Mao Zedong advocates and loves Chinese food all his life, but this does not mean that he opposes and rejects western food. In the early 1960s, after eating several western foods, Mao Zedong suddenly became interested in several western foods. He thinks there are many delicious dishes in western food.
Probably from the early 1960s, the staff began to look for chefs who were proficient in Chinese and Western cooking techniques for Mao Zedong. At that time, a chef named Chen was hired. He was good at making western food and often praised his skills. Jiang Qing appreciates western food very much. Once, she ate some western food cooked by Master Chen and was full of praise. She said to Mao Zedong, "Master Chen's skill is really good. My master can't compare! " Mao Zedong said to her, "If you like, I will transfer Master Chen to you." Jiang Qingwen was overjoyed, and in the end he really sent Master Chen over without hesitation.
On April 26th, 196 1, several staff members and chefs carefully customized a western menu and two vegetable soups for Mao Zedong. Judging from the preserved western food recipes, although the content is not very rich, it has taken care of Mao Zedong's dietary preferences. This menu includes seven western food series, namely fish and shrimp, chicken and duck, pork, mutton, beef and soup. Among the relics of Mao Zedong's later life, there is not a complete set of western-style tableware, although the variety of tableware is rich and complete.
Mao Zedong likes to eat colorful shrimps, and the methods of making fish and shrimps in western food are also colorful and unique in flavor. 1961April's western food menu includes the following exotic fish and shrimp: steamed fish with diced meat, grilled mandarin fish with iron, fried mandarin fish with soft fried mandarin fish, herring grilled fish, Moscow red grilled fish, grilled cheese fish, boiled spinach fish, grilled prawns with iron, grilled prawns with noodles and fried prawns.
Mao Zedong was very fresh and surprised by the fish and shrimp cooked in western food. He often eats western-style fish for a change after eating fish and shrimp cooked in Chinese food. In fact, most of the fish and shrimp he eats are made in China. For example, the shrimp he often eats is produced in Zhongnanhai. When the staff rest, they make a few small boxes, put some rice grains in them and throw them into the sea. When they take the box the next day, they usually catch a small bowl of shrimp. Mao Zedong likes this shrimp produced in Zhongnanhai very much. Sometimes he cooks with Chinese food, and sometimes he cooks with foreign methods.
Mao Zedong eats chicken, but he doesn't particularly like it. The practice of chicken in western food is more than that in Chinese food, because westerners mainly eat meat, so making patterns has been passed down from generation to generation, which can be described as varied and endless. Mao Zedong highly praised the practice of chicken in western food. In the early 1960s, when the staff worked out the menu of western food, they listed these unheard-of western food names on the chicken, such as butter chicken roll (chicken chops), soft fried chicken chops, egg cakes, chicken cakes, shredded chicken, canned chicken, braised chicken with onion, braised chicken with vegetables, wrapped chicken, diced chicken, chicken coconut, creamy chicken and so on. Mao Zedong doesn't like all the western-style chicken mentioned above, but occasionally he thinks it has a special taste.
Mao Zedong doesn't like beef and mutton very much. Maybe he doesn't like the ignorance of beef and mutton. Among many meats, he has no regrets about pork. He likes braised pork. If he hasn't eaten for a while, he is really greedy and often takes the initiative to "make a rare sumptuous meal". In the early 1960s, when the staff worked out the menu of western food, they specially arranged small suckling pigs for Mao Zedong, taking into account its characteristics, so as to be moderately fat and thin and give consideration to all aspects. Mao Zedong has eaten the following kinds of pork: roast pork chop, roast pork leg, fried pork loin, fried pork chop, distilled pork chop, French pork chop, Italian suckling pig and so on. As for beef and mutton, because Mao Zedong doesn't like it very much, he only occasionally mixes some varieties into it. Among the western food eaten in Mao Zedong, beef and mutton include: mutton kebabs, roast leg of lamb, roast horse army, stewed mutton, fried lamb chops, fried mutton liver, steak, fried beef, curry beef, Futai beef, sour beef, stewed oxtail and so on.
Mao Zedong likes soup. Almost every meal has a small bowl of soup. There are many kinds of soups in western food, each of which has its own unique flavor. Western food soups in Mao Zedong in 1960s included cream soup, oxtail soup, red vegetable soup, chicken offal soup, kidney soup, onion soup, safflower chicken soup, jiaozi soup, red fish soup, cabbage paste soup, rice soup, assorted soup, chicken paste abalone soup, chicken soup, spaghetti soup, asparagus soup and so on.
In 1960s, Mao Zedong was interested in western food, but he seldom ate pure "western food". In Mao Zedong's view, Chinese food is far superior to western food in both taste and nutrition. Of course, there are many excellent western foods, and there are also many places worth learning from Chinese food. However, if he is allowed to eat western food every day, he will not. Therefore, when Mao Zedong eats western food, he usually eats it with Chinese food. In other words, his daily diet is mainly Chinese food, mixed with some western food, or meat or soup.
Mao Zedong has a very unique and profound understanding of China cuisine and western cuisine. On one occasion, when talking with Xu Tao, a health care doctor, about the comparison between Chinese and Western cuisines, he said such a meaningful sentence: "I think there are two things in China that have contributed to the world, one is Chinese medicine, and the other is China rice. Diet is also culture. How many provinces and places are there in China, and how many kinds of vegetable rice are there? China is vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with many treasures, and its exploitable and productive capacity is limited. There is more land and less arable land, so everyone should eat less for the time being; China is an eastern country and is used to eating vegetarian food. Originally in ancient China, Buddhist monks ate vegetarian food all year round. It is said that Liang Wudi was a vegetarian all his life and had a great influence. Later, vegetarianism spread from temples to palaces and then to the people, but we were not vegetarians. Eating vegetarian food is good for our health. Westerners have more fat in their food. The farther west they go, the more heart diseases they have than China. " Mao Zedong often said: "Chinese food is reasonable. From the perspective of human health, Chinese food is much better than western food." To be fair, Mao Zedong's views are very insightful.
The purpose of the staff preparing the menu for Mao Zedong is also a question of strengthening the balance. However, Mao Zedong was a thrifty housekeeper all his life, and never liked the complicated combination of balanced diet and nutrition. He thinks it is unnecessary to do so, because a trouble leads to the pursuit of enjoyment and luxury; The second is to violate personal eating habits and preferences. Therefore, Mao Zedong is firmly opposed to any planned menu. He doesn't want to be tied to his diet. He is not an ordinary person at all.