Not all emperors have three meals a day, and some have more or less. For example, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty usually only ate two meals a day, namely breakfast and dinner.
The royal family claimed to be alone and ate by themselves when eating. They eat alone at a special table, which is called "eating alone". Although the emperor likes to eat alone, he will not eat alone, but there will be eunuchs to wait on him-eunuchs who serve meals. Because there are too many dishes, the tables are full, and the dishes in the distance can't be reached when eating. But don't worry, when the emperor eats, he doesn't have to pick up the food himself. The eunuch will send it to his mouth.
When the emperor dines, besides eunuchs, there will be courtiers and princes standing by. The emperor doesn't want to eat, or he is happy for a while, and more often he can't finish eating, so he will enjoy the meal. The rewarded person can only stand at another table and eat. Because it was rewarded by the emperor, even if you don't want to eat, you have to eat, and you have to say "delicious".
The early emperors had bands to entertain them at dinner, but later emperors only used music at birthdays or celebration banquets. However, putting on airs while eating was carried forward until the late Qing Dynasty.
Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, talked about this point in his autobiography My First Half Life.
There is also a set of technical terms about the emperor's eating, and there is absolutely no mistake. Rice is called "rice" instead of "rice", rice is called "rice", rice is called "rice" and the kitchen is called "chef". When it was time to eat-there was no fixed time, it was entirely up to the emperor-I ordered "Pass the rice!" "The little eunuch in front of him said the same thing to the eunuch in the temple of Ming Cheng." Pass the rice! The eunuchs in the temple passed it on to the eunuchs outside Yangxin Gate and to the eunuchs in the West Street Chef. "... so it has been introduced to the chef. Before the echo disappeared, a team like a dowry had walked out of the royal kitchen. This is a team of dozens of well-dressed eunuchs, carrying seven dining tables and holding dozens of red paint boxes with golden dragons on them, heading straight for hall of mental cultivation. When he entered the Ming Hall, the little eunuch with sleeves took over and stood in the East Nuange. There are two tables of dishes on weekdays and a hot pot in winter. Besides, there are three tables of snacks, rice, porridge and a small table of pickles.
The so-called "play" is not the genealogy of the northeast people, but the menu. The standard imperial meals in Qing dynasty, each meal 120 dishes, should set three tables. In addition, there are staple foods, snacks, fruits and so on. Later, some emperors thought it was too wasteful, and the number of recipes decreased from 120 to 64; During the Xianfeng period when Empress Dowager Cixi's husband was emperor, it was reduced to 32. After Yi Kun's death, the number of the Empress Dowager Ci 'an who listened to politics decreased to 24. After the death of Empress Ci 'an, Empress Dowager Cixi, who had all the power, put on a show again and restored the old rule that every meal should cost at least 200 taels of silver.
Another layer means that the emperor puts on airs when eating, that is, what is the name of each dish and who cooked it, and it must be clearly marked on the side of the plate. One is to ensure the quality of food and show cooking skills; Second, in case of food quality problems, such as toxicity, it is also convenient to investigate. Today's high-end hotels will do the same. I wonder if I learned it from the royal family.
The emperor's tableware is also exquisite, mainly gold and silver, and even ceramic products are of high quality. Among them, golden bowls, dishes, plates and other utensils can best reflect the royal style, so the royal family likes the "golden rice bowl". If you use other utensils to hold rice, it will make the host angry.
The imperial system of the emperor shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty revealed the abolition of Queen Bolzigit from the very beginning. One of the reasons is that she is "extravagant" and "when she tastes food, there is a person who is not gold but not happy".
Besides gold, silverware also occupies a large proportion in the emperor's tableware. For example, in the twenty-first year of Qianlong (A.D. 1756), the tableware recorded in the bottom file of gold, silver and jade articles in the imperial dining hall was as follows-
1 gold spoon, 1 gold spoon, 1 gold fork, 1 chopsticks with gold teeth, 2 silver western-style hot water kettles, 23 covered silver hot pots, 6 covered small silver hot pots, 10 uncovered silver hot pots, 6544. 5 silver bell lids, 2 silver enamel bowl lids, 2 silver spoons, 13 silver spoons, 1 black lacquer gourd, 6 silver bowls, 1 silver bucket, 2 pairs of gold-inlaid chopsticks, 2 silver spoons, 10 ebony chopsticks. 10 silver-inlaid lippi tea bowl, 1 0 silver-inlaid 5-inch leather bowl, 9 silver-inlaid 3-inch 6-cent leather bowl, 22 silver-inlaid 3-inch leather bowl, 10 silver-inlaid lippi dish, 6 silver-inlaid leather cups, 10 leather 3-inch 5-minute dish and Hanyu inlaid rosewood silver soup.
As can be seen from this file, most of the tableware used by Qianlong is silverware. If the royal family likes gold, it is to show style and nobility, while using silverware has many practical functions.
In the history of China, there were many cases in which emperors were poisoned by tampering with food. "Zi Tongzhi Jin Jian Ji Ba" (Volume 86) records that Sima Zhong, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, "was poisoned by eating cakes and collapsed in Xianyang Hall in the afternoon". Therefore, in order to ensure food safety, the royal family usually had two ways in the past. One is to let others taste the food before the emperor eats it. This task is usually to serve eunuchs and is called "tasting food". If it is poisonous, the emperor can avoid the danger of death. Third, silverware is a common tool for drug testing before meals.
In the past, a small silver medal was hung on the outside of the utensils for holding imperial meals in the Qing palace. After the lid is lifted, the eunuch will put the silver medal in the soup and try it in front of the emperor. Puyi confirmed this point, "Every dish or bowl has a silver medal to guard against poisoning".
It turns out that if it is poisonous, the silver medal will turn black immediately. Modern science has proved that this method is simple and effective. Because silver will react with sulfide to produce black silver sulfide. Poisons commonly used in the past, such as arsenic (arsenic trioxide), often contain sulfide when extracted, so the silver toxicity test is very effective.