? If you are a foodie and want to experience traveling to a certain dynasty to enjoy contemporary cuisine, the late Qing Dynasty may be a good choice. China in the late Qing Dynasty was very sad, and it has been more than ten years since he was forced to open his eyes to see the world. As the west wind gradually descended to the east, the customs on the dining table of China people were not as "traditional" as everyone imagined. Do not believe us, let's see what all the princes and princes in the late Qing Dynasty ate.

The mainstream traditional banquets in the late Qing Dynasty did not include "ordering food", but provided established dishes according to the types of banquets. Now everyone is used to ordering food, and it was only during the reign of Guangxu Xuantong that it gradually became popular.

At that time, the biggest bad habit on the dining table in China was "watching the seats" brought by the Manchu rulers-in addition to the normal dishes, a table was set up for the banquet of the rich and powerful people to watch while eating. At that time, some foreign travelers who participated in the grand banquet described that there would be nearly 1,111 dishes in a feast for viewing, and then they would be discarded directly.

The traditional banquet of the rich folk consists of barbecue seats (also known as "Manhan banquet", the highest-standard folk banquet, including bird's nest, shark's fin and all kinds of barbecue meat, and the main course is roasted whole pig), swallow dishes (that is, bird's nest seats, the main course is big bowl of bird's nest, which can be salty and sweet, and then served with shark's fin), shark's fin seats, fish lips, sea cucumber, dried pork, and three shreds.

As for what dishes to eat at different banquets, the best reference materials for textual research are a large number of satirical novels (also known as condemnation novels) that were popular at that time. These novels described the extravagant style of dignitaries at that time with all colors and flavors, and even kept detailed records of wine, food and catering ... For example, there are many examples of banquets in the famous "Official Reveals", and the most detailed description is that "Three Treasures", an official veteran, was working in Jiaozhou to welcome the banquet. In order to take care of the preferences of the Governor of Jiaozhou (foreigner), he and a translator who has been abroad (official to magistrate) drew up a menu of "paying equal attention to Chinese and Western":

"Clear beef soup, fried shad, ice silkworm A, Dingwan mutton, Humbard (probably Hamburg), steak, frozen pig's feet, orange ice cream (orange ice cream) and Australian Cuiwan mutton. Other wines are: Brandy (estimated to be brandy), Weissger (estimated to be whiskey), red wine, Budd (estimated to be Porter), champagne, sweet water to go, salt water (two flavors of mint soda) ... (Three pouches) and worrying about Xian's adult is taboo, so the first soup can be changed to swallow pigeon egg soup (a common first dish of swallow dishes). The translator even said,' Good change ... Just change the steak into pork chops' ...'

So if you have time, pour yourself a glass of champagne and a plate of fat duck. A delicious meal in the Taiping era is far better than the feast of the fallen emperors in the past.