I can't say I like pork, but I won't hate it. Because pork has been on the big table since childhood, it has gradually become a habit. On the contrary, my family basically does not eat beef and mutton. There are no taboos. It seems that none of my family likes pork, but pigs, chickens, ducks, geese and fish.

The following are the reasons why most people in China eat pork:

First, pork is relatively cheap.

No matter now or in the past, the price of pork is cheaper than beef and mutton.

Second, pork is the main source of meat for people.

In the past, animal husbandry was underdeveloped, and it was difficult for ordinary people to eat meat. Picking up a rabbit and catching a fish is really rare. Either change the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, or honor your master, who can expect to eat any meat?

Cattle are generally forbidden to eat, and it tastes terrible. Nobles usually eat sheep, chickens and fish, while landlords and rich people eat pigs, dogs and fish. For example, Su Dongpo wrote poems to recommend pork, because he was exiled and could not eat high-grade goods such as mutton.

Relatively speaking, there are more landlords and ordinary people, so pigs and dogs have always been the main source of meat for ordinary people.

3. When did pork become a noble food?

Nobles used to eat pork, but only free-range pigs. There was a profession of herding pigs in the pre-Qin period. Because the nobles thought the pigs in captivity were not clean.

However, after pigs are killed and made into food, who knows whether they are herded or kept in captivity?

So later, nobles generally didn't eat pork.

This has formed two completely different ruling class fronts, namely, ordinary people, landlords and ordinary officials who eat pork, and nobles and aristocratic families who don't eat pork.

In the Song Dynasty, with the development of commodity economy and the rise of the civil class, pork began to enter the table of ordinary people on a large scale, but the nobles still did not eat pork. Song Gaozong attended the minister's family dinner, and the menu was full of sheep, chicken and fish, without any pork products. But the accompanying guards have a supply of 3000 Jin of pork.

In the Ming Dynasty, pork gradually became a popular dish in a large area, but its rank status was still not high. For example, during the Boxer period, Cixi sent condolences to the embassies of the great powers, including watermelons and sheep, but no pork.