Preface to China's Food Culture

Xu Wangsheng

Food is the most important thing for the people-Chinese food culture

China's food is well-known in the world. Overseas Chinese and Chinese-born foreigners make a living overseas, and the most common industry is the catering industry. Where there are Chinese, there should be China restaurants, and China's food can be said to be "eaten" all over the world. This phenomenon was as early as the beginning of this century. Dr. Sun Yat-sen said in his book "The General Plan for the Founding of the People's Republic of China": "After the evolution of modern civilization in China, everything has fallen behind, but the progress of diet has not been as good as that of other countries." Dr. Sun Yat-sen's statement is very correct. In fact, as Dr. Sun Yat-sen said, Chinese civilization has been shattered by western civilization in modern times, and people of insight have to feel the pulse and ask questions. China restaurants, however, are quite different. They can actually land in Europe and America, spread all over the world and are invincible. Up to now, there are Chinese restaurants in almost every corner of the world. This sharp contrast has attracted academic attention, but there is no more convincing explanation. We believe that it is not an isolated and accidental phenomenon that restaurants in China can spread all over the world, and the reasons are inextricably linked with the food culture in China. Therefore, discussing some characteristics of China's food culture will help us to explain this phenomenon.

When it comes to China's food culture, many people will praise China's recipes and the color, fragrance, taste and shape of Chinese food. However, if we want to discuss food culture from a comparative perspective, we can operate by grasping the essence of China food culture. No comparison, no identification. Here, the author thinks that the more feasible way is to discuss China's food culture from the perspective of food lifestyle. In fact, China's food culture actually refers to the food lifestyle of China people. If we want to talk about China's food culture, we must involve China culture, and the relationship between them is extremely close. Therefore, it is necessary for us to explain some characteristics of China culture first.

what kind of culture is China culture? It is necessary to understand the geographical environment of early China culture, because the earlier it is, the greater the environmental constraints on culture. China is located in the southeast of the Asian continent, with vast deserts, grasslands and Gobi in the northwest and vast sea in the southeast. Although the land in the Yellow River Valley, the main hotbed of China culture, is very fertile, other environments are harsh, windy and rainy, and the living conditions are not good. After the emergence of civilization, the culture at that time showed a strong trend of realism, and the color of ethics was very strong. Because this society needs humility and less desire, and when a society needs something, it is often when it lacks something. China culture showed the characteristics of precocity from the beginning. Marx once thought that China civilization was a precocious baby, and her development process had obvious characteristics of being ahead of time. On the other hand, western civilization is quite different. The childhood Greek civilization of western culture is written into the history of civilization with its unique wave-warm atmosphere. Marx once thought that Greek civilization was a normal baby. The living soil of China culture has gradually dried up in the course of its development, and it has gradually become unsuitable for agricultural production. Because the soil and other factors are very unfavorable to agricultural production, the realistic suffering can't produce cultural romance, so China civilization runs through with its strong moral and abstinence characteristics. In the pre-Qin period, hundred schools of thought heckled each other and tried their best to achieve the same goal, with the aim of establishing an ideal world without struggle. But this is just an ideal. At the time of the Warring States Period, the nations were at odds. Compared with their strength, Qin finally ruled the country by encouraging military exploits and rewarding farming, which is the aspiration of the people. The world is in dispute, and how people live is also a historical choice. Only by unification will it not be possible for "several people in the world to be kings and several people to be emperors." ? (Cao Cao Yu)

In the pre-Qin period, the Chu State in the south of China also showed romantic thoughts, but it was quickly shrouded and submerged by the realistic thoughts in the north. After Qin Shihuang unified China, the books were in the same language, and the history after that was the history of the unification of the emperor. In order to maintain this unified situation, China's feudal society allowed the king to have supreme authority, but at the same time gave him many feudal etiquette constraints; China has the earliest civil service system in the world-the imperial examination system; In the history of China, an honest official was called, and once it appeared, it was sung and worshipped. Therefore, although China has no religion in a strict sense, some of its characteristics are similar to those of religion, and it also has its own god; If this phenomenon is also regarded as religion, then Chinese-style religion is extreme idealism in the realistic sense. The extreme idealism in China's history also came into being, and it also had gods, but the gods it created were incarnated by real people, and it was impossible for real people to act as ideal gods. Therefore, the movement of creating gods emerged in an endless stream in China's history until today. In other words, the religion of China people is a polytheistic worship, not a monotheistic worship. The God of Wealth, the God of Medicine, the God of Kitchen and Mazu are all regarded as gods and worshipped. China culture also has two other characteristics: one is the absolute pursuit of application, while putting an end to all things that are not practical. From the history of science and technology in China, we can see that in history, all practical technologies, such as agricultural science and technology and medicine, are very developed, but some related non-practical things cannot be developed. Mohist knowledge of optics and geometry in the pre-Qin period failed to develop after Confucianism was the only thing in the Han Dynasty. There are no basic disciplines such as physics, chemistry and biology in China. Of course, alchemy is also very developed in the process of the emperor's pursuit of immortality, which does contain chemical knowledge. China's handicraft industry is very developed, but modern machine industrial production, such as steam engine, was not invented in China. Before the 15th century, most of the world's inventions were produced by China people, but modern science, which needed a series of experimental means after modern times, failed to be produced in China: China culture showed its unique characteristics of kindness. The core of Confucius' thought is "Benevolent people love others". Because of kindness, China people implement the system of multi-child inheritance, so that on the one hand, the property can be separated, on the other hand, it limits the long-distance migration, which is of great significance to China people's resettlement. This inheritance system restricts the development of business, and thus the idea of many children and many blessings comes into being. The idea of many children and many blessings increases the population of the society, and more children and many blessings are derived. The social population pressure always exists. As long as the productive forces of the society can support as many people, how many people will appear.

Many characteristics of China's food culture are embodied in the food culture and directly affect the development of China's food culture. First of all, because of population pressure and other reasons, China people's diet started from the pre-Qin period, that is, grain was the main food, with less meat and more food, supplemented by vegetables. This is a typical meal structure. Among them, rice is the staple food, while vegetables are for the next meal, that is, to help the rice swallow. Why do you want to help you swallow? That's because the staple food is not delicious, and there must be a substance to help people eat it. Of course, the function of vegetables is similar to that of salt, but it is not the same as salt. The primary purpose of this promotion of China's cooking is to decorate the diet and make the unpalatable food exquisite; Secondly, due to the pursuit of unlined upper garment in China culture and the developed handicraft industry in China, the food processing technology in cooking is second to none in the world, which embodies the unlined upper garment characteristics of China culture. All these make China's food culture have the following characteristics. First, China's cooking technology is developed, and many things that westerners think are inedible have become appetizing at first sight through the work of chefs in China. Second, China people have a wide range of recipes, and all those who can eat are eating without any taboos; Thirdly, there are many works on famine relief in China, in order to prepare wild vegetables to satisfy hunger in the year of famine; Fourthly, China people regard the pursuit of food as the greatest pleasure in life, and eating becomes the first requirement. Because China people can't eat as they please, there is a poem to prove it:

It's too late to patrol the sky in the red sun, but you know what's inside.

it's not difficult to live a full life, only when the weather is favorable.

Therefore, it has been difficult to eat and wear for a long time, so eating occupies a special place in China people's lives, and there are countless evidences.

In addition, we can analyze some characteristics of western food culture, which may deepen our understanding of China food culture. In the western diet, animal husbandry was the main food at first, and the proportion of meat in the diet has always been high. In modern times, the proportion of planting has increased, but the proportion of meat in the diet is still higher than that of China people. Because meat is naturally delicious, there is no need for westerners to decorate their diet. The natural delicacy of internal food limits the development of cooking. When Europeans show their wealth, they mostly use food tools to show it, such as the number and luxury of various utensils. In addition, I don't pursue eating this kind of thing that is easy to satisfy in life as the supreme joy of life. Westerners' pursuit of life is exactly the same as a common saying in China, which can be highly summarized, that is, "full of warmth and lust". They pursue love more. Western culture embodies a kind of "love culture", while China culture embodies a kind of "eating culture".

However, we should also point out that many features of China's diet are invisible to ordinary people in their daily lives. Palace diet and store diet can show these characteristics better and more comprehensively. Common people's holiday diets, such as the Spring Festival, may be able to show these characteristics in part, but the Spring Festival is, after all, a short flash in the pan for 365 days in a year.

There are no advantages and disadvantages of culture, and neither are the advantages and disadvantages of food culture. The difference is only the difference in lifestyle or diet under different environmental conditions. But how to understand and analyze this difference is very important. The purpose of this book is to make a little attempt based on this point, and it is not known whether it can be recognized by most readers. In most cases, I belong to the kind of "cook from afar", I don't know how to cook, and I'm not a gourmet, but I know that "a meal and a porridge are hard-won". In this sense, I will put some of my views on China's food culture into writing, hoping to get advice from the local authorities.

Reference book:

Food is the most important thing for the people-Chinese food culture

An Introduction to China's food culture

On China's food culture

The development and prosperity of China's food culture is in harmony with the development of the whole history of China. Taking the ancient food culture of China as an example, it is embodied in food from the court to the people, from the mainland to the frontier, from the nobles to the common people.

the art of "eating"-delicious food and delicious food supplemented by beautiful utensils, pursues the harmony and unity of the three, and is seamless. The exquisite dishes for seasoning, the prosperous meals and the ingenious cooking skills are all unique in the world.

the elegance of "eating"-the luxury of the royal banquet, the solemnity of the etiquette of the court banquet and the sacrifice of food, the strictness of the etiquette system and etiquette level, and the elegance of the atmosphere of various banquets.

the benefits of "eating"-the communication between officialdom and interpersonal relationships, the fine way of diet therapy, the effect of prolonging life, the function of benefiting the mind and strengthening the body, but the function of treating hunger with illness.

the strangeness of "eating"-the frontier is beyond the Great Wall, with many nationalities and strange customs. National food art, food style, food taste and unique mood are the wonderful works of minority culture.

On the one hand, as Yuan Mei, a famous writer, poet and gourmet in Qing Dynasty, said, China's diet culture in the past dynasties is a "way of learning" that requires "the prophet first" to master various cooking skills; On the other hand, he is also a "comprehensive art" with multiple cultural connotations such as diet, beauty and etiquette, food enjoyment and eating.