Huaiyang cuisine is characterized by "harmony, freshness, clearness and novelty" and ranks among the four traditional cuisines, and has the reputation of "the best in the southeast and the most beautiful in the world". Jiangnan cuisine, as a branch of Huaiyang cuisine, inherits the salty taste and strengthens the refreshing effect of white sugar.
Take the famous wuyue "Wuxi ribs" as an example. When making 1000g sparerib, eight seasonings are needed, including 50g sugar and 2g refined salt, with a difference of 25 times. You can imagine how sweet Jiangnan people are.
After eating sweets, a kind of "domino" pleasure is produced in the human body. When people taste sweets, dopamine neurons in the brain are activated, secreting opioids similar to morphine, stimulating the brain to feel excited and further enhancing the desire for sweets.
Sugar enters the body, and the accumulated blood sugar promotes insulin secretion and converts blood sugar into energy. As a result of this process, the human body feels excited. Because of this, the "sweet-loving" instinct has produced a strong spiritual pleasure.
Rainy and rainy, humid and sultry, human skin is exposed, perspiration increases, metabolism accelerates, and a lot of energy is excreted with sweat.
The wet and cold climate in the south of the Yangtze River in winter intensifies the energy consumption of human body. In this regard, eating sweets is the most effective means of energy supplement, which meets the physiological needs of the human body. The local customs are the external reasons for the sweetness of Jiangnan cuisine.