The amazing fact is that in the history of China, as many as 20 unlucky emperors died of imperial food poisoning! You know, from Nurhachi's entry to the last emperor Xuan Tong Puyi, there were only 12 emperors in the last feudal dynasty in China. This amazing proportion has made emperors of all ages attach great importance to "testing poison". So nature is a must.
In film and television works, the most famous Empress Dowager Cixi in history ate 200 dishes at a meal. Although this is suspected of artistic processing, it is not groundless. Historians have verified that the standard imperial cuisine in the early and middle Qing Dynasty had 120 dishes, requiring three tables, excluding staple food, fruits and desserts. Later, it was reduced from Jiaqing Emperor to 64, Xianfeng Emperor to 32, and the Empress Ci 'an who listened to politics after Xianfeng Emperor's death was even reduced to 24! One of the reasons, according to historical records, is that there must be too many dishes to try poison.
The word "putting on airs" must be familiar to everyone, but you must not know that in the Qing Dynasty, "putting on airs" was not an adjective that we now describe others as "showing off in an ostentatious manner", but the meaning of "putting on a menu". When emperors eat, they put a sign next to each dish with the name of the dish and the name of the chef written on it. First, it is to ensure the quality of the dish. Second, if something goes wrong in the future, the emperor will be poisoned and burp, so it is better to hold the chef accountable.
In addition, the tableware used by the emperor for dining is also very exquisite. In addition to luxurious and exquisite porcelain and gold, silverware is an indispensable tableware in the emperor's diet. The ancient drug-making process was not advanced. Common poisons such as arsenic and hedinghong all contained sulfides, which would react with silver to generate black substances. So if there is this poison in the royal diet, the silverware will be known as soon as it is tried.
Therefore, we can often see doctor Tai inserting silver needles in food to test poison in TV dramas. In fact, this is a process that every dish needs to go through before the emperor eats it: in the Qing Dynasty, a small silver medal was hung outside every imperial meal. After removing the lid, the eunuch will try the silver medal on the plate in front of the emperor, and you can eat it without any reaction.
In addition to physical methods such as silverware and tableware, the Qing royal family also adopted chemical methods: special personnel to test drugs. Yes, there is a eunuch in the respectful room called "the eunuch who waits for meals". They are responsible for sending meals from the Imperial Kitchen to hall of mental cultivation every day, setting dishes and recipes, reporting to the eunuchs in charge and inviting the holy family to have dinner.
And their last and most important duty is to take a bite of the food that the emperor wants to eat first to see if it is poisonous, which is euphemistically called "tasting food". After the eunuch thanked the emperor's "reward", he ate the royal meal and confirmed that it was non-toxic before the emperor could eat it. The thought of being king once is miserable. Every meal goes through so many procedures every day that you can't eat a hot meal, and others have already eaten it.