Chinese culture is extensive and profound, and food culture is also an important inheritance. Because food is the most important thing for people, the demand for food is a proposition that cannot be escaped from ancient times to the present. In order to enjoy more delicious food, various delicacies were developed later. However, what did the poor in ancient times eat?

Recently, many time-travel dramas have emerged one after another and are extremely popular. Many people even dream that one day they can time-travel to ancient times. Here, the editor will say "no need"! Not to mention that the material living conditions in ancient times were very poor. Most people wore coarse linen and linen clothes. Just eating alone would deter most people, especially a foodie like me. If I were to go back, I would probably The editor will go on a hunger strike and die. Because in ancient times, the food that ordinary people ate was really poor and very simple.

Nowadays, three meals a day have become the basic meal for Chinese people, but for the ancients, there was no such thing as three meals a day. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, people only ate two meals a day. Due to underdeveloped agriculture and the amount of food production was not satisfactory, two meals a day depended on people coming. When the harvest is not good, it is not impossible to reduce the meal to one meal a day or several meals a day.

However, after the Song Dynasty, as the economy began to prosper, agriculture was greatly improved, and night markets began to appear, so two meals a day became three meals a day. But this only works for the rich. The poor still have two meals a day.

So what do poor people usually eat? If you don’t have enough food, you won’t be able to eat well. Before the Spring and Autumn Period, chestnut (now millet) was more popular. At that time, chestnut was the staple food. It was okay for making porridge, but it was rough for other things.

Later on, times slowly changed, and humans became smarter and smarter. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were more types of vegetables, not just millet and rice, but also wheat, soybeans, and green onions. Yeah, leeks and other dishes. At this time, people's diet gradually became richer, and it was no longer just monotonous rice porridge. However, there were still not many cooking techniques. They would only put these dishes in a pot and cook them together. For example, the stew we ate had no seasonings when it was stewed in a pot, so the food was still very bland and tasteless.

It can be seen that the poor people in ancient times had a lot to eat. Without oil and salt, it is basically still some rather simple whole grains. Nowadays, it seems to be quite green and healthy, but if you insist on eating these, whether you are full or not, it may easily lead to malnutrition. It’s hard to imagine how the ancients survived. If we traveled back in time, we probably wouldn’t be able to survive three meals a day.