When I was young, we had a party there. What I remember most is not eating, but being busy and lively.
At that time, weddings were held at home, and people in a village were basically clan relatives. When a family holds a wedding, the whole village will attend.
Preparations are started three days in advance (so-called work), and the stools and tables of each household are concentrated in the nearest two relatives' homes.
All housewives and mature men go to help, and women help wash vegetables, cut meat and mix noodles. The man is a handyman, carrying the board (putting food on the big board). Fireworks rose in the yard. A busy and lively scene.
The children laughed and walked back and forth among the adults crazily. Occasionally, if you are not careful, you will slip a small piece of meat like a greedy cat and covet something delicious to satisfy your growling stomach first. Provoked those uncles and aunts to curse "smelly boy" and "greedy cat" and laugh one after another.
It's really memorable and full of thoughts. Were you like this when you were young?
I was born after 1960. When I was a child, I held a banquet in the countryside, just like looking forward to the New Year. I can't wait!
At that time, farmers' living conditions did not allow them to eat meat several times a year. It is no exaggeration to say that some relatives and friends do not eat three days in advance for weddings and funerals. After all, that's a minority, but there are meals every three days.
At that time, there was no such thing as packaging, and you couldn't pack it. As soon as a dish was served, the wind swept away the residual cloud and turned it upside down.
The old people are gentle and courteous, giving each other humility and waving: begging for food.
Sometimes the old people withdraw their stalls and the children eat when they shout.
Now that life is rich, banquets are upgraded, and everything from flying from the sky to swimming in the water is available. The pleasant taste has also changed, and I always feel that it is not as mellow as the banquet wine at that time.
Don't forget the past and cherish the present.
What impressed me more was the lively scene. The cauldron was set up two or three days in advance, and neighbors, relatives and friends came to help. It's good for children to play together in the yard, so naive!
The scene of everyone hugging and squeezing after dinner is also quite profound. It's interesting to squat down and talk while eating.
There are many relatives in my family. I am my grandmother's family in the village. So there are many cousins. When I was a child, my mother often took me to the relatives who married my wife for wedding banquets. Our place is called "sitting at the table". Generally, newlyweds enter the bridal chamber after completing the ceremony, and the wedding reception officially begins. On a table, all the guests are here, and some people serve the guests and distribute bowls and chopsticks. At this time, the child is most anxious, beating the plates and bowls with chopsticks. First, four dried vegetables, four fresh vegetables and eight pressed vegetables. There are snacks, dried tofu, orange petals and so on. And then officially come to lai. We call it: Top Ten Bowls. This is what we usually call buckle bowl. It's usually tofu with vermicelli underneath. There are sliced meat, meatballs, fried rolls and cakes (made of flour) on it. ~ ~ What impressed me was the big piece of meat spread on it in the bowl. More fat, less lean meat. Now I want to stop eating meat at the age of seven or eight. I must have been tired of eating at the dinner table in those years.
When I was a child, I hosted a banquet in the countryside. What impressed me was the wine, meat and vegetables on the banquet. It won't change much until now, but the taste is better than before. Speaking of rural banquets, hospitality and saving face are the customs of Zhanjiang people, which have existed since ancient times. Not only one year, but also the days when ancestors were jealous, traditional festivals, weddings, birthdays, occupations, chandeliers, and further studies. For dining etiquette is also more exquisite, because of the feudal customs at that time, men eat first, women eat later. It is still the habit of dining at separate tables for men and women, and the seats are more respectful.
In fact, running water chairs are very popular in many rural areas of China. The characteristics of running water seats are that when people come, they open tables, serve quickly, and the total number of tables is uncertain. Cold dishes, stewed dishes and steamed dishes are the main dishes in the running water mat, with 2 or 3 stir-fried dishes and soup 1 piece. The advantage of this side dish is that you can open the table at any time and serve it quickly. Zhanjiang, which integrates the jurisdiction of Leizhou Prefecture and Gaozhou Prefecture, has slightly different customs, but is roughly the same. The most luxurious banquet in the old days was called "Four Mountains and Eight Seas", which actually means 12 course. "Four Mountains and Eight Seas" should be a dish originating from the Central Plains, and it has also evolved to some extent in Zhanjiang.
Before Zhanjiang, the venue for catering in rural areas was generally chosen in a relatively large open space in the village, and the yard at home was large enough to be chosen at home. Cooks can be hired nearby. In some places, there are chefs who specialize in rural banquets, providing various needs such as pots and pans, and designing menus and materials for you. Usually, the dishes eaten at rural banquets are invited by the chefs who specialize in making running water mats for people in the village. Without a chef's license, they are even better than the chefs outside. Why do you say they are better than the chefs in the city? Because all the dishes at the rural banquet are cooked by a chef, the dishes made in this way taste almost the same.
Because it is a one-time banquet that requires more than ten tables, chefs generally choose the practice of cauldron dishes. One pot can cook more than ten tables, and some can be steamed in a large steamer at one time. Before Zhanjiang, rural banquets were like this. The cook is busy from morning till noon. Of course, some women will help with the dishes. The dishes at this wedding banquet can also be dumped in a five-star hotel for several blocks, such as shrimp, crab, abalone, eight-treasure fish, shark's fin, pork belly, roasted goose, sweet soup and so on. Because it is a wedding banquet in the rural area of Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, there is naturally a distinctive Zhanjiang white-cut chicken. All the dishes are put on one table, with a dozen dishes.
When I was a child, everything in the village was the busiest. When important guests come, people greet them with firecrackers. The most unforgettable thing is to catch the squib of firecrackers after they are set off. The little boy likes artillery fire.
What I remember best is what my nephew told me about his party in the early 1980s. At that time, the life of rural people had been greatly improved, and it was no longer a problem to eat enough and wear warm clothes, but eating banquets was still a luxury. Once I got married with a family in the village, my nephew, who was in the second grade of primary school, "won" the opportunity to hold a banquet and went straight to the banquet with friends after school. In the past, there were seven people at a party, and there were seven teenagers on a nephew's desk.
My nephew and I talked about their "civilized" eating behavior-there was not a leaf or a drop of soup left at the party, and finally they piled up all the dishes. ...
Now think about it, is the child at that time particularly pitiful!
Tears in my eyes ...
When I was a child, I was deeply impressed by two phenomena: first, because there was no table, I used pine wool instead of the table; The second is to dye the white meat slices red to show joy.
These two phenomena, that is, loosing hair instead of eating at the table, are memorable; However, dyeing sliced white meat red is a bit annoying.