I ate too much after reading this, but I finally couldn't understand it. The main and non-staple foods based on nomadic meat are not obvious, so they are divided. The main and non-staple foods based on farming and vegetarianism are obviously rich and convenient to eat. Although the background of Water Margin is the Northern Song Dynasty, it reflects the customs of the early Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from its description that eating at home and eating in hotels is still the mainstream.
The so-called dining together is originally a wealthy family in ancient times, and even the upper class needs to be distinguished. The premise of distinguishing this point is conditional "dividing dishes", that is, separating different dishes and tasting different flavors. The poor always share their meals, but unlike the rich, there are many side dishes in front of them. The poor people eat a bowl of porridge cooked with grain, vegetables and salt water.
Under the system of sharing food, people are divided into high and low, so how to share food? The same food system was created after the hierarchy was diluted. There was a meal in the Han dynasty, as evidenced by the Hongmen banquet; Dining system was earlier than 16 two systems, because a catty was divided into eight taels, then into four taels, then into two taels, and then into 16. The system of sharing food only existed among the ancient aristocrats and the rich, and the bottom civilians basically did not. Sasha's point of view is pure fantasy. In ancient times, ordinary people at the bottom of the class all squatted and ate a bowl of rice, and even if they had rice, they covered it, just like 1: 1 rice now. Northerners often eat pasta, and dishes are accompanied by noodles, just like Daoxiao Noodles now, with minced meat noodles.
Just look at the nobles in the Qin and Han Dynasties. The tradition in China is also a separate dining system. Everyone has a small table and their own chopsticks. As for the common people, not only in China, but also in the Middle Ages in Europe, they did not have the conditions for the meal sharing system! Not even a bowl. What's a meal? The poorer aristocrats in Europe eat with an iron pot, not to mention the civilians.
With the change of cooking methods, after the Song Dynasty, cooking began. If cooking is the main thing, it is actually very inconvenient to eat separately, especially the variety of banquet dishes is not realistic. Western food is similar to the Qin and Han Dynasties in China, such as a large piece of cooked meat, which is very convenient to share. There are two recorded cases. One is that Fan Kuai was given a large piece of meat at the Hongmen banquet, and Han Jing (or Wendi, I can't remember) gave Zhou Yafu a large piece of meat but no tableware. At that time, it was shared, and eating was convenient for sharing.
Separate meals are more civilized, more conducive to health and prevent the spread of diseases. Imagine, who wants to eat other people's saliva? It's just that everyone is used to it and acquiesces. In fact, many people are aware of this problem, but lack of national advocacy. I hope that the government will advocate separate meals as soon as possible, so that our eating habits will be more civilized and more conducive to the spread of China's food culture.
If you don't have a high demand for food, simple food and single dishes like the ancients, it's easy to make a separate meal system. For example, a wedding reception, a piece of meat for each person, a cup of soup for each dish, or a snack box for each person, or a buffet. But this feeling may be unacceptable to more people.
In fact, many of our countrymen don't understand the Song Dynasty! Song Dynasty is the longest dynasty in China history. The Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty lasted for more than 300 years, and the blood in the middle was not broken. Although the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty lasted for more than 300 years, there was a new dynasty established by Wang Mang in the middle, which can be said to have blocked the blood of the Western Han Dynasty. Later, Liu Xiu of the Eastern Han Dynasty was not an authentic clique, so he could not be regarded as an authentic person. The Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty are in the same strain, so it is the longest dynasty in China history. Many things happened in the Song Dynasty that changed the history of China! Let me talk about it. Before the Song Dynasty, people in China had two meals a day. After the Song Dynasty, people in China changed to three meals a day! Why? Because of the prosperous and stable development of the Song Dynasty, people's lives are better! In addition, it was the Song Dynasty that invented the chair, which changed the habit of sitting on the floor in ancient times. Also, two of China's four great inventions were invented in the Song Dynasty! Compass, movable type printing. Qin Gui of the Song Dynasty invented the Song Style that we are still using! Just because it was invented by Qin Gui, he has a bad reputation. Song Dynasty was the greatest and most prosperous dynasty in China's history, and its GDP at that time accounted for more than one third of the world!
Western countries have always advocated separate meals because western food is simple. Usually, a staple food, a vegetarian dish, a soup and bread need a lot of tableware. Chinese food is a pleasure. How many tableware do you need for each dish? It is because of the diversity of food that the Song Dynasty began to eat together.
Nowadays, fast food is divided into two parts, and dinner is only a banquet! Take what you need! In the sixties and seventies, the leaders of state banquets even gave foreign guests their own chopsticks, which was regarded as a tradition in China. Now, they will never see it again. The state banquet is divided into meals, and everyone has one before! In short, in terms of food arrangement and taste, we can eat separately, and the whole family can't eat normally! I want to eat leftovers from a meal. How to divide it?
In fact, before the Song Dynasty, the food was simple and not delicious. A cauldron or a vat, in which ingredients are steamed, boiled and roasted, can make a lot at a time, and whoever eats it will fill the pot with rice, which is not much different from the west. In Song Dynasty, thin-skinned wok was invented and vegetable oil was popularized. Cooking miraculously appeared. Cook in small quantities and cool quickly, but there are many kinds. We had a slow meal together. Everyone has different views on eating together, saying that it is a tradition in China. In fact, the real tradition in China is to eat separately, but it changed later.
Each person has a plate, which seems to have the feeling of eating a box lunch. Naturally, many people do not want to. As far as cooking is concerned, the original dishes will be broken into several pieces or even fragments after being divided into meals, such as braised fish and braised steamed fish. If you encounter all kinds of dishes, it is estimated that you can only make a buffet. Therefore, to divide meals, we must first advocate saving vegetables, cooking alone, and it is best to have one dish and one soup. But has this caused the retrogression of food culture?
The reason why the joint meal system is not so complicated is mainly the popularity of iron pots. Before the Tang Dynasty, it was mainly urn. The popularity of iron pots is a change in food culture, because without iron pots, cooking is steaming, boiling and baking. But with iron pots, there are more frying, frying and frying, and the variety of Lai cuisine has become numerous, and the joint rice system has since entered the upper level.
The original dining system was also the door of "gentry" and the way of eating by elites. Sui and Tang Dynasties began the imperial examination system, which gave the lower classes a way to rise and changed the upward diet of ordinary people. According to the way of sharing meals at that time, both tableware and food were relatively economical. To put it bluntly, "poverty" is the main reason. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was a period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which was a period of great ethnic integration. Ethnic minorities in the north have brought many different living customs, which have greatly changed the living habits of many Han people. And meals are also very likely to be produced.