First, the origin of eight major cuisines. We like to eat different dishes in different seasons, such as leek in spring, eggplant in summer, fungus in autumn and cabbage in winter. The environment and personal habits of each region are different.
Due to regional differences, everyone has their own unique homesickness for food. After thousands of years of evolution and competition, every different region has achieved the commanding heights of hometown cuisine, thus forming a cuisine with local characteristics. With the great migration of population, their delicacies are gradually recognized by all China people.
With the superb skills of chefs and the protection and development of the inheritors of major cuisines, different cuisines have emerged in China, namely, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Huizhou and Zhejiang.
Second, China's food culture originated in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. At this time, people began to realize the formation of the banquet. In the Northern Song Dynasty, banquets and cuisines gradually became schools. Generally speaking, the specifications of banquets are higher than daily life, and there are big banquets and small banquets according to personal needs.
But the food in the south is sweeter and the food in the north is salty, which has become a recognized universal phenomenon. Just like a bowl of tofu brain, southerners like to eat sweet mouth with sugar, while northerners like to eat salty mouth with shrimp and seaweed with seasoning. This is the difference of climate and culture between north and south, which affects taste preference.
Every cuisine has different preferences. For example, Shandong cuisine originated in Shandong, salty and fresh, with thick red sauce. Its representative dishes are three-silk shark's fin and nine-turn large intestine, with a long history. Cooking is more difficult, and it also tests the basic skills of chefs.
Sichuan food tastes spicy, and heavy oil tastes delicious, because of the humid areas. Sichuan hot pot and kung pao chicken have become a major feature of them, and fish flavor is also a major feature. Cantonese cuisine advocates the original flavor and originates from Lingnan. Hakka cuisine holds up half the sky of Cantonese cuisine, such as boiled chicken and boiled shrimp, and has become the master of Cantonese cuisine in Hua Dan, Hua Dan. It seems simple, but there is another mystery.
Su cuisine is famous for stewing soup and hanging soup, such as dried chicken soup, which looks ordinary, but it is often not so authentic in other areas. Although it looks ordinary, it has its own uniqueness. There are also the Buddha jumping wall of Fujian cuisine, the West Lake vinegar of Zhejiang cuisine, the first-class Anhui cuisine and the bacon flavor of Hunan cuisine. They are sweet or salty, each with its own characteristics, and each dish has a chef's secret recipe.
Third, the state banquet. When it comes to banquets, we have to mention state banquets. State banquet refers to a formal banquet held in China to entertain important guests from other countries or people from different industries on important festivals.
Generally speaking, this is a high-class banquet, which draws on all the advantages of others, takes the core of the eight major cuisines, and takes health preservation and taste as the main purpose. It needs to meet a certain standard, that is, it not only tastes good, but also needs to meet a certain standard. It seems simple, but it is very difficult to operate.
The reason why a state banquet is called a state banquet lies mainly in the significance it represents. The difference between a state banquet and other banquets is that it represents the culture that our country is characterized by banquets and wants to convey to other countries.
The state banquet is particularly strict with the chef's technical requirements. It is said that chefs must be asked to shave their heads in the kitchen and are not allowed to go in and out at will. In addition, excellent cooking is also the first condition, and all the dishes should be completed in a short time. A chef's lifelong wish is to be the chef of the state banquet. It is he who makes the state banquet represent a higher level.
In addition, there are many taboos at state banquets. For example, Sichuan food will reduce the amount of spicy food, so we can't let them talk about something important with anger, can we? Huaiyang cuisine, on the other hand, reduces the original weight of sugar, trying to make all foreign guests adapt to it and make it healthier and more suitable.
Fourth, why not use Shandong cuisine, the first of the eight major cuisines, for the state banquet? Shandong cuisine, which originated in Shandong, is a spontaneously formed cuisine. It has a long history and is the most difficult dish to test the chef's skills. But with the passage of time, the major cuisines have developed more famous dishes because of Shandong cuisine, and at the same time, different voices about Shandong cuisine are getting louder and louder.
As a new generation of health experts, many people pursue food with less salt and sugar and light taste, but Shandong cuisine is time-consuming and laborious, which is relatively more important. Careful observation will reveal that Huaiyang cuisine is the main state banquet, and the proportion of Shandong cuisine is gradually decreasing.
Why is this? The main reason is that foreigners' eating habits are slightly different from those of China people, and their tastes are lighter. Some famous pot-stewed dishes in Shandong cuisine can't appear as main courses. So it's not that Shandong cuisine is not good enough, on the contrary, it may be too good. Shandong cuisine is the big brother of the eight major cuisines. Because it is a very test of knife work, so the appearance is particularly beautiful, and because of the complex process, it has become a compulsory course for many chefs to take the exam.
And the masters who are good at it have become particularly precious. According to Shandong natives, Shandong chefs who generally don't have two brushes are afraid to open authentic Shandong restaurants, because Shandong cuisine is not only expensive in raw materials, but also extremely tests the chef's kung fu. Shandong cuisine is like a watershed, throwing many teachers who have no talent and are unwilling to work hard at the door of Shandong cuisine.
Shandong cuisine is indeed an official dish from ancient times to the present, with high cost and extremely wasteful labor. Shandong cuisine is not as close to the people as other dishes, and it is the first in the cuisine.
Just like Sichuan cuisine, its national popularity stems from its cost. In any small restaurant, you can buy similar dishes at the same price. However, the three-silk shark fin in Shandong cuisine turns into a large intestine, and ordinary restaurants can't afford these two giant buddhas.
You really can't tell which is more authentic, because the above reasons make the audience of Shandong cuisine smaller, and also make several other cuisines have an atmosphere of contention. Compared with state banquets, people may be more familiar with popular dishes, because the origin of the eight major cuisines has been the most common dishes on the table of our people from the beginning.
As a dish, we must first satisfy the enjoyment of taste buds, which is also because most of our staple foods are unpretentious, such as steamed bread, steamed bread and noodles, which can fill our stomachs.
If there is no food, then life always feels that there are two flavors missing. Delicious dishes of various cuisines contain five flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty, all of which are said to have five flavors of life. The five flavors in this fireworks also represent the profound experience of the masses on life.
This is why with the progress of history, we are more and more picky about taste buds, because we are no longer grateful just to eat, like our predecessors. The abundance of life gives us time to pursue better things, and so does food, clothing, housing and transportation.
People's pursuit of taste buds has triggered the chef's research and development of dishes, because the market determines the demand, and with further demand, there is a market. Imagine, in an era of famine, do you still care about the sweet potato in your hand? As long as you don't starve to death, even chewing wax is delicious on the earth.
Only when the society develops to a certain height can people's pursuit become conscious in the big environment. Only in this way can chefs everywhere have the ability and time to develop more complex and delicious food. Look at Africa. There is no cuisine at all. It's good to be full
Five, the cultural story of Shandong cuisine. We have eight major cuisines. Fortunately, these eight cuisines have their own inheritance, and behind each dish, there are different stories. Just like Shandong cuisine, let's take the four-happiness ball as an example. The meatballs are mainly meat, and four round meatballs are evenly placed on the plate.
It is said that it came from Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Zhang Jiuling crossed Longmen once as a down-and-out scholar, became the top scholar of the dynasty, and was recruited as the son-in-law by the emperor. That year, Zhang Jiuling's hometown was flooded and his parents were nowhere to be found. On the day he married the princess, it was reported that his parents had found them.
At this time, the servant who had just served came over with a chubby meatball in his hand. Zhang Jiuling was in a good mood, so he talked to the servant and asked him what the name of the dish was. The servant is also a little clever, so he made a joke: this is Philip Burkart, and her husband is named champion, her husband is named Sanyuan, and the family reunion is named Philip Burkart.
After a little thought, Zhang Jiuling changed the four circles into four happiness. He thinks that four happy parties are more meaningful and louder than four circles. Since then, four happy parties have become an indispensable finale at the wedding reception. I want to come, but also to touch the four major pleasures of life of the Prime Minister.
From the sacrifices of Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the ordinary delicacies on people's tables, from the vigorous development of different cuisines to the different improvements in state banquets, eating this word, which is of great concern to everyone, has never been decided by one person's mouth, and even represents different cultures and beautiful memories behind it.
From Shandong cuisine to Hunan cuisine, no matter what kind of cuisine, there is always a dish that can impress you. Maybe you are a slightly better gourmet. Then, you can also travel around the world, taste every kind of food and see who is the best in your heart.