In the pre-Qin primitive society, the agricultural level was low, animal husbandry and horticulture were underdeveloped, and the variety of food was not rich. Take Zhou as an example. The staple food in Zhou Dynasty was millet, millet, rice and sorghum, which were also offerings to the gods. Rice beams are only available at aristocratic banquets, and wheat and beans that are familiar to future generations are not yet popular. There are many kinds of poultry and game in the dish, and eating meat is the privilege of the nobility. The fruits and vegetables in the Zhou Dynasty include radish, bitter gourd, gourd, jujube, peach and plum. There is grain-brewed wine.

during the Qin and Han dynasties, not only the aristocratic official families could cook cattle and slaughter sheep, but also the average middle-class families could eat meat and drink. In terms of staple food, the status of wheat has improved, and civilians mainly eat rice cooked with wheat grains, while the noble point is to pour rice with soup. As for the non-staple food, according to the list of funerary objects unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, meat foods include: cattle, horses, dogs, pigs, rabbits, chickens, crucian carp, etc. It can be said that there are all kinds of animals in the sky and underground. Cooking methods include frying, frying, roasting, steaming and frying. Ordinary people mainly eat onions, leeks, winter sunflower, taro, etc., and meat is rarely eaten.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the staple foods were rice, cakes (steamed cakes, oil cakes, sesame cakes, etc.) and porridge. The dishes that accompany meals are non-staple food. Fish, meat, poultry and eggs are the main dishes for the rich, while vegetables and salted soybeans are the main dishes for the poor. Tea drinking was mainly popular in the south during this period. Wine is an indispensable item in this period, and official folk brewing is very common, such as chrysanthemum wine in Jingchu and Baxiang wine in Badong.