Mr. Lu Xun told a story seriously in his essay "Human Talk": It was noon on a hot day, and a peasant woman was working hard when she suddenly sighed: "The Queen is really happy. She is not sleeping in bed at this time.

When I woke up from my nap, I shouted: 'Eunuch, bring me a persimmon! '" Poverty really limits our imagination.

However, today we are going to discuss a serious question: What does the Queen eat?

Since the data before the Ming Dynasty are not complete, we are limited to discussing the food issues of the empresses during the Qing Dynasty.

During the Qing Dynasty, the palace's logistics support system was relatively complete.

The food, clothing, housing and transportation of the emperor and his concubines were all handled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

By the way, because Emperor Qianlong was so good at eating and playing, he once made the Ministry of Internal Affairs unable to make ends meet.

It wasn't until He Shen became the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the financial deficit was filled.

According to the "Current Rules of the Imperial Palace", the queen's food standard is the highest (of course lower than that of the emperor and the empress dowager).

What appeared in front of us was a long list of supplies: 16 pounds of pork for meat, 1 plate of mutton, 2 small animals, 1 liter of new japonica rice, 8 in 1 liter, 1 liter of yellow and old rice, 3 in 5 scoops, and 1 liter of Korean rice.

5 pieces, japonica rice noodles are 1 catty and 8 taels, and white noodles are 7 catties and 8 taels.

8 taels of wheat flour, 3 taels of peas, 1 jin of white sugar, 4 taels of pot sugar, 4 taels of honey, 2 taels of walnut kernels, 1 qian of pine nuts, 2 taels of wolfberry, 5 taels of sun-dried dates, 9 jins of pork, 1 jin of lard

, 1 catty of sesame oil, 6 taels, 10 eggs, 12 taels of gluten, 1 catty of tofu, 8 taels, 1 catty of rice flour residue, 1 catty of sweet sauce, 6 taels and 5 cents, 1 tael of green sauce, 2 taels of vinegar and 5 cents, fresh vegetables 15 cents

Jin, 20 eggplants, 20 king melons, 1 white wax weighing three liang, 4 white wax weighing 1,25 qian, 4 yellow wax weighing 1,25 qian, 10 suet wax weighing 1,25 qian, and more mutton oil

1 stick of wax (5 taels in summer and 10 taels in winter), 10 jins of red charcoal in summer and 20 jins in winter, 50 jins of black charcoal in summer and 60 jins in winter... This list includes all kinds of meat, rice and noodles

, dried fruits, vegetables, condiments, etc., as well as candles, firewood, it is simply a small grocery store.

Many people can tell at a glance that the Queen Empress uses 25 kilograms of pork every day and takes away almost half of the pigs (in ancient times, the meat yield rate of pigs was not high).

The Queen Empress doesn't have to do anything else all day long. She starts eating braised pork elbows as soon as she wakes up and eats them before going to bed at night. She can't eat so much pork, right?

In fact, these food supplies were not provided to the queen alone (although they were nominally hers), but also to the maids and eunuchs who provided services to the queen.

This group of palace maids and eunuchs was quite large in number, about 24 of them, almost the strength of a platoon.

With this allocation, more than 20 kilograms of meat per day is not a luxury.

Under the queen, there are also imperial concubines, concubines, concubines, concubines, nobles, constant presence, promises, etc.

Their food standards have gradually declined.

The imperial concubine's pork supply was reduced to 12 jins, the imperial concubine's was reduced to 9.8 jins, and the concubine and concubine's pork supply was only 9 jins and 6.8 jins respectively.

The lowest level of consent has the simplest food standard, which is: 1.8 kilograms of pork, nine boxes of aged japonica rice, 2 kilograms of fresh vegetables at any time, 1 stick of yellow wax, 1 stick of mutton wax, and 5 kilograms of black charcoal in summer and 10 kilograms in winter.

You see, in addition to pork, the promised food supply is old rice, vegetables and other ordinary items. It does not even provide eggs that common people often eat, and there is no dried fruit and other items. The standard of food is not as good as that of a landlord's daughter.

Only those who agree to give birth to a prince or princess can receive a reward of 50 taels of silver on the full moon in order to improve their embarrassing life.

Generally speaking, the staple food of the concubines of the Qing Dynasty, including the queen, was rice, flour, etc., and the only meat they could eat was pork and mutton.

There are also some dried fruits and vegetables.

Compared with the dazzling array of products in modern farmers' markets, it is still a lot worse.

chicken?

No.

Fish?

No.

duck?

No.

beef?

That is a luxury that even the Empress Dowager Cixi dare not think of, and it does not exist.