As the supreme controller of a country, food, clothing, housing and transportation are the top priority. It is said that the ancient emperors ate a lot of money instead of rice. First of all, emperors eat not to fill their stomachs, but mainly to appreciate and enjoy. There were many rules in ancient times, even if the emperor ate a meal, there were relevant regulations. According to the regulations, the emperor can only eat three mouthfuls of each dish at most. The emperor likes this dish three times more and will change it to other dishes. Meanwhile, the waiting ladies will immediately remove the dishes. Because being an emperor is a high-risk occupation, a group of people are eyeing his throne, hoping that he will quickly fall and then become an emperor himself. If the emperor's preferences are known by people with ulterior motives, what will happen at some point to buy off the chef? When the imperial court was in chaos, it was another blood shed.
In fact, such a rigorous approach is not exaggerated at all, because it will happen. Most of the ancient emperors were not prepared to be exposed to people. Many emperors suddenly died, and only after inspection did they find that they had eaten poisonous things by mistake. This kind of thing happened much more carefully in the emperor's diet. The chef prepared the emperor's food in advance. If you want the emperor to eat and drink well, you must innovate, study different recipes every day, and ponder the style of dishes. Or you'll lose your head if you don't do it well. There is a book called "Food Records" in the palace, which is specially used to record the emperor's daily diet. When and what the emperor eats are clearly recorded, but the food that the emperor likes will never appear in the book, and even the favorite princess may not know the specific preferences of the emperor.
The ancient emperors had to eat hundreds of dishes at a meal, and each dish was withdrawn after eating at most three bites. It turns out that because there are many enemies of the emperor who covet the throne, he can't reveal the emperor's preferences, otherwise he will be used by a willing heart. If the ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs who serve the emperor's food dare to discuss it at will, or reveal the emperor's food preferences, they will only die a dead end, and maybe even die lightly. Some even implicate nine clansmen, then he is the sinner of the whole clan. He can't even keep his mouth shut when he works for others. It's no use asking for it. The red eunuch is under control. Can the mouths of the concubines be kept secret?
In fact, there are also many concubines in the harem who do not voluntarily enter the palace to participate in the draft, so will they say so? In fact, they never had a chance to have dinner with the emperor. Although it seems common for emperors and concubines to have dinner in film and television dramas, the reality is that even the queen may not be able to have dinner with him, let alone concubines, without the emperor's summons. But in special times, such as New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, the whole family will sit together and eat New Year's Eve, so what do they usually eat?
According to the records of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's daily diet was 27 kg of meat, lard 1 kg, 2 sheep, 3 ducks, 5 chickens, all kinds of leafy vegetables, totaling 19 kg, 60 packages of various radishes, including melon and wax gourd 1, 6 kg of onion, 4 liang of yuquan wine, 3 kg of sweet sauce and vinegar. It seems too much to eat a full banquet on New Year's Eve. After all, we will cook a good meal during that time, but the luxury of ancient times can't be compared with that of modern times. Ancient people ate two meals a day, breakfast at seven in the morning, dinner at one in the afternoon, and tea time at night. Two of them are composed of 108 dishes.
A meal 108 is absolutely inexhaustible for the emperor, so what will they do with these inexhaustible dishes? They won't waste it, but make full use of it. When the emperor can't eat it, these delicious foods will be given to princes and ministers or concubines in the harem. They won't resent the fact that the emperor ate the rest, but they think it's a great honor. In fact, when the emperor was dining, not only the palace ladies and eunuchs were served by him, but also many concubines were present. It's just that they can only watch so many dishes before the emperor speaks. The emperor could only eat a few dishes in front of him, and gave the rest to his concubines and ministers. Sometimes ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs can appreciate it. As long as you give them food, you should eat it all even if you are full, and praise the delicious food by the way.