It is difficult for you to find the place of Beidu on the map.
However, in Jianghu dishes, Beida and Beida fish are well-known names.
Beidu is located in Qijiang County under the jurisdiction of Chongqing Municipality. Qijiang used to know that it only produces coal, but I don't know what other products are there. Later, let me remember once again the Rainbow Bridge collapse in Qijiang in 1998.
Now, the fish from Beidu has entered my mouth, and the Qijiang River has deepened its impression in my mind.
Enfen beidu fish
1. From Qijiang to Beidu, the shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Spring.
Qijiang is 37 kilometers away from Chongqing, and the whole journey is an expressway with excellent road conditions.
Looking through the window at the exterior of the new rain, I never imagined that the scenery along the way was so beautiful. The mountains with overlapping obstacles spread out to our eyes in turn, and the mountain fog circled the mountainside, vaguely seeing the village houses in the ravine. Some mountains have patches of all-in-one pine trees, which are charming in the grandeur. I wanted to stop and take some scenic photos, but unfortunately the light was weak, so I planned to take another photo on my way back.
It only took more than 30 minutes to get to Qijiang County. Just look at the street, and you can easily see the restaurant about Beidu fish. Local residents said that the relatively large-scale Beidu Fish House here includes Qihechun and Yuxiangchun. A truck driver knew that we were here to interview the fish in Beidu, and said with great enthusiasm that Beidu was only 16 kilometers away from the county seat, crossing the bridge and going right, and the road conditions were not bad. After thanking the master, we continued to cross the north.
Beidu is a small town with charming scenery. A bridge connects the two banks of Beidu, and the Qihe River flows under the bridge.
I have been to many towns with rivers, bridges and rich food, such as Tai 'an, Qiuxi, Laifeng, Yuxi, Jiangkou, Suji ... There are similarities and distinct differences between Beidu in front of them. It is quiet, clean and rarely polluted. There are neither sediment nor dead pigs and cats on the river, and there is a post set by fishermen at the backwater. On both sides of the shore are lush trees and bamboo forests, as well as endless green mountains, and the empty sky is distant and blurred.
What interests me very much is that Beidu Bridge is the dividing point between Qijiang and Jiangjin. On this side is Beidu Township in Qijiang County, and on the opposite side is Pengqiao Township, which belongs to Guangxing Town in Jiangjin County. Before the bridge was repaired, it was greeted and sent by a ferry pier, and the so-called Beidu was named after it. Although Pengqiao belongs to Guangxing in Jiangjin, it is 20 miles away from Guangxing, and it is not as convenient as Beidu, which is separated by a river. Even Qijiang County is closer to Pengqiao than Guangxing, with only 14 miles. Therefore, Pengqiao people sometimes feel that they are more like Qijiang people, or simply Beidu people. So much so that the Jianghu dishes originated in Pengqiao were named "Beidu Fish" by diners, and they accepted it gladly, without giving up theory.
Up to now, there is no well-known Beidu fish restaurant in Beidu Township. However, Beidu people are hospitable, have questions and answers, and the directions are unambiguous. At the bridge head of Qijiang River, I asked the man selling cigarettes where the earliest Beidu fish restaurant was. The enthusiastic man pointed to the other side and said, in Pengqiao, the old brand is Qihechun, and there are Yingfenglou and Yuxiangchun.
The man's guidance made us walk into the artistic conception of ancient poetry: "Excuse me, where is the restaurant? The shepherd boy points to apricot blossoms."
On Pengqiao Road, there are many fish shops with the signboard of Beidu Fish, and their names are varied, but the theme is to prove that they are the oldest, the most authentic and the first. Needless to say, there has long been a battle for the name, just like many places where Jianghu dishes have been invented, and everyone is in chaos.
In the catering industry, place names and fish names cannot be registered trademarks, so it is difficult to get exclusive legal protection for a new dish that combines place names and fish names. Fortunately, as long as the founder doesn't leave the place or fail in business, the local government will give the founder a name to prove who is the first and who is the most authentic. The folks don't play the trick of calling a deer a horse, but they speak with conscience and justice. Unfortunately, if a foreigner passes by here, how much leisure and energy does he have to investigate who is the first one first?
4. In Pengqiao, I met the village cook unexpectedly.
In the process of asking the local aborigines who was the founder of Beidu Fish, we found that a family was holding a funeral on the street.
A huge plastic sheet was put into a shed, and there were more than a dozen tables under it. The village cook and his men were busy with their nine bowls, the most simple rural banquet in China. This kind of folk original ecological food activity is hard to meet, so we immediately decided to interview and film the activities of the village cook first.
Just as we set up the camera to take pictures, an elderly man with a bright spirit came forward and asked us if we were reporters of food magazines. In fact, he knows perfectly well past ask, because he has already seen the words "Food Geography of China" printed on our T-shirts. I said that we came to Beidu to interview the inventor of Beidu fish. The old man said that he was the inventor of Beidu fish, and his shop was nearby, named Yingfenglou.
I said, no, some people say that Qi Hechun is the founder of Beidu Fish.
The old man was a little excited, but he soon controlled his emotions. He said, "Well, let's interview here first. I'm a relative of this family. I'll talk to the host family to facilitate your work. Please come to my shop after your interview, ok? "
I remember a month ago, we interviewed at the Gaomiao Temple in Hongya Ancient Town, Sichuan. There, we met a middle-aged man in his fifties. When he was asked when the high temple was the hottest, his answer made us stunned. He said that the hottest day was when people died, especially when local respected people died, which was hotter than any festival. Because of the death, neighbors, relatives and friends will get together very well, and everyone can concentrate on communication together.
It turns out that in towns and villages, people often regard weddings and funerals as a simple social activity. It doesn't pay so much attention to form and deliberate grief as city people do. Even if the relatives of the deceased are still immersed in grief, they won't give a cold face to the guests who are guessing and smiling at their own funeral. Today, the family we saw doing the funeral did not interfere with those who were noisy and guessed six times and drank five times in the funeral shed.
I went to an old man at the wine table and asked him to take us to the place where the village cook cooked. The old man enthusiastically took us to the kitchen of the family next door, which was the operation room of the village cook. There are many women in the kitchen, and it was only after asking that the chef was a woman. There are also four chefs, all of whom are women. Under the command of the chef, everyone is doing their own things in an orderly way. When a dish is finished and repackaged, the men and women who help the chef use a rectangular shallow wooden case to carry it to the table in the funeral shed. According to the chef's introduction, they will give the family a big feast for three days. On the first day, they will make 26 tables at noon, 24 tables at night, 30 tables at noon the next day, 24 tables at night, and 15 tables at noon the third day, but not at night. The dishes are what we call nine bowls, namely, the first bowl of sugar-boiled meat, two bowls of wine and rice, three bowls of meat with sand, four bowls of boiled white, five bowls of bone-boiled or fragrant-boiled (glutinous rice is kneaded and fried, and then cut into small pieces for steaming), six bowls of chopping meat, seven bowls of crispy meat, eight bowls of cold dishes and nine bowls.
After interviewing the village cook, we went to the mourning hall to interview the master who did things, that is, the kind of people we often see in Hong Kong movies dancing with wood blade, throwing paper money and drawing a charm. It's a little difficult, because they think journalists are opposed to feudal superstition and are afraid of our exposure. It took me a long time to squeeze toothpaste out of their mouths to get some information. What is done here is a five-person team. The leader is Yan, and people call him "the main altar". Yan Zhutan has been doing this kind of crossing the dead for more than ten years, which he learned from his parents. Their costumes include Sichuan gongs, Sichuan drums, cymbals, conchs, knives, tokens and hats. Because the deceased had been buried here, we didn't have a chance to see their on-site practices, and Yan Zhutan had concerns, so the interview could not go further.
At this time, a man came from under the mourning shed, his face flushed from drinking. He said loudly to us: "Reporter friends, you interviewed the chef and the main altar. Why didn't you interview the dragon pole?"
We are at a loss: "What do you mean by lifting a dragon pole?"
People around us laughed at this question. Someone said, "The people who carry the dragon pole are the people who carry the coffin to the cemetery. The songs they sing are beautiful."
There were eight lean men sitting at a square table in the mourning shed, all of whom were flushed with wine. They are the ones who carry the dragon pole. On the way to carry the dead to the graveyard, you should sing while carrying them. One of them is the lead singer, and the others sing along, so that it is powerful to carry the coffin. A man of medium height said he was the lead singer, and the other seven sang along. Probably to prove what he said was true, the man sang. Before we could hear what he was singing, seven men beside us sang along.
The lead singer was loud and the chorus was magnificent. The songs of these eight people startled us. We didn't expect their chorus to be so shocking to the eardrum.
These simple men are still a little shy in front of the camera, but their voices always remain original and high-pitched, and they don't discount their voices because of shyness. To tell the truth, I thought they would sing for a few minutes at most, but I didn't expect this song to be forty minutes. Although I like this kind of folk original ecological voice that is hard to hear at ordinary times, unfortunately, I didn't even understand a word of the lyrics. But we respect these men. They started and finished. They sang for a long time when they carried the coffin to the cemetery, and they still sang for us without discount. This is not only a respect for us, but also a kind of the most simple professional spirit of the people.
[13] Jianghu feud, Wu Wenchao and Wu Rongwen.
When we arrived at the Yingfeng Building, the old man Wu Wenchao who greeted us in the funeral shed had already prepared some bamboo chairs outside the store, waiting for us to interview him.
That was 25 years ago ──
1980, Jiangjin Industrial and Commercial Bureau issued a collective license for non-staple food catering to Guangxing. At that time, Wu Wenchao, a barefoot veterinarian in Pengqiao Village, volunteered to get this license from the township, and the annual management fee was less than 100 yuan. He opened a small shop on the roadside beside the ferry, selling non-staple food and snacks, and named it "Pengqiao Road Crossing Food Store". The name of the store is very simple, and the signboard is correspondingly very simple. It is made of two pieces of wood with a square piece of cow felt, and it is white on a black background, which is also eye-catching. Soon, Wu Wenchao found that there were many passers-by, so he added home-cooked dishes and wild river fish to snacks, and the business was booming day by day.
At that time, there was no pollution in the Qihe River, and there were many kinds and quantities of wild fish, such as grass carp, catfish, carp, crucian carp, diced yellow pepper, and the precious upturned shell at that time (this is a very delicious fish, with a sharp head like a mouse and a thin scale like silver carp). When cooking fish dishes for the first time, Wu Wenchao followed the most traditional methods: whole fish braised in brown sauce, home-cooked flavor and douban flavor, both of which are salty and spicy. However, the tired coach drivers demanded more exciting tastes, so Wu Wenchao introduced spicy and hot fish with typical Jianghu dishes. It's extremely interesting that Wu didn't stop there. Most Jianghu restaurants have to stick to the main flavor for at least five years before launching other flavors and gradually forming a series. But Wu Wenchao felt that there should be more flavors for diners to choose from at the beginning. In addition to home-cooked fish, watercress fish and spicy fish, he also insists on making traditional flavors such as tile fish, crispy fish and bean curd fish.
There are more and more diners. Wu Wenchao, who is happy in his heart, did a simple thing: he got on a ladder and added a big word "fish" in the blank beside the words "Pengqiao Road Restaurant". Who would have thought that it was this simple move that laid the status of "Beidayu" in the rivers and lakes for more than 20 years? It wasn't until 1989, when a new building was built in Wu Wenchao, that his son Wu Weixing took the name "Yingfenglou", which sounds very carefree now.
1984, Wu Wenchao figured out pickled fish by himself outside Zou Kaixi. 1988, he introduced tomato fish. Up to now, his family's Beidu fish are mainly spicy, pickled cabbage and tomato, and they can be eaten three times, that is, one fish (the weight must reach more than two kilograms). This is so different from the unique flavor style of most Jianghu dishes that when I first saw Wu Wen overtime, I was surprised by the way he handed me a business card with a bunch of fish-even Taian fish. Wu Wenchao said that as long as the diners want to eat, he can do it. But I thought, who will come to Pengqiao to eat Taian fish?
As for the name "Beidu Fish", Wu's father and son all said that it was called out by diners in 1983. Mainly long-distance bus drivers, they often say, "Let's go to Beidu to eat Beidu fish." And Pengqiao people also feel that there is nothing wrong with it. Except the self-awareness of Pengqiao people, everyone thinks that since it is a fish, the word "crossing" is better than "bridge", which reminds people of the famous dock culture in Chongqing. "Beidu Fish" is definitely louder than "Pengqiao Fish". Therefore, all the fish sellers in Pengqiao only fight for who is the first, and no one comes to clear the name between Beidu and Pengqiao. -This is quite different from the territorial dispute between Qiuxi and Fish Creek. In Erxi, people not only have to compete for shops, but also for land.
Wu Wenchao's eyes sparkled when he recalled the fish scene in Beidu from 1986 to 1998. He said that at that time, there were more than 20 fishermen who provided him with fresh fish. Every day, more than 20 fishing boats were moored by the Beidu River behind his windward building, and those fishermen also signed a "life and death" contract with him for the supply.
I asked, why did the business of Beidu fish explode at that time, but no one came to eat fish today? Wu shook his head and said, "Beidu is the only place that Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou pass through. In the past, cars from Sichuan and Chongqing to Guizhou and cars from Guizhou to Sichuan had to pass through Beidu. The fish I cook is delicious, and there are many kinds, such as bean fish, crispy fish, spicy and hot fish, pickled fish, tomato fish and boiled fish. Every fish is delicious, and the newly salvaged wild fish from Beidu River is used, so the business is very good. However, 1998 was the year when the Rainbow Bridge on the Qijiang River collapsed, and expressway in Guizhou was opened to traffic. There were few cars coming and going on Laochuanqian Road here, and business plummeted. "
As for our proposal, every family here hangs the signs of "the first Beida fish" or "authentic Beida fish" and "the old Beida fish", and the sign of "the first one" can't be hung in the Yingfeng building without custom. What do you think of this phenomenon? The old man is a little excited: "There is nothing others can do to take me like that, but there is a one called Qihechun." Speaking of which, the old man was indignant, got up and went to his bedroom, and brought back a piece of paper full of words for us to see. It was a certificate from Xiangshang, which said that the Yingfeng Building was authentic ...
Wu Shuo, 1982, Wu Rongwen, his neighbor and elder, saw that his fish restaurant was booming, so he proposed to Xiangshang that he was willing to pay the management fee to Xiangshang and wanted to use a license with him. When the township agreed, it split the license into two parts: Wu Wenchao as the first 1 store and Wu Rongwen as the second store. Wu Wenchao is older than Wu Rongwen, but his seniority is low. Wu Rongwen started with the handmade candy business and didn't make much money, so he followed Wu Wenchao to learn how to cook fish. 1983, Wu Rongwen's restaurant opened. Because a round door was built in front of the shop, it was called "round door food shop". (In the second year, I changed my elegant name: Qihechun. This is another story. After the opening of the business, Wu supernormal went to help, not only occasionally helping each other with food and money, but also teaching each other how to cook fish. The so-called "teach people to fish, if you don't teach people to fish". Since then, Erwu has been calling the shots in Pengqiao, making the business of Beidu fish prosperous. The locals were envious when they saw the long queues of people and cars parked outside to eat fish, and they also broke through the wall to open stores and sell fish.
199 1 February, both Yingfeng Building and Qihechun were changed from collective to private. Supposedly, both businesses are good, so they should live in peace. Unexpectedly, the rivers and lakes are in a terrible storm, and the ground thunders. One day in the 1990s, a friend of Wu Wenchao was invited to eat fish in Qihechun. During the dinner, Wu Rongwen showed the visitors a history of Pengqiao Township, which clearly stated that he was the founder of Beidu Fish. This friend was surprised and told Wu Wenchao about it after dinner. Wu Wenchao more not neglect, immediately go to XiangShang theory, ready to make a scene. It turns out that the history of this township has just been printed and has not yet been issued. Because it involves Wu Rongwen, I gave him a sample book first. According to Xiang's explanation, it was Wu Rongwen's former teacher who wrote this part of the fish crossing the North. Later, at the request of Wu Wenchao, after some investigation, Xiangshang admitted that the book was untrue, and the publication of this township history printed with thousands of copies was cancelled.
"He Wu Rongwen opened a shop in 1983, and I opened a shop in 1980. 1983 I taught him how to cook fish on the stove, and I paid him for food when he opened the shop. How can he be the first fish in Beidu? If Wu Rongwen dares to say that he is the founder of Beidu Fish and that I pretend to be the first one, it must be a lie. I bear all legal responsibilities for what I said. " Say that finish, Wu Wenchao signed his name in our interview book to prove that he was telling the truth.
Wu Wenchao is 72 years old, and now he has retired and enjoys himself. He no longer shovels to the kitchen beside the pot. There are a son and two women under his knee. The son opened a shop in Nanping, Chongqing, and the two daughters once opened a shop in Deyang. For some reasons, Deyang Store lost more than 900,000 yuan in just one year and has closed. At present, there are 8 direct stores and 6 franchise stores/kloc-0, which are located in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Zhejiang.
Before leaving Pengqiao, we specially went to Beidu Bridge to take pictures of the scenery. At this time, a young man came and asked us to interview Yuxiangchun. He said Yuxiangchun was the first fish shop in Beidu. Unexpectedly, when he said this, an old villager came. He interrupted the young man: "Who said that Yuxiangchun was the first one? Not even Qihechun, not to mention Yuxiangchun! The first fish shop in Beidu is Wu Wenchao! I don't know anything about this! "
The young man was a little angry and quarreled with the old man. The simple old man raised his voice very high in the argument with the young man, and the blood on his neck bulged. We persuaded them to quarrel, lest they should be offended by it.
Most regrettably, Wu Rongwen was not contacted several times, and many doubts could not be confirmed.
4. The Decline of Beidu Fish: The Story of Red-billed Carp
In the hottest year of Beidu Fish, from 1986 to 1988, there were dozens of restaurants in Qijiang City and Pengqiao Township, among which Pengqiao was the most spectacular: from the flat river at the end of the town to the dam at the mouth of the bridge, there were a lot of roadside shops and a lot of Beidu Fish. Most diners are drivers. 2 10 National Road leads to Guizhou, Guangzhou and Guangxi, which is the main sea route to Beihai. In those years, drivers worked hard, but their income was not low. Besides, there were often buyers from the owner's side, and they were invited to eat and drink by richer buyers from time to time. In order to compete with the old shops, some up-and-coming fish restaurants have used their brains from the drivers. Most of these shops are concentrated at the end of the street, and some benches are placed in front of the shops, so that some "ladies" dressed in red and green can sit on them and wait for passing vehicles. Once they come, they will get up and stop in the name of soliciting business. The drivers didn't expect to be accompanied by wine, so they happily took their seats. After dinner, the lady hinted that they could go upstairs to "rest". There are always drivers who can't stand the loneliness of the journey and will inevitably "rest" at the expense of extremely high meals. That's all right, but I don't want to one day, when a driver just wants to "rest" after going up, the boss and the man broke into the house and said that he had molested the boss's girlfriend. So, fighting, knife-wielding, and murder, but the foreign drivers are no match for the flat people in Xiaohe, and they are all ready, with hoes, poles, and steel pipes. Once, a car full of people from Qijiang Power Plant came to fight, but they also failed. Beidu fish began to bear the name of a black shop, and all the passing cars knew that cars could not stop at Xiaohe Flat.
It is said that the black shop started in Laifeng Town, Bishan County, the hometown of Laifeng fish. Many Laifeng fish restaurants that follow the trend are located at the end of Zhentou Town, forcibly blocking cars for dining. Because of the thick lipstick, those ladies who are attracted by the boss are called "red-billed carp". If the boss says to you: Do you eat red-billed carp, it's all 782 taels a catty? It means: all the ladies here are seventeen or eighteen. Both Laifeng and Beidu produce fish, which also gives rise to this strange situation that makes the regular fish restaurant feel sad.
The driver stopped, but the ladies took the initiative under the boss's command. If you don't stop, I will stop. They were divided into three ways: first, they stopped a few people in front of the car, then stood two people on the pedal next to the right window, hanged two people on the left window, and grabbed the steering wheel with their hands. Finally, one day, a driver blew his horn with his heart crossed and his eyes closed. I don't believe you really won't let go ... Another time, on the bridge in Xiaohegou, Pengjiawan, several young ladies hoisted the car and forcibly moved the steering wheel, and the car turned over into a ditch ...
Many people died, and the retribution of the black shop owners finally came. As several leaders fell prey to the law, those black shops disappeared. However, the reputation of Beidu fish is hard to get rid of for a while.
On the morning of going to Qijiang from Chongqing, when we were going to cross the Nanping toll station and get on the Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway, we found that there was not much gas in the car, so we asked the toll collector where we could refuel, and replied that Nanquan, 14 kilometers ahead, could refuel. After arriving in Nanquan, we found that Nanquan gas station was not on the side of the expressway, and we had to go out of the expressway to refuel, which caused us to pay 15 yuan more for roads and bridges in Chongqing. The person at the gas station said that there was no gas station in Chongqing section of Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway. We would like to remind our self-driving friends that if you drive along the Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway, it is best to fill up the gas before entering the Nanping toll station, so as to avoid unnecessary troubles.