Snacks in Beijing ■ Hong Zhu Literati have different attitudes towards traditional snacks in Beijing.

For example, Liang Shiqiu and Zhou Zuoren each held praise and criticism.

Zhou Zuoren prides himself on being detached and tolerant in both his life and in his writing, but he is particularly picky (almost critical) about the tea and food in Beijing: “Beijing has been the capital for more than five hundred years, so how many subtle achievements should be made in terms of food, clothing, and housing?

But that doesn’t seem to be the case in reality, that is, as far as tea and food are concerned, I don’t know anything special.” He also did not hide his regrets about this famous city at all, “I always feel that living in an ancient capital city cannot eat refined food that embraces history.

Or decadent snacks are a big flaw. "We can only guess that his dietary requirements are too strict - they have risen to the heights of history and culture, and what things in secular life can withstand such.

What about the test?

Liang Shiqiu, on the other hand, highly praised Beijing's snacks - even the vendors' shouts sounded to him mellow and varied, similar to the interesting singing of Peking opera.

He also wrote a special article "Snack Vendors in Peiping", completely relying on memory to list the snacks in Beijing decades ago: enema, sheep head meat, old tofu, hot noodle dumplings, pea yellow, hot kidney beans, ai wowo

, baby cake, bean dregs cake, almond tea... I counted while reading, there are dozens of kinds.

But he still emphasized: "The above summary is only based on what I can remember, and there must be many omissions." The article itself is an emotional hymn - or it can be understood as a stubborn salute to Beijing's traditional snacks.

It's not like it was written by a great scholar.

He must have a stubborn childlike heart when recalling distant snacks.

I'm very puzzled: We are all literary giants of the same generation. Why do we have so different views on the same thing?

The answer comes after contacting their respective life experiences.

Zhou Zuoren came all the way from the land of fish and rice in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where the scenery and customs are nourishing and elegant. Even when judging Jinghua's snacks, he cannot adjust his perspective as a foreigner - he is naturally a picky eater.

The flavors of the north and the south are irreconcilable, and a touch of nostalgia often triggers his prejudice or incompatibility with foreign food. In terms of eating habits, it is difficult to empathize with other people and follow the local customs.

"Once upon a time, the sea was difficult to overcome, except for Wushan, it was not cloud." This was his stubborn belief in his heart, so he had this result: "Looking back lazily at the flowers, half of them are cultivators and half of them are kings." The preference for his hometown is at least half of the reason -

——Otherwise, it would not be enough to have such a resistance to things in Kyoto.

He also revealed in his article "Wild Vegetables from Hometown": "A few days ago, my wife came back from buying vegetables at Xidan Market. When she mentioned that shepherd's purse was sold there, I remembered what happened in eastern Zhejiang. Shepherd's purse is a common spring food for people in eastern Zhejiang.

The wild vegetables you eat..." Encountering the characteristics of your hometown (even wild vegetables) in other cities will lead to surprise or melancholy similar to meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

Human emotions are full of emotions.

As for Liang Shiqiu, he was born and raised in Beijing. When he recommended the various snacks sold along the streets in old Beijing, he was naturally very familiar with them - so many innocent childhood joys were preserved in them, and they have become the longest lasting wealth in memory.

Moreover, he was already in his twilight years when he wrote "The Snack Vendor in Peiping", and he was thousands of miles away in Taiwan. Even the roughest past events will be smoothed by the years - not to mention the unique and worthy taste of his hometown.

It's called traditional food.

It can be said that the delicacies of his hometown contributed to his beautiful article.

When he talks about snacks in Beijing, he is filled with pride as an owner. This is true for the food unique to his hometown (for example, he emphasizes that "noodles and tea have not been seen elsewhere", or "Beiping's cheese is a specialty"), and for the food that is unique to all places.

The same is true - he will further distinguish the taste of each, such as "Beiping's tofu, Sichuan and Hunan's bean curd, trembling soft tofu, with a spoonful of marinade on top, plus minced garlic", and "Beiping's tofu"

The fried dough sticks are not called fried dough sticks because they are not made into long strips... No one who leaves Peiping misses the fried dough sticks. The deep-fried dough sticks from other provinces are bloated and not flavorful enough, and they cannot be fried at all."

"The reason why Peiping's sour plum soup is particularly good is that it uses rock sugar and adds roses, osmanthus and osmanthus." Even almond tea is "Beiping's best because almonds are produced in the north."

As for the thinly sliced ??red and green radish sold along the street, "it is particularly refreshing for people in the north who simmer it next to the stove." Liang Shiqiu specifically used eight words to describe it: "This kind of radish can't be found anywhere else."

It is obvious that there is a feeling of loving the house and the bird - homesickness and everything in the hometown.

In his beautiful article, I don’t know if the delicious food in Beijing is the result of his generous words and ink to beautify it - but just as a reader, I am already yearning for it.

Through his introduction, I really hope to get to know all kinds of snacks in Beijing in person.

Later, I also followed Zhou Zuoren's route and moved to Beijing from the south.

I have explored on foot Donghuamen, Longfu Temple and other places that specialize in selling special snacks to foreign tourists. The smokey food stalls on both sides of the street really make people turn back every step of the way.

Comparing it with Liang Shiqiu's "The Snack Vendor in Peiping", some snacks finally showed the true face of Lushan - no regrets. No wonder the old man described it so beautifully.

But there are also a few that I can't find, such as the so-called cakes, have they been lost?

I can only rely on imagination to experience it forever, and appreciate its elegance rendered by words.