As a healthy fashion, vegetarianism has been appreciated and accepted by more and more people.

vegetarians have many reasons. Some people are out of religious beliefs, and some people are out of living habits. Vegetarianism has nothing to do with economy. In the old society, most poor people wanted to eat meat because they were too poor to buy meat and used bran vegetables to satisfy their hunger. By 213, the living conditions are well-off, and some people still take vegetables as the main non-staple food even if the economic conditions permit. Vegetarian food is a vegetarian diet. Vegetarian food has developed into a cuisine in China, and its formation and development have nothing to do with vegetarians in history.

There are different opinions about the origin of vegetarian dishes in academic circles. Or thought it was related to the introduction of Buddhism, or generally thought it originated from prehistoric society.

First of all, vegetarianism is a very vague concept. What is vegetarian food? Vegetarianism should be relative to meat, which refers to food made entirely of plant raw materials. Yan Shigu's Interpretation of Vegetarianism in Kuangmiuzhengsu in the Tang Dynasty is: "It is said that eating vegetables, fruits and bait is a genus, and there is no wine and meat." Vegetarian food without meat is the main way of eating for farming people. In ancient times, the majority of farmers in China mainly ate vegetables, and the meat-eating people were dignitaries. But that doesn't mean that ordinary people are vegetarians. They are not willing to be vegetarian, but in a passive vegetarian state. In ancient China, there were some real vegetarians, from which we can see the compassion of Buddhists, the indifference of mountain-dwelling nobles, and of course, the taste of early adopters after the rich nobles got tired of eating meat.

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, and his disciples often meet meat, meat and vegetarianism, and there is no taboo. The earliest Buddhist teachings stipulated that all kinds of meat specially killed for monks should not be eaten, and other "clean meat" and "borrowing light" were allowed to eat meat. It was China's Liang Wudi Xiao Yan who initiated vegetarianism in Buddhism. Prior to this, the Brahma Sutra, which became popular in the Liu and Song Dynasties, clearly stipulated that "you should not eat all the flesh of all living beings, and eating meat will lead to infinite sin" and "you should not eat five spices: garlic, onion, leek, onion and canal", which are two strict commandments. After Buddhism was introduced into China, it contributed to the development of vegetarianism, but the earliest vegetarianism did not originate from Buddhism.

Although vegetarianism has a long history, as a cuisine, it only began to form in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

In Qi Min Yao Shu written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty, some methods of making vegetarian dishes have been mentioned. In the Tang dynasty, there was a vegetarian diet. In the northern song dynasty, there were shops specializing in vegetarian food, and there were hundreds of kinds of Bianjing vegetarian food recorded in Mengliang Record alone.

the Ming and Qing dynasties were the development periods of vegetarian dishes. Especially in the Qing dynasty, vegetarian food has formed three branches: temple vegetarian food, court vegetarian food and folk vegetarian food, with different styles. The imperial dining room in Qing Dynasty has a vegetarian bureau, which can produce more than 2 kinds of delicious vegetarian dishes. Temple cuisine is called Buddhist cuisine, Buddhist cuisine and Fucai, while monk kitchen is called Xiangji kitchen. Folk vegetarian dishes are made in restaurants in various cities, and there are famous vegetarian restaurants all over the country, attracting many diners.

vegetarian dishes are mainly fresh, elegant and plain. There are many varieties of colors and exquisite craftsmanship, which is no less than meat dishes. There are thousands of modern vegetarian dishes in China, and the cooking techniques are superb.

The cooking techniques of vegetarian dishes can be roughly classified into three categories: one is "rolling goods", that is, it is made by rolling the stuffing of oil bag tightly, thickening it with starch, and then baking it. The famous products are vegetarian chicken, vegetarian sauce meat, vegetarian elbow, vegetarian ham and so on; The second is "halogen goods", which are mainly made of gluten and mushrooms, including assorted vegetables, mushroom gluten, hot and sour slices, etc. The third is fried goods, which are fried in oil, including vegetarian shrimp, mellow fish, fried boxes and so on. Through the skill of cooking vegetarian dishes and meat in past dynasties, it has developed to a very exquisite degree in modern times.

What needs to be mentioned in particular is that tofu and bean products are one of the main ingredients used in vegetarian dishes everywhere.

Tofu dishes are regarded as "national dishes" by some people, because tofu not only originated in China, but also is widely loved by Chinese people. In the past, in rural areas, the main course of red and white banquets was "tofu powder skin is enough".

Tofu is widely used in cooking, which can be used as staple food, dishes, snacks and fillings. Well-known bean curd varieties include South Bean Curd, North Bean Curd, Frozen Bean Curd, Oily Bean Curd, Sufu, Stinky Bean Curd and Moldy Bean Curd. Bean products include dried bean curd, thousands of pieces, bean curd skin, fragrant dried bean curd, shredded oil, marinated bean curd, bean bubble, assorted vegetables, vegetarian chicken, spicy pieces, smoked dried bean curd powder, etc. The famous dishes commonly used at home and for banquets include bean curd with shallots, bean curd with Mapo (Sichuan), bean curd with mirror box (Jiangsu), fried bean curd floss (Shanghai), bean curd with pot collapse (Shandong), bean curd with oyster sauce (Guangdong) and bean curd in jiaozi (Shanxi). According to statistics, there are thousands of vegetarian dishes based on tofu and bean products, and some cooks have also created rich tofu banquets.

the unique style of vegetarian dishes has produced many famous vegetarian restaurants. For example, Beijing's "all-vegetarian Liu", a vegetarian chef from the imperial palace, is all vegetarian and unique. In the vegetarian restaurant of Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple, the famous dishes are red shrimp, shredded eel with silver dishes, leek and crab powder, etc., all of which are vegetarian and have good color and taste. The vegetarian dishes in Ciyun Temple in Chongqing are vegetarian dishes, and all the hot dishes are cold-mixed, all of which are cooked under the name of meat, and the production is wonderful.

by 213, many famous vegetarian restaurants have sprung up all over China, which has promoted the popularity of vegetarian meals.