During the pre-Qin primitive society, the level of agriculture was low, animal husbandry and gardening were underdeveloped, and the types of food were not rich. Take Zhou as an example. The staple food of the Zhou Dynasty was millet, millet, rice and sorghum, which was also a sacrifice to the gods. Millet beams are only available at aristocratic banquets, and the wheat and beans familiar to later generations have not been popularized. There are many kinds of poultry and game in the dishes, and eating meat is the privilege of nobles. The fruits and vegetables in the Zhou Dynasty include radish, bitter gourd, gourd, jujube, peach and plum. Wine brewed from grains.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, not only the aristocratic officials could cook cattle and slaughter sheep, but also the ordinary middle-class families could eat meat and drink. In terms of staple food, the status of wheat has improved. Civilians mainly eat rice cooked with wheat grains, and the noble point is to pour rice with soup. As for non-staple food, according to the list of funerary objects unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, meat foods include: cattle, horses, dogs, pigs, rabbits, chickens, crucian carp and so on. It can be said that there are all kinds of animals in the sky and underground. Cooking methods include frying, frying, baking, steaming and frying. Ordinary people mainly eat onions, leeks, winter sunflower, taro and so on. And meat is seldom eaten.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the staple foods were rice and cakes (steamed cakes, oil cakes and sesame cakes). ) and porridge. The dishes that accompany the meal are non-staple food. Fish, meat, poultry and eggs are the staple foods of the rich, while vegetables and salted soybeans are the staple foods of the poor. During this period, drinking tea was mainly popular in the south. Wine is an indispensable item in this period, and official folk brewing is very common, such as chrysanthemum wine in Jingchu and Baxiang wine in Badong.