Vegetables are an indispensable part of people's market life. In the market we see now, we can buy all kinds of vegetables, but in ancient times, especially in the pre-Qin period, there were very few varieties to choose from, and all of them were edible vegetables, and many of them have withdrawn from the current menu. At that time, many people did not have enough to eat, let alone delicious food. Many of them are just cooked, and they have no taste and no salt monosodium glutamate seasoning. There was not much food used at that time, so the nutrition was not comprehensive or rich.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the main vegetables in China were only winter sunflower, bean sprouts, onions and leeks. After Zhang Qian was introduced to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, eggplant, cucumber, spinach, lettuce, lentils and other vegetable varieties were also introduced to China, greatly enriching them. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetable varieties were introduced into China. With the introduction of many new varieties, people can eat more and more kinds of food, and some convenient varieties of vegetables and fruits will be cultivated, which forms the food diversity in China, and the food specialties prevalent in different regions are also different.
To a certain extent, it relieves the population pressure, especially tomatoes, because they are very popular in China. Now it seems that vegetables are a small field, but they reflect the diligence of the ancients and the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures. Today, the richness of our dining table is inseparable from their efforts. Who knows that every grain on the plate is hard? It has always been a widely circulated poem. For food, we should treat life with a cherished attitude. Not wasting food and being picky about food is the greatest reward for the ancients.