Foods of my childhood (Allen Zhou)

My childhood memories have been quite a blur in respect to the food that accustomed our refrigerator. Our fridge was often a quarter to half full because it was financially difficult to buy too much perishable foods so often we bought more non-perishable foods like canned soups, spices, walnuts/peanuts/pistachios, and peanut butter and jams. The refrigerator was mainly used to store a vast array of vegetables; at first first there were a collection of regular vegetables that any typical fridge would have: tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, spinach, bean sprouts, and onions. On another side, there would be a collection of vegetables familiar more to the orient. From the local Chinese super markets we would typically buy Chinese eggplants, mung bean sprouts, napa cabbage, canned kim-chi, leeks, and white radishes. As one can see, I had a very vegetarian background due to my fridge's botanical diversity. However, I still manage to get a decent amount of of meat in. From time to time, we would buy ground pork and dough to make fried dumplings to enjoy. In addition another uncommon - but not rare - finding was eggs or eggbeater. Meat was too costly so we usually bought eggs and eggbeaters as substitution for a protein source. Lastly, the occasional delicacy that I enjoyed the most during my childhood was ice cream. It was my favorite and the only food that inhabited the freezer whenever we bought it.