In the feudal society of China, people paid great attention to the diet, especially the diet of the emperor, the actual ruler of the feudal society, which attracted many people's attention. Until modern times, scholars have been studying it specially.

The emperor was actually very secretive when eating. For example, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who ruled China for more than 300 years, basically ate alone (except the eunuchs who served him). So, what did the Qing emperors eat when they ate? In fact, just looking at the emperor's eating procedure, you will feel that the emperor's eating is not a simple matter.

First of all, let's learn how the emperor eats. Generally, the chef in the chef's room will give the menu of eating to the Minister of the Interior in advance every day, decide in advance, and then have a special chef to do it. After that, the food was sent to the place where the emperor ate.

However, the emperor's meal is different from that of ordinary people. No matter how hungry the emperor is, he can't eat at once. Instead, the eunuch who delivered the rice first tried to eat whether the food was poisonous, and then tested it with a poison test card, and then the emperor could eat it alone. Moreover, except for major festivals, the emperor can't be accompanied when eating.

So what did the emperor eat? When the Qing emperor ate, it was actually very complicated. There are usually eight main courses and four side dishes, plus other hot pot, porridge, soup and so on. The main staple foods are rice, pasta and other cakes.

According to historical documents, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty had about 20 dishes when eating, and basically all kinds of dishes were available, such as running in the sky and swimming in the water. From the perspective of ingredients alone, there are many kinds involved, including deer tail, deer tongue, wild boar, wild duck, salted fish, bass, sea cucumber, shark fin, abalone and so on.

At a dinner party, the food eaten by the emperor will involve steaming, frying, frying and other cooking methods. For example, the emperor liked cooking very much. At that time, four kinds of cooking were the most famous, including fried tenderloin, fried fish fillet, fried kidney flower, fried shrimp and so on. Empress Dowager Cixi, the last actual ruler of the Qing Dynasty, was even more extravagant when eating. Basically, a meal has more than 100 dishes.