Zhang Dai (AD 1597 ~ 1679), whose name was Zongzi, Shigong, Taoan and Diean Jushi, was a famous essayist, historian and a native of Shanyin (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). His life was in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

the commercial activities after the middle of Ming dynasty were unprecedentedly prosperous. Not only are there many kinds of goods, but the proportion of daily consumer goods such as silk cotton, salt, sugar, tea, wine and wine has increased, so that the field of exchange has moved from local markets to cross-regional markets, and even as far as overseas. Under such conditions, on the one hand, the living standards and consumption patterns in cities and towns have been improved, on the other hand, people's horizons have been broadened, so that food consumption is particularly amazing. As a result, the luxury of the rich family and the intensive diet of the literati formed an atmosphere. Zhang Dai, who combines the two, used a lot of space to describe his own diet and food in his Dream of Taoan.

Zhang Dai, who claims that "the more delicious the Vietnamese are, the less delicious I am", likes to eat local specialties, but he doesn't eat them out of date, not the best food. For example: "Beijing must eat apple fruit and horse teeth pine;" Shandong people must eat mutton tripe, autumn Pak Lei, civil servants' fruit and sweet seeds; Fujian must eat Fuju, Fuju cake, cowhide candy and red fermented bean curd; Jiangxi must eat green roots and rich preserved fruits; Shanxi people must eat smallpox dishes; Suzhou must eat abalone with bones, diced hawthorn, hawthorn cake, pine nut sugar, white balls and preserved olives; Jiaxing's must eat Majiao fish breast and Tao Zhuang yellowbird; Nanjing people must eat sets of cherries, peach dates, chestnut balls, nest bamboo shoots and hawthorn candy; Hangzhou must eat watermelon, chicken beans, lotus root under flowers, leek buds, mysterious bamboo shoots and Tangqi tangerine; Xiaoshan must eat poplar, water shield, dove bird, green crucian carp and square persimmon; Zhuji (now Zhuji, Zhejiang) must eat fragrant beaver, cherry and tiger chestnut; Those who are near the sea must eat pillow melons; Taizhou must eat corrugated clams and Jiang Yaozhu; Pujiang must eat fire meat; Dongyang's must eat jujube; Mountain shade must eat broken pond bamboo shoots, Xie oranges, Dushanling, river crabs, Sanjiang Tun razor clam, white clams, river fish and shad. "And no matter how far away, as long as you want to eat, you will not hesitate to taste it. If you don't get it one by one, you will never let it go.

Moreover, Zhang Dai is good at eating crabs. He thinks that the crab is delicious without salt or vinegar. The river crab is fatter in October, and even the crab feet have a lot of meat. In particular, the crab roe and crab paste in the foot shell are thick and affordable. Therefore, every year from January to October, he holds a crab-eating party with his friends. The dishes are fat preserved duck, beef cheese, etc. On vegetables and fruits, they are matched with Bingkeng bamboo shoots, Xie oranges, Fengli and Fengling, and on drinks, Lanxue tea is served.