People's choice of food depends not only on their physical characteristics, the conditions of the times, the surrounding natural environment, but also on their cultural characteristics. Different cultures have different standards and consumption patterns for food. For example, people in China regard the liver, kidney, heart and lungs of animals as delicacies, so-called "shape complements shape".
Americans, on the other hand, feed it to cats and dogs, thinking it is not good for people's health; China people are not used to eating snails, but the French regard them as treasures; India raises the most cattle in the world, but they would rather starve to death than eat beef. Even the milk delivered to India by United Nations relief agencies can only be dumped into the sea, which is closely related to their traditional culture (religious belief).
Dietary custom is a unique branch of Guangdong culture. Cantonese cuisine is well-known at home and abroad, and "food in Guangzhou" has long been famous all over the world. The reform and innovation of diet can never be separated from the category of culture. Through the description and analysis of Guangdong's food phenomenon, we can see through the cultural connotation contained in its lifestyle.
Choose ingredients and miscellaneous materials and eat everything.
As one of the eight major cuisines in China, Cantonese cuisine is famous for its wide selection of ingredients. Birds and beasts, delicacies, wild vegetables and flowers are all forbidden in Cantonese cuisine. Snakes, rats, birds, insects, dogs and cats are jaw-dropping ingredients in other cuisines, but they are regarded as table treasures. For example, mainlanders dare not eat snakes. For example, there is an ancient idiom called "snake shadow reflects the mirror", and some people even mistakenly think that snake shadow will scare people out of illness, let alone eat it.
In Cantonese cuisine, snakes are the best choice. Cantonese people have a long history of eating snakes, but they are the best choice in Cantonese cuisine. There is a song about eating snakes in Biography of Foreign Bodies in South Vietnam: "Snakes are long and long, and they are a guest banquet." Today, there are nearly 50 kinds of snake gall in Guangdong, and there are many restaurants with snakes as their basic dishes. Many foreigners and foreigners come to Guangdong to enjoy tasting snake gizzards.
In fact, the omnivorous character of Cantonese people is also a manifestation of open-minded diet. As the saying goes, one side of the soil and water support one side of the people, and different geographical environments have created different regional personalities. Guangdong is the only place for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, forming an open thinking structure of Cantonese people. At the same time, because it is located in the frontier, the control power of successive dynasties is weaker than that of the mainland, and it is less influenced by orthodox feudal thoughts. The influence of the traditional culture of the Central Plains on it is weakening, which leads to greater freedom and tolerance.
Learn from others' strengths and be practical and willing to work.
Cantonese cuisine was formed in Qin and Han Dynasties. Based on the local food culture, it absorbs the essence of Beijing, Shandong, Jiangsu and Sichuan cuisines and the cooking techniques of western food. For example, the soaking, roasting and Sichuan cuisine in Cantonese cuisine are all transplanted from the explosion, roasting and frying in the north, and other methods are borrowed from western food, gradually forming a unique southern flavor.
All similar cultures can explore this relationship from historical contact. In the comparison of the same things in the two places, the greater the qualitative similarity, the more obvious the mutual spread. The openness of Guangdong culture is bound to be all-inclusive, which makes the food culture all-inclusive, and unconsciously promotes the development of food customs.
While learning from others, Guangdong food customs can gradually abandon some bad habits in foreign food and form a non-luxurious and practical style. Cantonese people pay attention to a small but refined diet. Even if they entertain guests, they will never be extravagant. They take the principle of eating well and eating well, which is in sharp contrast with some places in the north.