eating habits
Shanxi people like to eat noodles. It is an exaggeration to say that there is no shortage of noodles and bread for every meal, which has long been a habit. This is formed under the background of natural conditions, historical origin and attack power. There are all kinds of food crops in Shanxi, with dozens of varieties. The north-central part is rich in sorghum, millet (millet in northern Taiyuan is sticky), sorghum, naked oats, buckwheat, rice, beans (including peas, black beans, mung beans, soybeans, adzuki beans, cowpeas, tea beans, lentils and broad beans), corn and misha. The south is rich in wheat, corn, millet and rice. These grain varieties provide abundant food. Through the ingenuity of peasant women, thousands of kinds of pasta can be made. Pasta in various shapes is delicious and attractive. Many farmers, three meals a day are mainly pasta, either coarse or fine, or dry or soup, coarse and fine, coarse and fine, refined and noodles, and their cooking skills are very rich. Farmers in areas rich in millet use rice as porridge or rice, and mix it with pasta such as mixed soup and noodle soup. Add oil to the noodle soup, or add chopped green onion, or add tender buds of Toona sinensis. This simple food can not only satisfy people's appetite, but also has a strong peasant flavor in the Loess Plateau, which makes people enjoy a kind of spiritual enjoyment.
Shanxi people like soup and rice for a long time. Except for some places in the south of Shanxi, most of them live like this. Residents in Changzhi area have met each other in the community so far, and they will first ask, "Have you been drinking?" Most parts of Shanxi have been dry and windy for many years. The people "work at sunrise and rest at sunset" and are naked. The so-called "facing the loess and facing the sky" and "the beads of sweat fall off eight petals" are hard, and there are few conditions for drinking water and tea. Eating depends on soup. Moreover, Shanxi people used to eat very little food, all of which were salt and vinegar. The taste was obviously partial and they needed a lot of water physically, which formed the custom of drinking soup. In the daily recipes of Shanxi residents, soup and rice have the most kinds and the most exquisite eating methods. The low-grade can satisfy people's appetite, the middle-grade can entertain ordinary guests, and the high-grade is the best soup in the high-grade banquet. For example, the three-in-one tip, the three-in-one tadpole and the assorted hollow soup in Jinzhong area are all exquisite soup rice. There is a saying in Shanxi folk; "Drink soup first, and you won't get hurt all your life." It is a "dietary norm" for many residents to drink soup and rice before eating dry rice. This is very reasonable from a health point of view. Eating steamed stuffed buns, cakes and other dry food, most people have to cook rice soup or noodle soup, and families with conditions have to cook soup such as camellia oleifera. Drinking noodle soup after eating noodles is the most prominent eating habit of Shanxi residents. "Drink the original pot soup and melt the original pot dishes" is said to be the old adage of traditional diet. Many farmers have passed it down from generation to generation, and this custom has been maintained to this day. If you have a chance to visit Shanxi people, the housewife will definitely bring you a bowl of noodle soup after you have had enough to eat, and please come and melt the original dish with the original soup. This is not a bad habit, but it is also quite scientific.
Shanxi folk love the habit of eating salt and vinegar, which has a long history and a wide geographical area. This is directly related to the local soil and water characteristics, natural climate and the living conditions of most people who are mainly miscellaneous grains. For example, the poor watch is seasoned with salt and vinegar; After hard work, the body needs a lot of salt. As we all know, vinegar is widely used in Shanxi folk meals. Shanxi is "hard in water", that is, it is strong in alkalinity. Shanxi people are mainly coarse grains, such as sorghum and oatmeal, which are not easy to digest and need vinegar to neutralize and help digestion. A Shanxi native, who can eat until he dies, must at least eat 150 ~ 200 Jin of vinegar. No wonder outsiders call Shanxi people "old acyl". Shanxi people can't eat noodles, make stuffing and cook without vinegar. Reconciliation must be vinegar-colored, and food must be vinegar-scented. Otherwise, it's not a good meal and it doesn't taste good. As long as you look at the vinegar utensils, bottles, jars and bowls that ordinary farmers must have on the table, you will know the role of vinegar in the diet of Jin people. Mountain residents also have the habit of pickling sauerkraut soup instead of vinegar. In old China, people in mountainous areas couldn't even afford salt and vinegar! The food mixed with this sour soup has a special taste. In the vast rural areas of Shanxi, almost every family has a set of experience in making vinegar, and there are one or two vats for making vinegar in the yard. Sorghum vinegar is brewed in Pingchuan area, while rice vinegar, jujube vinegar, persimmon vinegar vinegar and seabuckthorn vinegar are brewed by mountain residents, each with its own unique flavor. Vinegar is used to blend meals or cook dishes, which has high nutritional value and certain therapeutic effect. Almost all parts of Shanxi have their own famous vinegar, among which "Shanxi mature vinegar" has the best taste and can be called a good seasoning.
Shanxi folk also use a lot of salt in their daily diet. In the past, many farmers used small salt to bibimbap, paying attention to "showing salt". There is a folk saying that "salty and fragrant, no salt and no fragrance", and there is a folk saying that "a clever tongue is inseparable from money, and five flavors cannot be reconciled without salt." People value salt. Like vinegar utensils, every family table is equipped with salt utensils, which is convenient for diners to adjust meals at any time. Shanxi folk like to eat heavy-flavored food, which is also reflected in the side dishes. On the table of ordinary farmers, there are often one or two pickles or sauerkraut to accompany the meal. In a family of four or five people, it is common to eat one or two large pieces of pickles or five or six pickled cucumbers at a meal. Sauerkraut should be mixed in a whole basin. As a "topping", some places even combine it with rice, which is a special dietary custom. In the past, there were no fresh vegetables in winter and spring, and there was no means to keep them fresh. All the dishes are served with pickles and sauerkraut. In many places, there is a saying that "MC Davi lives on food and pickles drag on", which reflects the hardships and helplessness of Shanxi people in the past. All kinds of pickles and sauerkraut are almost necessities for Shanxi people all the year round. Pickled kohlrabi in Yuci, Taigu, Qixian and other places, bean sprouts in Pingding, old pickles in Dingxiang, sweet shredded vegetables in Changzhi, pickles in Taiyuan and pickled jade melons in Linyi are all famous pickles. After 1950s, small salt was gradually replaced by lake salt and sea salt, and people's habit of eating small salt began to change. But the habit of Shanxi people eating "heavy" food has not changed much so far.
In addition to salt and vinegar, local residents also have considerable demand for spicy food. People have always regarded green onions, leeks, peppers, garlic, peppers and even ginger as essential side dishes and cooking condiments. Wealthy families pickled white garlic and green peppers into pickles to accompany meals, which residents call "fine pickles". This is also delicious for friends and relatives. Residents in north-central China have the habit of eating directly with green onions and garlic. It is more common to chop up peppers and eat them with salt and vinegar. In some places, even every meal is inseparable from Chili noodles, which are mixed with salt to make side dishes. Eating spicy food is very common in southern Shanxi, and residents in Pingyao, Jiexiu, Lingshi and Fenyang are in Jinzhong area. Among the spicy foods in Shanxi, the best quality are Jincheng Bagong green onion, Yingxian Xiaoshikou garlic, Daixian pepper, Hejin, Linfen leek, Pingshun and Yuxian pepper. Ginger is generally imported from other places, and the demand of the people is also quite large.
Oiled foods such as hemp leaves and oil bumps are the best in Shanxi folk recipes. The custom of frying hemp leaves is called "three alum and two alkali" However, people who are good at this technique in Jinzhong area often mix flour with water and fry it with incense. This kind of hemp leaves are fluffy and soft, golden in color, crisp outside and tender inside, fragrant and delicious. Most people know to use salt and alkali, but they don't know the secret of using water, so the fried hemp leaves are tough and salty, but not bulky and soft.
After 1950s, the diet structure of residents in the whole province has changed greatly. The quality of breakfast, lunch and dinner has generally improved. Since the 1980s, people's dream of food and clothing has been initially solved. The living standards of some residents who got rich first have reached the living standards of middle-class families in the past. The new year's eve dinner of the residents in the province is generally rich. The dinner recipes of urban cadres, workers and individual businessmen are particularly rich. Traditional soup rice is gradually replaced by pasta such as noodle soup and instant noodles. Collocation is more common in food, such as cakes, buns, cakes and hemp leaves. Every year, the consumption of all kinds of non-staple food greatly exceeds that of middle-class families in the past. There are all kinds of fresh vegetables on the dining table of city residents all year round. In the off-season of winter and spring vegetables, some families even have fresh vegetables such as cucumbers, beans, garlic moss, eggplant and tomatoes on the table. This "all seasons are fresh" food structure proves that the diet structure and customs of Shanxi residents have changed greatly.
Dinner is still dominated by traditional soup, which is limited to some mountain residents who have not yet got rid of poverty. However, the habit of mountain residents eating only soup and rice for dinner instead of dry food is also changing. For thousands of years, people have been pursuing a lean dinner, and the right combination of lean and thin has become popular. For example, poor Linxian residents used to eat "mixed bean noodles" only on the first day of New Year's Day, but now it has become a common food on every table.