An 80-year-old woman eats 15 bowls of rice a day, with 15 fertilized duck eggs as 'dessert' at each meal.
Despite his advanced age and declining health, Mr. Phung Van Lu still eats 15 bowls of rice every day, sometimes supplementing it with 15 fertilized duck eggs if he craves them.
As soon as I reached the entrance to the alley, I heard a powerful, firm "hey, hey" sound. Mr. Phung Van Lu (Dong Thai, Ba Vi), a small man, was practicing martial arts in his cool courtyard, filled with fragrant pomelo, jackfruit, and green tea. Every morning, he wakes up at 4:30 a.m., spends about 50 minutes sweeping the courtyard spotlessly clean, then practices Qigong and health exercises for another 20 minutes before going to the kitchen to eat his rice.
Seeing the meal with boiled meat and braised fish, the old man's eyes lit up with joy. At 80 years old, he ate less, only 4-5 bowls of rice per meal. He ate whatever food was available, sometimes just plain white rice, mostly swallowing it whole. He called it his "combat style," a lifestyle that had been with him during his 10 years as a special forces soldier.
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At the age of 80, Mr. Lu confidently defeated any young man in a heavier weight class who challenged him to a wrestling match..Photo: Trong Nghia |
In the 1960s, when he first joined the army, being a naturally big eater, Mr. Lu was always the last to get up from his meal, 15-20 minutes after his comrades had already put down their chopsticks. "Eating requires confidence, no shyness whatsoever; if you don't eat, the rice will go to waste," he said nonchalantly.
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At the age of 28, Mr. Lu left the military and returned home to start a family.Photo: Trong Nghia. |
"The sadder and hungrier he was, the more my husband ate. He believed that eating a lot would help him think more clearly and work more efficiently. When he was 30, he could eat up to 12 bowls of rice at each meal," said Mrs. Pham Thi Ly (75 years old), Mr. Lu's wife.
Seeing her husband eat so much, Mrs. Ly was both happy and worried. Other families of five only consumed 4-5 cans of rice a day. But Mrs. Ly's family of four had to eat two to three times that amount.
From 3 am to 7 pm each day, after carrying rice and planting seedlings for hire, Mr. Lu would go herd cattle, teach literacy, and write certificates and couplets for hire to earn extra income... His children were happy to see their father eat so much, and each of them would eat a little less so that he could have a full stomach. Through those times of hunger, Mr. Lu and his wife managed to raise two children, providing them with a good education and a stable family life.
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Despite having a shrapnel fragment lodged in his thigh, Mr. Lu's body remained supple and agile.Photo: Trong Nghia. |
"Even though he eats a lot, he always has principles. If he says he'll eat 6 bowls of rice, it's exactly 6 bowls. Two or three years ago, every day he would carry exactly 500 kg of rice over a distance of 600 meters to sell," said Mr. Doan Van The (80 years old), Mr. Lu's in-law.
Mr. Lu affirmed, "To have such good health, one must eat, sleep, and work on time. Especially, one must always maintain a carefree spirit, a positive mindset, and never stop working."
Mr. Phung Xuan Dung, Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Dong Thai commune, said, "Mr. Lu is a capable and hardworking person, well-known not only in the commune but also in Ba Vi district. The area where he helped to reclaim land is now densely populated, and people always look to his example to learn from him."
