This is to prevent others from seeing Cixi's preferences and to prevent someone from taking the opportunity to poison her. In ancient times, there was a lot of attention to eating, especially for emperors or people in high positions, and we should be careful in eating to prevent people with a heart from poisoning themselves. Therefore, people with high power in ancient times are very cautious about eating.

empress dowager cixi is also a extravagant person. In the year of Cixi's 6th birthday, the Qing Dynasty was going through a very difficult period. Not only was the national treasury empty, but even beiyang fleet was unable to confront the enemy because of the lack of military expenditure. However, Cixi doesn't care about this at all. It is natural for her old man to have a big birthday, so Cixi has been criticized by future generations. Of course, Cixi will not spend too much on food and clothing.

Cixi has more than 1 dishes in one meal. In ancient times, the higher the status, the more delicious food and dishes she could enjoy. Although Cixi was not an emperor, there was no difference between her and the emperor, so she enjoyed the treatment only for emperors. More than 1 dishes, although I believe Cixi can eat enough even if she only eats one bite of each dish, Cixi doesn't eat every dish, but only two at most. This is because in the Qing Dynasty, emperors regularly ate no more than three mouthfuls of a dish.

The reason for this system is to prevent people from poisoning the emperor's preferences. Therefore, there is still a set of procedures for the safety of each dish. First, try the poison with a silver needle, and someone must taste whether it is poisonous or not, and then go to Cixi to eat it in the end. However, Cixi never tasted much food. If Cixi didn't say anything at the second mouth, eunuchs would shout "withdraw" to hint at Cixi. Therefore, many emperors in the Qing Dynasty never recorded what food they liked to eat, and so did Cixi, who never ate more for her own safety.