The most important part of Han food culture is Hakka cuisine. Hakka cuisine is mainly popular in Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, and Taiwan. Although every city calls it Hakka food, the taste of Hakka food varies from place to place. So what are the characteristics of Hakka cuisine? Let’s take a look at Hakka Cuisine Culture!
The characteristics of Hakka food can be summarized in four words: the traditional eating methods of vegetarian, wild, coarse and miscellaneous.
Vegetarian
Hakkas have two understandings of vegetarianism. One is not eating meat, and the other is eating without oil. The "荤" used when not eating meat refers to meat or animal oil, and the "oil" used when eating without oil refers to both vegetable oil and animal oil. A small number of Hakka people are vegetarians, but most of them are passive behaviors. That is, the difficult living conditions force you to be vegetarian even if you want to, and you have to eat if you don't want to be vegetarian.
In the past, Hakka people seldom bought meat or slaughtered poultry and livestock except during the New Year or when guests came to visit. Only when they killed pigs at home or went to the market to buy some meat during the heavy farming season, they could eat meat as a sacrifice. . Pig slaughtering only happens once or twice a year, and buying meat at the market only happens once or twice or three or four times a month, and the amount is very limited.
This is hard for housewives. Not only do they have to leave some for entertaining guests, but they also have to leave some fat for wiping the walls of the pot for cooking. The remaining meat is old on top and small on the bottom. How to make the whole family happy is indeed not an easy task. As a result, the housewife herself can often only take a few sips of soup. The piece of fat left for cooking can only be rubbed on the side of the hot pot to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the pot.
In this way, it looks like eating meat, but in fact it is still vegetarian. Or ask: Why not use vegetable oil? This is because vegetable oil is no cheaper than fatty meat. In the past, the vegetable oils consumed by Hakkas were mainly camellia seed oil (referred to as camellia oil) and rapeseed oil. Main uses: Firstly, it is used to light lamps to worship ancestors and gods; secondly, it is used to fry rice to worship gods during temple fairs; thirdly, it is used to entertain guests (including "returning baskets"); it is generally reluctant to eat it yourself.
In the absence of meat, the Hakka people’s favorite vegetarian food is probably tofu, which only requires a little vegetable oil. This may be an important reason why tofu is so popular in the Hakka area. Fortunately, eating tofu was highly praised by our revolutionary ancestors. Mr. Sun Yat-sen said: "Chinese vegetarians must eat tofu."
Tofu is the meat of plants. It has the function of meat without the poison of meat, so it is eaten all over China. Vegetarianism is a common practice and does not need to be advocated by scholars." Of course, the tofu Mr. Sun Yat-sen mentioned was not oil-free or oil-less tofu, but "well-seasoned" tofu.
Being vegetarian is a cultural tradition in our country. The patriotic poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty was a representative figure who advocated vegetarianism. His vegetarianism was completely a proactive act. He rarely eats meat or even vegetable oil. It’s not that he can’t afford it. His poem "Wild Rice" said that what he ate in the mountains was Italian rice, bitter bamboo shoots, taro and mountain vegetables with little salt and no oil, but he regarded them as delicacies and felt satisfied. Lu You wrote dozens of poems praising vegetarian food.
He not only thinks that meals such as "wog mustard and rice beam" are delicious ("the soup boiled with wok mustard is sweeter than honey, and the rice cooked with rice beam is as smooth as beads"), but he also feels that being vegetarian can cure diseases and keep fit. , prolong life. In his later years, Lu You almost completely stopped eating meat and became a vegetarian who lived to be eighty-five years old. also. Li Yu, a famous playwright and drama theorist in the early Qing Dynasty, also advocated vegetarianism first and meat second. "Meat-eaters are despicable", he looked down upon those fatuous and incompetent bureaucrats and aristocrats who often ate meat but were not good at planning.
The Hakka people’s vegetarian diet coincides with scientific principles. Someone in modern times wrote: Scientific research shows that meat is related to six of the top ten causes of death (heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, arteriosclerosis and liver cirrhosis). In some Western countries, meat and egg foods have been left out, while vegetables and fiber-rich vegetables, mainly potatoes, have become hot commodities, especially those that can prevent cancer and avoid arterial blockage. It seems that the Hakka people's passive vegetarian behavior due to their difficult living conditions is a "blessing in disguise".
Eating wild food
Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the Chinese people have had a cultural tradition of "eating wild food". The "wild" mentioned here mainly refers to wild vegetables, wild fruits, and game. Since the Book of Songs, there have been records about eating wild food in ancient Chinese classics, which shows that eating wild food has a long history in our country.
The Hakka people have inherited this tradition.
Take Wuping Hakka as an example. According to the "Wuping County Chronicle" of the Republic of China, the wild vegetables include: tree beans (stems five to six feet high, yellow flowers, pods two inches long, hard in nature, and cannot be eaten unless boiled), dog claw beans (also known as dog claw beans). The famous tiger claw bean has one stem with five claws. It contains narcotic properties. Eating too much will make you dizzy. It must be boiled in boiling water and left to rinse for three or four days. The outer membrane has light hairs, so you must tear off the outer membrane before it can be eaten.)
The sword bean (also known as sword bean, also known as scabbard bean, commonly known as Dangji), Kuzhai (i.e. bitter vegetable), etc.; wild fruits include: mountain lotus seeds (Wood solid, one The buds are small, like chestnuts, and the shell is the same color as chestnuts. In fact, it can be used as tofu), barnyard persimmon (commonly known as monkey awl), October blackberry (growing in the mountains, small leaves, woody, fruiting, mature in October, It tastes slightly sour and has no seeds, and the pods are as big as mung beans). Purpurea (woody, with small leaves, one or two feet high, ripens in September,
has a sweet taste and has seeds, and the pods are as big as beans, raw. In the mountains), sycamore seeds (the seeds of the sycamore tree, which are as big as peppers, fried and eaten, are very fragrant), figs (the fruits are as big as apricots, with skin and flesh connected, sweet and slightly sour), cymbal seeds (commonly known as bazi, In summer, it is as strong as a persimmon, with white and reddish flesh, and a sweet taste). The thorn pear (also known as the chicken claw pear, because of the buckled shape of the fruit), the tree is tall and has many branches, and the fruit at the end of the fruit can be used to make wine. ) and so on;
Game includes: tiger, leopard, jackal, wolf, wild boar, porcupine, goat, otter, yellow elk, raccoon dog (there are several species, a cat civet, which looks like a cat but is slightly larger. 1 It is a civet that does not eat meat and only eats fruits, especially civets. The first one is a five-segment civet whose fur can be made into a long tail. /p>
One is a civet, which will hold its front legs in a bow when meeting people), earth snake, bamboo rooster, pheasant, rice rooster, turtle dove, egret, partridge, rhinoceros, quail, turtle, soft-shelled turtle, Mussels, clams, field snails, stone snails, stone eggs, white guaizi (a kind of frog, people in Meixian District, Meizhou City especially like to prey on it), snakes (many varieties), etc. are countless.
An important feature of "wild" is freshness and no pollution, which is exactly what nutritionists advocate. It is said that there are more than 300 kinds of wild vegetables in China, which not only contain sugar, fat, protein, vitamins, inorganic salts, etc., but also have higher nutritional content than common vegetables. Wild fruits are also rich in varieties and nutrients. For example, the vitamin C content of sea buckthorn fruit is dozens or even hundreds of times higher than that of common fruits. It contains 18 kinds of essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, etc. Long-term consumption can extend life. .
As for game, it is a delicacy on the table. Hakka areas are mostly mountainous and forested areas in the south, which are rich in wild vegetables, wild fruits, wild animals and plants. Especially game, there are all kinds of game that fly in the sky, walk on the ground, and swim in the water. It can be said that the "three armies of water, land and air" are available. All these provide unique conditions for the Hakka people to "eat wild food". Only insect food resources, such as ants, have not yet been developed and utilized in the Hakka area.
Eating rough and miscellaneous food
The Hakka people have a cultural tradition of eating rough and miscellaneous food.
In terms of grains, rice is the staple food, and other foods including sweet potatoes and taro are classified as miscellaneous grains. Sorghum millet, dogtail millet, fist millet, bag millet (i.e. corn), buckwheat, wheat (i.e. barley, also known as wool wheat), etc., are the main cereals besides potatoes and taro. The production of rice is very rough.
In the past, there was no electricity or rice milling machines. The shelling process only relied on rice hullers and rice mills. It was very time-consuming and labor-intensive to turn into polished rice. Therefore, the phenomenon of eating brown rice was very common. There is also a kind of rice called cooked rice, which is rice that is cooked, sun-dried, and then hulled and then broken. The skin of this kind of rice has no wear and tear, and it is the most typical brown rice. Only in this way, it retains almost all the nutrients of rice.
In terms of dishes, the general characteristics are: first, emphasis on mountain delicacies and light on seafood. This is neither too thick nor too complicated. This is determined by the natural environment of the Hakkas, because most of the Hakka areas are mountainous areas, with only mountain delicacies and no seafood (with a few exceptions). Second, focus on content and ignore form. This is related to the fact that most Hakka people like to be down-to-earth and don’t pursue fancy things.
Thirdly, the emphasis on original flavor and lightness on turbidity can be said to be the inheritance of traditional Chinese food culture by the Hakka people. For example, Yuan Mei advocates the original and unique taste of dishes, and opposes the roasting of shark's fin and sea cucumber together, and the mixing of chicken and pork, so that each will lose its own taste. Li Yu also advocates maintaining the original color and taste of the main ingredients during cooking, and believes that most of the most delicious ingredients should be cooked separately. Fourth, heavy steaming and light frying.
This is because most Hakka people are more adaptable to warm and light diets, and less adaptable to hot foods.
In this way, Hakka cuisine is not rough; if it is a bit "rough", it seems to be reflected in the following aspects: the name of the dish is not literary enough, the shape of the dish is not artistic enough, the ingredients are not "aristocratic" enough, and the dishes are not literary enough. It's not complicated enough.
"Not enough" does not mean there is none, it is just "a little less charming". As for the names of the dishes, some are very literary, such as Kongming Borrowing Arrows, Eight Crispy Drunken Immortals, Qilin Reborn, Two Swallows to Welcome the Spring, Four Seasons Hibiscus, and Jade Return to the Nest. Wait, but the author has not yet figured out whether these dish names exist in history or are they created in contemporary times? Looking at the dishes, there are also some that have a strong aristocratic flavor.
Take Changting’s “Qilin Reborn” as an example. "Qilin" means suckling dog, and "fetus" means pig belly. There is a suckling dog wrapped in the pig's belly. When you cut the pig's belly open when you eat it, the "Qilin" will "come out of the womb". The preparation method is: first stuff the ginseng into the belly of the sparrow, then stuff the sparrow into the belly of the pigeon, and then stuff the pigeon into the belly of the pullet.
Then stuff the little hen into the belly of the suckling dog, and finally stuff the suckling dog into the pig’s belly and sew it up with thread; add chicken soup, salt, green onions, cooking wine, soy sauce, and brown sugar, and put it in a pot Put the steamer into the pot and steam for 4 to 6 hours. The ingredients and processing methods are astounding! However, in Hakka, such dishes are only a minority.
The Hakka people especially like to eat offal, that is, the offal of livestock, even the offal of cattle, which is full of fishy smell and stinky smell and is dismissed by people, is no exception. And because of the cooking skills, we can even make a variety of delicious dishes, which are included in the country's famous recipes, such as Liancheng's "Shabu-shabu Jiumentou" and Yongding's "Eight Crispy Zuixian". There is also a long tradition of eating offal. According to cultural traditions, "Gan Yue", which was listed as one of the "Eight Treasures" in the pre-Qin Dynasty, was made from dog liver; while the so-called "Spleen Analysis" was made from beef tripe.
Eating rough and miscellaneous food, not picky eaters, not partial to eclipse, is beneficial to balanced nutrition and good for your health. The "Huangdi Nei Jing" puts forward the dietary principle that "the five grains are nourishing, the five fruits are aiding, the five benefits are beneficial, the five vegetables are supplementing, and the smell is combined and taken to replenish the essence and energy" is very reasonable. "Five" is an imaginary reference, not a real measure. It tells people that they cannot eat only one kind of grain, only one kind of fruit, only one kind of meat, and only one or two vegetables. They should try to eat a variety of foods. This dietary theory of "the same origin of medicine and food" has long been practiced by Hakkas, intentionally or unintentionally.