China people eat concept. Or in a popular way: food culture. This makes the diet problem social (even artistic), not just a physical activity.
Japanese people can't eat enough all day, so they naturally refine the process of drinking tea into a kind of tea ceremony close to philosophy, that is, seeking truth in the cool breeze, bright moon and flower arranging utensils. China people are even more remarkable. They regard three meals a day as their conscientious homework and tirelessly pursue amazing artistic effects. "It's delicious!" This is a popular compliment. Therefore, gourmets are as pious as painters or sculptors, and their experience of beauty is even more comprehensive: color, fragrance and taste-even the hidden tongue is mobilized and becomes a tool for appreciation.
When a big dish is served in an orderly way, it is like opening the curtain of a work of art, and one or two heartfelt cheers can be heard from time to time-of course, this is what chefs hiding in the background expect. The guests toasted each other as if they were holding a small ribbon-cutting ceremony. Then they did their jobs and waved chopsticks frequently. Jin Shengtan's comments on Water Margin and Zhi Yanzhai's comments on A Dream of Red Mansions are nothing more than a little eyebrow criticism between the lines. Whether cold dishes or stir-fried dishes, they must eventually stand the "cool comment" of chopsticks.
In China, every banquet is shrouded in a warm atmosphere like the launch of a new ship. Every diner is a skilled old sailor, or in other words, a potential judge. No wonder restaurant owners are good at observing guests' faces. You can tell the chef's level by looking at the guest's face. The highest state of China culture is the word "happiness". This is also the favorite Chinese character of China people. And eating is the best foil for this happiness. In high spirits, the host is naturally satisfied. The traditional wedding banquet was brought to the extreme by the Manchu-Han banquet in Qing Dynasty. From its name, we can feel the meaning of "national unity" and "strong alliance". The authentic Manchu-Han banquet is to be eaten for three days and nights, and the tea and dishes are not repeated. This is a carnival with China characteristics: a marathon of food culture! Eating is the most daily ceremony and the most intensive festival in China.
Westerners who believe in Christ are used to drawing a cross on their chests before eating, shouting "God bless" and thanking God for giving them bread and salt. Most people in China are atheists, but when they drink, they feel like masters of the country. A full meal (even better if you can hold a poem) is the closest freedom to them. It can be seen that this nation lacks religious sense, but has a strong artistic atmosphere. In my imagination, gourmets are folk artists with ancient traditions.
Western food embodies the shadow of private ownership. They manage their own dishes in their own way-using knives and forks to facilitate the division of interests. Chinese food embodies the simplest communism. China people sit around the dining table and inherit the genes of the primitive clan commune. Everyone eats meat and drinks, and everyone can have a piece of the action. It is difficult to break the tradition of clay pot rice. Fortunately, the dining table in China is also the most cohesive place, and the fugitive style of sharing weal and woe is very popular. China people will have an illusion that all people in the world are brothers and the world is a whole. After all, this virtual feeling greatly increases their appetite. Therefore, when China people eat, they are also eating environment, atmosphere and even interpersonal relationships. Talk and eat, eat and listen. This is a kind of eating beyond eating. I have always thought that China people's food is the most emotional and human.
China people have four major cuisines and eight flavors. Sichuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Qilu cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Northeast cuisine and even Shanghai local cuisine ... seem to be divided by warlords. But in my eyes, it's more like dividing art colleges. Qilu cuisine from the hometown of saints can be called classicism. The lingering Huaiyang cuisine belongs to romanticism. If spicy Hunan cuisine is critical realism, then spicy Sichuan cuisine is magical realism-a pepper is sometimes more powerful than a shell, which fully mobilizes our tongue's imagination. Of course, it can also be transformed in other ways: Shanghai cuisine belongs to the elegant school of Yang Liuan Xiaofeng Canyue, while Northeast cuisine is equivalent to the unrestrained school of River of No Return and Waves.
I don't know western society, except politicians, thinkers, artists, military strategists, etc. , but also produced the title of gourmet? In China, gourmets are almost a tradition. Although it has always been similar to doing nothing, it is also quite enviable. In European civilization, gourmets were once absent, just as the explorers they worshipped were imported from China after modern times. But privately, I think a gourmet is also an explorer who stays at home-"Parents are here, they won't travel far", so China people have to indulge in another adventure, that is, curiosity about delicious food. Gourmets use recipes instead of maps, cups instead of compasses, chopsticks instead of paddles, sailing in their own taste and enjoying infinite scenery. This adventurous mentality has been fully exerted on the puffer fish problem. The puffer fish is equivalent to the "forbidden fruit" in China's food culture-a fatal temptation, and its delicacy is exaggerated because of its mystery and danger. Instead of shrinking, gourmets are eager to try. This kind of courage, I'm afraid even Adam and Eve who have failed in their duties will sigh.
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