advocating their patients to load up on garlic, as a garlic or two a day (Forget the apple!) might just keep the doctor away (for good). Photo: by the contributor. | Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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Bari, Puglia, Italy | Date: Centuries-old remedy | Notes: Prior to World War II a glass of warmed red wine spiced with cinnamon was a popular tonic for colds in the Puglia area.
Photo: Mary Melfi. | Contributed by: G. Vessia
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Casacalenda, Molise, Italy | Date: Centuries-old remedy | Notes: Prior to World War II folks in Casacalenda who had a cold would boil an onion in water, mash it up, and then drink it. This may sound somewhat unappetizing, nonetheless an onion-based drink is presently being marketed as a cold-cure by a homeopathic company. Onions might be the next big thing in the health care arena (You never know!).
Photo: Mary Melfi | Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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Molise, Italy | Date: Centuries-old remedy | Notes: In Molise back pain was often treated with stones or rocks warmed up on a fire or cauldron filled with water. Basically, the rocks were being used as a rudimentary "heat pad." When those from Molise immigrated to Canada, they replaced the rocks with drinking glasses. They'd heat the drinking glasses in a large pan and then place them upside down on the sick person's back. Obviously, in Italy, rocks were plentiful, but in Canada, drinking glasses were more readily available. So Italians improvised -- the medicinal value came from the heat, and not the object used. Nowadays, of course, Italian Canadians use store-bought heat pads like the rest of the world.
Photo: Mary Melfi. | Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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Casacalenda, Molise, Italy | Date: centuries-old remedy | Notes: The contributor's aunt (Rosina Melfi) reports that when she was living in Italy pomegranates were used to treat diarrhea. It wasn't the seeds (or the fruit) of the pomegranate that was considered medicinal but the pomegranate's skin and pulp. After the fruit was eaten, the remaining skin and pulp was sun-dried. Later, when someone in the family had diarrhea the sun-dried skin would be mashed and mixed with water. A teaspoon or so of this mixture was given to the individual with diarrhea. Generally, the tonic worked very well.
Photo: Mary Melfi.
| Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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Casacalenda, Molise, Italy | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: Prior to World War II eggs were seen as the ultimate health food. When an individual was suffering from anemia (or tiredness) he would be encouraged to eat a raw egg each morning. The egg would be taken fresh from the chicken coop and washed. A small hole would be made on the top of the egg with a safety pin or needle and then the sick person would "suck" out the egg. In the 1950s straws became available so they were then used to draw the raw egg out. Back then most individuals who sucked the egg out, liked the taste of the egg so eating the food was not perceived as being unpleasant or akin to drinking cod liver oil (Nothing like that!). In fact, in well-to-do households school-age children were often offered raw eggs each morning for breakfast. Most children enjoyed them, knowing that not only were the eggs good for them, but because only the rich could afford to have eggs for breakfast, they could consider themselves special. Back then few individuals suffered any ill effects from the eating of raw eggs. Nowadays, of course, the eating of raw eggs is not recommended as one can get SALMONELLA poisoning. Obviously, today's factory-produced eggs are NOT the ultimate health food. However, up to the 1950s farmers in Molise took good care of their chickens (The chickens were grain-fed and free-roaming) so their eggs were not only good-tasting but disease-free. However, many subsistent farmers (including my maternal grandparents) did not eat the eggs their chickens produced; they bartered their eggs for salt. At that time most subsistent farmers raised six or seven chickens at a time -- on a good day that would result in four or five eggs, and on a bad day, no eggs at all.... Photo: by the contributor.
| Contributed by: Mrs. Giovanna Melfi
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Caserta, Campania | Date: 1950s | Notes: Mothers often gave a mixture of raw egg yolk, coffee and sugar to their school-age children in the morning in the belief that this drink would energize them and give them health and strength. | Contributed by: Margherita Morsella
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Lanciano, Abruzzo | Date: Centuries-old | Notes: When I was growing up (in the 1960s) my father would often make himself a "zabaglione" in the morning. He said that in his home town of Lanciano, Abruzzo, "zabaglione," which consisted of: Marsala wine, sugar, coffee, and raw egg yolk, was thought of as a health drink. It "energized" the one drinking it. Nowadays "zabaglione" is considered a dessert, and it is often presented as a thin custard but when my father was living in Lanciano, Abruzzo (in the 1940s) it was more of a drink or rather a "tonic" than a custard. | Contributed by: Pauline Fresco
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Casacalenda, Molise, Italy | Date: centuries-old remedy | Notes: The contributor's aunt (Rosina Melfi) reports that when she was living in Italy poppy seeds were used to treat insomnia. The seeds of the poppy flower were not eaten but boiled in water. The treated water (or poppy seed soup) was then taken by the individual suffering from insomnia. Generally, the treatment was very effective. Photo: Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii ca. 1905-1915 (Courtesy of the Library of Congress). | Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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Casacalenda, Molise, italy | Date: centuries-old remedy | Notes: Prior to World War II camomile tea was used in Italy to treat nervousness and insomnia. The herbal tea was also given to children. Photo: Courtesy of the New York Public Library (Digital ID: 437424). | Contributed by: Mary Melfi
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