Lin, a female writer from Taiwan Province, was received in Beijing (she came to relive the past in the south of the city) and asked if this "Xiaoying" who had been away from home for decades needed help. Ms. Lin's request is simple: "If there is nothing else, I want you to take me to drink bean juice." Deng Youmei think it's hard to say, immediately took her. When she tasted other snacks for the first time, Lin was quite modest and stable, but as long as the bean juice came up, her old man showed her true temperament. She drank six bowls at a time and wanted more, scaring her master out of driving: "Save some for tomorrow. Don't scare us! " She smacked her lips: "This is going back to Beijing!" As if you didn't drink bean juice, you didn't go back to Beijing-at least, there is still a certain distance. Deng Youmei sighed: With this, Aunt Lin is both a Taiwan compatriot and an authentic old Beijing! ?
Bean juice is really charming and makes people forget everything. It seems to be more effective than the legendary ecstasy soup. This is the first thing that comes to mind when a wanderer returns to his hometown he hasn't seen for decades. You have to drink several bowls to believe that you are really home. You can think.
Imagine how hard it was when you couldn't drink before. This has almost accumulated into a desire in the soul.
Now that you're back, drink enough. It is not only the arrangement of fate, but also a little compensation for yourself. ?
After hearing this, I can always smell the hot bean juice after reading Lin's Old Things in the South of the City. This kind of breath is irreplaceable by anything else. Never leave for decades. Never leave. I think the taste of bean juice is probably the authentic taste of old Beijing. When Lin sipped the bean juice, the tip of his tongue was licking the long-lost Beijing, and he was even remembering the distant youth. Bean juice extracts the epitome and essence of a city. It tastes like Beijing, but it seems more real than what you see with your eyes, touch with your hands and even hear with your ears. Or more directly. ?
There are still many people in Taiwan Province Province who don't forget bean juice. Liang Shiqiu counts as one. In the book "Yashe talks about eating goods", he commented on the world's delicious food, but it is impossible to be absent from bean juice (even if it only exists in imagination), which is an idea of his native land. He said confidently that there is no one in Peiping who doesn't like bean juice, and only those who can drink bean juice can be considered as real Peiping people. Even the ingredients when drinking bean juice are recalled one by one: "With spicy pickles, the coffin board is cut into filaments, and celery stalks, shredded peppers or minced peppers are added. Sometimes high-grade pickles, such as pickles, are prepared, but they are not as delicious as spicy pickles. I drank three or two bowls in the afternoon, and the more I ate, the hotter I drank, until I sweated and my tongue was numb. " In reality, the taste of bean juice is close to him and far away. Is that the smell of the first half of my life?
It seems that drinking bean juice is really addictive. Lin and Liang Shiqiu are both fans of soybean milk. Unfortunately, Liang Shiqiu is not as lucky as Lin. Later, he never had a chance to go back to Beijing to drink bean juice. This is a small regret in his life. ?
I think they prefer authentic old Beijing to bean juice. They like the taste of Beijing rather than the taste of soybean juice. This alto must have the meaning of "love me, love my dog", which adds the charm of bean juice. In their minds, bean juice has become a symbol of their hometown invisibly. As Mr. Lu Xun said: Let the things we loved to eat when we were young confuse us all our lives. This is not so much the temptation of food as the temptation of nostalgia. ?
If you can't forget the bean juice, you can't forget Beijing. Can't forget it?
Bean juice was originally made by grinding mung beans into powder and fermenting them into vermicelli and vermicelli. Very cheap. In the old society, it was enough for you to spend two coppers. Strangely, not only the poor but also the rich love to drink. "At that time, the reputation of the small shop' Bean Juice' in Dongan Market was no less than that of the restaurant next door, Donglaishun. There are many people who come to drink a bowl of bean juice for five cents, in luxury and private bridge cars. " (Deng Youmei) It seems that food depends on taste, not poverty. Now the Manchu-Han banquet is almost lost, but the bean juice on the table can't be served, and the population is still moxibustion. If the former represents noble Beijing, then the latter represents civilian Beijing. Obviously, the latter is more vital than the former. The enduring and unforgettable degree of bean juice has fulfilled a truth: vulgarity is elegance. Do as you like. ?
The status of soybean milk is irreplaceable by other Beijing snacks, because its unique taste just caters to the tastes of Beijingers. Therefore, it has become a signboard of old Beijing. Deng Youmei also told a joke. It is said that some people in other places call soybean milk soybean milk. Some Shandong people went to Beijing and mistakenly thought that bean juice was soybean milk. I entered the store, asked for a bowl and took a sip. After barely swallowing it, they waved to the clerk and reminded them politely and quietly: "Don't sell this kind of soybean milk, it's basically sour." That guy smiled: "Tell me about you, basically not sour, basically sour. This bean juice is different from your bean juice in Shandong! " Deng Youmei said, "Whether you are from Beijing or not, the test method is to let him sing a mouthful of bean juice. If you smile, if you are satisfied with your mouth and mouth, you are a real Beijinger. If you frown and keep your mouth straight, don't ask if this is an outsider. " So Lin drank six bowls of bean juice generously (just like not listening to the advice that "three bowls are not enough"), and the people next to her would never really treat her as a Taiwanese old lady when they saw her. ?
Bean juice has a strange smell, and Beijingers love it, while foreigners stay away from it. This is really a test. "Not thin or thick, the ash is a little green, so I can smell a sour taste. I don't like to drink, smell, cover my nose, taste the grin and say it's like swill. Lovely drink, the taste makes my mouth water, saying that I will drink it for nothing if I don't drink bean juice all my life. Old Beijing loves to drink bean juice. It is enough to see if a person is old Beijing and ask him if he likes to drink bean juice. " The poet Liu Zheng also holds this view. He said that from the way he talked about bean juice, he should guess that he is an old Beijing. His feelings for bean juice are even purer than those of wanderers such as Lin and Liang Shiqiu: not for nostalgia, but for hunger. ?
Curiosity can't cultivate a good impression on soybean milk. After listening to their words, I dare not even try. Bean juice will make a person remember his identity: where am I from? Where is it? Who am I? This is a bit like the title of French Gauguin's famous modernist painting. Bean juice stall is the oldest food stall on the streets of Beijing. I'm afraid the biggest difference between Beijingers and foreigners is not only the accent, but also whether they can get used to drinking bean juice. I take this opportunity to make fun of it: It seems that in Beijing's food culture, bean juice is in favor of the "bloodline theory". ?
One side of the soil and water support one side. Local people born and bred have a soft spot for a certain food, which almost constitutes a kind of genetic memory-bean juice is the most obvious example. Do people have memory, or do bean juice have memory (even discrimination)?
What flavor does old Beijing have besides soy sauce? A few days ago, in a hot pot restaurant in Dongzhimen, I tasted the long-heard tofu mustard pier. When the hot pot is set, a plate of hot food is served at the tip of the store, with batter and paste (gray) on it and Chili oil on it. I dug a small spoon and put it in my mouth carefully. From the tongue to the whole cheek, it is delicious first, then crispy, and instantly feels the infinite taste of sweet, sour, spicy and salty. I guessed before others introduced me: this should be the famous sesame bean curd. I finally learned my lesson. All right! Be worthy of the name. After eating sesame bean curd, my mood actually added a bit of vicissitudes. It should be said that this sense of vicissitudes was originally condensed in the ever-changing taste of sesame tofu. ?
Then the mustard mound. The so-called "duner" is to cut the cabbage into small pieces, blanch it in a hot pot, stir it with cold water, and then stack it in the pot layer by layer. Sprinkle a layer of mustard and sweet and sour spices on each yard and wait for a few hours before eating. I chewed a piece, which was crisp, but the mustard in Huang Chengcheng was too spicy. I vomited my tongue and gasped, almost choking my tears. But I feel comfortable all over, and I'm addicted. According to Mr. Qian Shiming, in the past, old Beijingers used to have a dish of mustard tuber on the dinner table for the Spring Festival. Not to mention every family has it, every family has it! "In the past twenty years, our own children have not made many mustard piles. This is the dish on the menu of Beijing-style restaurants opened in recent years ... real old Beijingers are reluctant to part with it. Therefore, as a real native of old Beijing, we hope that everyone will bring the mustard pile back to the dinner table in the new year. We dare to say: if you want to eat, chew the taste of old Beijing! " What's that smell? Is that mustard mound? It's so exciting. ?
Horse tofu and mustard Dunn are both a carnival in taste, which makes every cell in people's mouths active. Something mysterious: it makes people feel completely open. After eating these two appetizers, the hot pot also rolled, and I wolfed down at least two more plates of mutton than usual. ?
Sweet, sour, spicy and salty, plus a hemp, is it the taste of Beijing? Is the smell of the whole Beijing? Then it is not much different from other places. But I think there must be something puzzling in the smell of Beijing. That should be caused by the boundless years, with the nature of monosodium glutamate, as long as a little bit is put, it can make people's taste and even mood change endlessly. The taste of Beijing should be eternal, but it can't be grasped. Just like people's fate, it varies in thousands ways, but it is always the same. It can even be said that this smell is largely caused by our imagination and our mood.
The taste of Beijing has actually gone far beyond its food culture and blended into its history and reality. Its history and reality, its folk customs and scenery, its local customs, its continuation and changes obviously make this taste more mellow and complicated. I believe that in this concentrated flavor, there is a whole virtual city, hot and cold, looming … that is its spirit and soul. ?
Tasting the taste of Beijing is also a way to get close to Beijing. In a sense, this is a shortcut for a person to meet a city. Until it becomes no longer strange, mysterious and ethereal. But in the process, your illusion has been destroyed by it.
The smell of full mobilization. It is difficult to fully understand its taste; It is hard to forget.