China people eat concepts. Or in a popular way: eating culture. This makes the diet problem social (even artistic), not just a physical activity.
Japanese people are full of food all day, so naturally, the process of drinking tea is also refined into a tea ceremony close to philosophy, which means seeking truth in the breeze, bright moon, flower arrangement and utensils. China people are even more remarkable. They regard three meals a day as conscientious homework, and take pains to pursue the amazing artistic effect. Delicious! It is a popular compliment. Therefore, the piety of gourmets is no less than that of painters or sculptors, and their experience of beauty is even more comprehensive: color, fragrance and taste, even the hidden tongue, are mobilized and become tools for appreciation.
When a big dish is put on the table in an orderly way, it's like opening a curtain over a certain artwork, and one or two heartfelt cheers can be heard from time to time. Of course, this is what the chef hiding in the background is looking forward to. The guests toasted each other as if they were having 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 that: make a little eyebrow criticism between the lines. Whether it's cold dishes or stir-fried dishes, they must finally stand the cool comments of chopsticks.
In China, the launch of every banquet is shrouded in a warm atmosphere like the launch of a new boat. And every diner is a skilled old sailor, or a potential judge. No wonder the owners of restaurants are good at seeing the faces of their guests. You can know the chef's level by looking at the guest's face. The highest state of China culture is a happy word. This is also a Chinese character that China people love most. And eating is the best foil to this kind of happiness. Cheerful, the host is naturally satisfied. The traditional wedding banquet was brought to the extreme by the Manchu-Han banquet in the Qing Dynasty. From its name, we can feel the meaning of national unity and strong alliance. Authentic Manchu-Han banquet should 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 crosses on their chests before eating, saying, "God bless you, thank God for the bread and salt". Most people in China are atheists, but they are full of the feeling of being masters of their own house when drinking wine. A full meal (it would be better if you could hold a poem) is the closest freedom to them. It can be seen that this nation lacks a sense of religion, but it has a strong artistic atmosphere. In my imagination, gourmets are folk artists with ancient traditions.
Western food reflects the shadow of private ownership. They manage their own plates and use knives and forks to facilitate the division of interests. Chinese food embodies the most simple * * * productism. China people gathered around the table and inherited the genetic genes of the primitive clan commune. Everyone ate meat and drank wine, and everyone could have a piece of the action. It is difficult to break the tradition of pot rice. Fortunately, the dining table in China is also the most cohesive place, and the outlaw style of sharing weal and woe is very popular. China people can have the illusion that all the people in the world are brothers and the world is one, and this virtual affection greatly increases their appetite after all. Therefore, when people in China eat, they are also eating the environment, atmosphere and even interpersonal relationships. Talk and eat, eat and listen. This is a kind of eating that goes beyond eating. I always think that China people's food is the most emotional and human.
China people have four cuisines and eight flavors. Sichuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Qilu cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Northeast cuisine and even Shanghai Benbang cuisine seem to be divided by warlords. But in my eyes, it's more like dividing art schools. 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, spicy Sichuan cuisine is magical realism. A pepper is sometimes worse than a cannonball, which fully mobilizes our tongue's imagination. Of course, it can also be converted in other ways: Shanghai cuisine belongs to the graceful school of Yang Liuan, and Northeast cuisine is equivalent to the unrestrained school of river of no return and Langtao, who have gone through the ages.
I like to ponder a series of special dishes: Kung Pao diced pork, shredded pork with fish flavor, Mapo tofu, husband and wife's lung slices, ancient meat, braised pork with plum vegetables, assorted vegetables, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, bean paste fish and boiled chicken. It is no exaggeration to say that these dishes, which are elegant, vulgar, gentle or high-pitched, have been passed down by hundreds of millions of people and cultivated for thousands of years, and they are like a dream. Chinese food that is more luxurious and elegant than dreams!
I once had an ideal to open a restaurant with epigrams to name all kinds of old and new dishes, such as changing the boiled eel to Shuilongyin, the pickled fish to Yujiaao, the spicy chicken to He Xinlang, the onion mixed with tofu to Niannujiao, the roasted pigeon to Zhegutian, the wax gourd pot soup to Xijiangyue, and even the fried peanuts. Besides, there is no way to change things like ants climbing trees, lion's head, fresh ground, and light shadow beef. They are very poetic in themselves. Many dishes have a rich and simple feeling, and once they are changed, they are tasteless. For example, an emperor named the folk vegetable, tofu and meatball soup Pearl, Jade and White Jade Soup, which was exquisite, but after all, it looked carved and artificial. I'd better not learn from that stupid emperor.
The reason why some dishes are unusual is that they have allusions. While we are eating vegetables, we are also eating allusions invisibly, and we can hold it precariously with chopsticks. For example, in the diffuse aroma of beggar chicken, the figure of the unknown beggar is clearly shaking. He is not begging, but is clearly giving a delicious meal to future generations. There is Dongpo pork (and Dongpo elbow), which is obviously influenced by the great poet of the Song Dynasty. And we are also eating his old man's legacy and his fame. In Su Dongpo's works, there is indeed a poem "Ode to Pork" (enough to prove that Dongpo meat is not a myth): clean washing, lack of water, firewood can not afford to smoke. Don't rush him when he is ripe, he will be beautiful when the heat is enough. Huangzhou good pork, the price is as low as dirt, you refuse to eat, and the poor don't understand cooking. Get up in the morning and play two bowls, and you'll be drunk.
Su Dongpo invisibly served as the image ambassador of braised pork and made advertisements for nearly a thousand years. I always thought: Su Xueshi had two indelible contributions to the common people, one was the Su Causeway built in the West Lake in Hangzhou, and the other was Dongpo Meat, which is really an ancient meat with another meaning. Great minds think alike, and there was a great man who loved braised pork: Mao Zedong. He believes that fatty braised pork nourishes the brain and makes people smart. Chairman Mao's poems are no less bold than Su Dongpo's. The most interesting thing is that he even has the courage to put potatoes and roast beef into his words. Mao Shi braised pork will be recommended as the main item in Hunan restaurants with Maojia cuisine or Shaoshan cuisine as the golden signboard all over the country.
can you say that eating Chinese food is not eating culture? Culture is a more important condiment than oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, ginger and chopped green onion. Sprinkle a little cultural monosodium glutamate, and you can have a different feeling.