Litchi, a precious fruit in the south of China, is known as "the four major fruits in South China" together with bananas, pineapples and longan. Yulin is rich in litchi, with many varieties and a good reputation.
With the coming of summer, as a special product of South China, fiery red lychees also fill the streets and lanes. From Du Mu's famous poems "Riding a princess in the world of mortals and laughing, no one knew it was litchi" and Su Dongpo's poems "3 lychees in a day, so I don't hesitate to grow up as a Lingnan person", litchi has enjoyed countless reputations, and its fragrant and sweet litchi has won people's love. Li Shizhen introduced litchi in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Eating litchi regularly can nourish the brain, keep fit, treat carbuncle and furuncle, stimulate appetite and benefit the spleen. Dry processing can replenish vitality and is a tonic for the elderly and the weak.
Dog meat is also called "fragrant meat" or "ground sheep" in some areas of China. It is also called "Sanliu spicy meat" in Cantonese, because three plus six equals nine, and "nine" and "dog" are homonyms in Cantonese. Dog meat is not only high in protein, but also has obvious effects on enhancing the body's disease resistance, cell vitality and organ function. Eating dog meat can enhance people's physique. In Chinese medicine, dog meat has the function of warming and tonifying kidney yang, and is effective for patients with kidney yang deficiency, impotence and premature ejaculation.
For China, dog meat has a long history and can be regarded as a kind of food culture. Li Shizhen, a great medical scientist in Ming Dynasty, recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica that eating dog meat has the effects of "calming the five internal organs, lightening the body, benefiting qi, nourishing the kidney, stomach, warming the waist and knees, strengthening strength, tonifying five strains and seven injuries, nourishing blood vessels, and strengthening the lower energizer". Dog meat is regarded as a delicious food by many people, and it is also regarded as a nourishing medicine for good health. In addition, dog meat tastes mellow and fragrant, so it is favored by people. In all parts of China, there is a custom of eating dog meat in winter. There are many proverbs about dog meat, such as "Eat dog meat without bedding", "Dog meat rolls three times, the gods can't stand", "Dog meat smells good, Buddha jumps over the wall", "Summer solstice dog has no way out", "Winter solstice fish gives birth to summer solstice dog, and several feasts are held every year", and so on. The charm of dog meat can be seen!
How to eat lychee and dog meat
Dog meat and lychee, two seemingly unrelated foods that are easy to get angry in TCM theory, were put together on the hot summer solstice, and thus a "gourmet festival" was born. Northerners "eat watermelon with a stove" in winter, while Yulin people "eat hot pot with bare arms" in summer. Yulin is known as "dog meat litchi summer solstice dish". The summer solstice is an important festival in Yulin, and this time is also the golden season for fresh litchi to go on the market. In this early summer festival, at the beginning of the night, dog meat stalls in urban and rural areas, streets and alleys are packed, full of people, and extremely hot. People gather around the hot pot at the table, eating dog meat and tasting fresh lychee, or soaking lychee in wine and drinking lychee wine, chatting while eating, punching and guessing the code, and are in high spirits. Those who are interested will hold the banquet all night, which is called the "carnival" of Yulin. That kind of fun and carefree, that kind of incisively and vividly is incomparable, which is also a "unique skill" of Yulin. People in Guangxi and even the whole country have eaten "famous places". Even on this day, people from surrounding Wuzhou, Guigang and Nanning made a special trip to drive to this "feast" of Yulin people. The scene is spectacular.
There are many ways to eat it, both raw and soaked in spirits. In particular, like Yulin people, litchi is soaked in wine and then eaten with dog meat, which is both delicious and delicious, and the sweet taste of litchi is fresh, which is even more irresistible.
the folk saying in Guangxi is that dog meat and lychee are not hot together on the summer solstice, and there is a saying that "the fish on the winter solstice gives birth to the dog on the summer solstice", while "eating the dog on the summer solstice means that as long as you eat dog meat on the summer solstice, your body can resist the invasion of the west wind and the bad rain, and you have less colds and good health.
Although the Summer Solstice Litchi Dog Meat Festival is not a unique folk custom in Yulin, it is one of the most respected festivals in the local area. Yulin people entered the hottest day of summer, which lasted for several hours, concentrated consumption and lively, and the whole city was immersed in a wine, wine and meat, which was called Yulin "carnival".
On this day, no matter men or women, regardless of age, they will go into battle in unison and eat in large pieces, even if they are in the heat of 3 degrees, they will never "shrink back"! The mellow smell of dog meat and the sweetness of litchi make people seem to forget the origin of this festival, so the "Dog Meat Litchi Festival" has gradually evolved into a pure "eating festival" for Yulin people. Walking on the streets of Yulin, you will find all kinds of shops and stalls with dog meat signs everywhere: Lingchuan dog meat, Huajiang dog meat, crispy dog meat, Daoxiang dog meat ... all kinds of special eating methods are dazzling. Eating dog meat is not a feature of Yulin, but at any time of the year, it is rare for the dog meat hot pot business in food stalls, restaurants and restaurants to flourish for a long time in the whole country. On the scorching summer solstice, many diners are sweating at the dog meat stalls at home or on the side of streets and lanes to taste lychee, drink rice wine, eat dog meat hot pot and celebrate the "Dog Litchi Festival".
Yulin's food culture has existed since ancient times and is an important branch of Cantonese cuisine. Yulin's food culture has become the norm, paying attention to the taste and nutrition of dishes, and at the same time paying great attention to the innovation under the tradition. For this reason, litchi dog meat is also a kind of innovation under the tradition. Dog meat has some innovative methods, such as using traditional methods such as boring and boiling, and cutting it in white. The way to eat litchi is raw, and you can also soak it in spirits. Take litchi and eat it with dog meat, which has the fragrance and taste of dog meat, and the sweetness of litchi. "When you smell the smell of dog meat, the gods jump over the wall", "Dog meat rolls three times, and the gods can't stand", and so on, which is enough to show that dog meat is a very attractive dish and has its irresistible dietary temptation. Lingnan litchi, a famous fruit in Lingnan, is also a sought-after fruit in Yulin. The quatrains such as "spit 3 lychees, and don't hesitate to grow up to be a Lingnan person" and "Riding a princess in the world of mortals and laughing, no one knows that it is litchi" also show that Lingnan litchi is the king of fruits and has an irreplaceable position. Dog meat and litchi are cooked once in a lifetime, which is not a dish at all, but together.