With the complete birth of China's unification, the powerful Han royal family went further than the Qin Dynasty in terms of diet. The emperor of Han Dynasty had the most complete food management system in China at that time. Among the officials in charge of the emperor's daily affairs, there are Taiguan, Tangguan and Daoguan who are related to food activities. They are "main diet", "main cake bait" and "main rice selection" respectively. This is a huge bureaucratic system. Under the official order, there are seven officials, including the official who is responsible for offering food everywhere, the official who manages the daily diet, and the official who is in charge. Taiguan and Tangguan each have 3, handmaiden, and the food expenses for the emperor and harem amount to 2 million yuan a year. This expenditure is equivalent to the property of 2, middle-level people in the Han Dynasty. The daily expenditure is 548, yuan, which is equivalent to more than 2,7 stones of good rice, or more than 91, kilograms of good meat. The etiquette system of the Han Dynasty stipulated that the son of heaven "food and drink must have the taste of eight treasures." They are "rich and delicious, and taste the world."
the change of seasons has a great influence on the living conditions of ordinary people in the Han dynasty. For example, Xu Gan, a man at the end of the Han Dynasty, said: "In the summer when the inflammation is fierce", even the nobles feel that "the body is painted, the water flows like a spring, the fans are ineffective, and the banquet is fresh." However, the seasonal restrictions on diet and life were reduced to the lowest level at that time by the emperor and his empresses. In winter, the emperor can enjoy onions, leeks and other vegetables that are only produced in spring, and these vegetables cost a lot of money. The official "is covered with a house, and fires are built day and night, waiting for the temperature to grow." In the hot summer, the emperor and his empresses are "hard ice is often poured, and cold is replaced by Syria."
During this period, the spread of food culture in China has intensified. According to Records of Historical Records and Hanshu, when Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty, he carried out economic and cultural exchanges with Central Asian countries through the Silk Road. Zhang Qian and others not only introduced cucurbits, walnuts, coriander, flax, carrots, pomegranates and other products from the western regions, but also introduced peaches, plums, apricots, pears, ginger, tea and other products and food culture from the Central Plains to the western regions. Today, among the cultural relics unearthed from the Han tombs in the former western regions, there are wooden chopsticks from the Central Plains. One of the traditional barbecue techniques in China, the sizzling method, also spread to Central Asia and West Asia through the Silk Road very early, and finally formed a kebab that people like to eat locally.
the southwest silk road, which is earlier than the northwest silk road, starts from Chengdu, an important town in the southwest, and passes through Yunnan to Myanmar and India in Indo-China Peninsula. This Silk Road also played a role in spreading food culture to the outside world in the Han Dynasty. For example, during the Jianwu period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, sent Fubo general Ma Yuan to the south to reach Jiaozhi (present-day Vietnam). At that time, a large number of officers and men of the Han Dynasty built cities and lived in Jiaojiao and other places, and brought the food customs such as eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in China to Jiaojiao and other places. Therefore, Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries still retain the custom of eating zongzi.
In the same period, Wei Man, a native of China, was once king in North Korea. At this time, China's food culture had the deepest influence on North Korea. North Korea is used to eating with chopsticks, and the cooking materials used by North Korea and the collocation of food by North Korea obviously have the characteristics of China. Even in cooking theory, North Korea pays attention to China's "five flavors" and "five colors".
Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty was the center of world culture at that time, and China gradually formed into a country with many ethnic groups, which provided convenience for the exchange and integration of various ethnic food cultures. The specialties of the western regions were introduced to the mainland first, which greatly enriched the food and cultural life of the mainland ethnic groups; And the exquisite dishes and cooking skills of the mainland ethnic groups have gradually spread to the west and are liked by the local people.
in the process of mutual communication, all ethnic groups constantly innovate the Chinese nation's food culture. During this period, ethnic minorities in the west and northwest were still living together with the Han nationality, gradually getting used to and accepting farming as a way of production and life, and began to live a settled agricultural life. Meanwhile, animal husbandry in the mainland also developed rapidly, thanks to frequent exchanges between Hu Hanmin ethnic groups. This change has also greatly changed the traditional dietary structure of Hu and Han nationalities. "Eating meat and drinking cheese" began to become the same dietary feature of Hu and Han nationalities in the whole northern and northwestern regions during the Han and Tang Dynasties.
Today, we eat about 16 kinds of vegetables. However, among the more than 1 common vegetables, about half are native to China and about half are imported from abroad. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Central Plains introduced many varieties of vegetables and fruits through communication with ethnic minorities in the northwest, such as alfalfa, spinach, Brassica, cucurbit, bean, garlic and coriander, grapes, almonds, watermelons and pomegranates, and spices such as pepper and sugar. At the same time, the cooking methods of the Western Regions were also introduced to the Central Plains, such as cheese, Hu cake, Qiang cooking and roasting, Hu roasted meat, Hu soup, sheep dish sausage and so on.
By the time of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, all kinds of Hu foods introduced in the Han Dynasty had gradually spread in the Yellow River valley and were favored by the majority of Han people, especially the cooking method of "Qiang cooking and roasting". The so-called "Qiang cooking" means cooking or rinsing sheep and venison; "Braised" is similar to roasted whole sheep. In the fourth volume of "Interpretation of Names", it is said: "Braised, all roasted, each with a knife, out of nonsense." It is precisely because of the delicacy and delicious taste of "Qiang Boiled and Baked" that it is favored by the majority of Han people, and it has gradually become synonymous with the cultural exchange between Hu and Han. On the other hand, the Han nationality also continuously exported the food civilization of the Central Plains to the western regions and the surrounding ethnic minorities. Among them, there are vegetables, fruits and tea produced in the Central Plains, as well as food production methods.
The Han and Tang Dynasties were also a period when the traditional diet in China gradually changed. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hu Chuang, as a kind of seat, was introduced into the Central Plains from the western regions and gradually became widely used. Because sitting on a Hu bed requires two feet to drop to the ground, this has changed the traditional kneeling posture of the Han nationality. The new changes in furniture from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties also reached a climax. On the one hand, the height of traditional bed cases continues to increase; On the other hand, the variety of new high-legged furniture has increased, and chairs, tables, etc. have all begun to be used. After the appearance of tables and chairs, it is natural for people to sit around a table and eat, which has had a fundamental impact on the traditional way of eating in the Central Plains.
Generally speaking, dietary customs are gradually formed in a long period of historical development, so they are relatively stable. However, everything is in constant development and change, and so is the diet custom of any nation. With the changes of the times, there will always be slow and gradual changes. Here, new dietary materials and cooking methods become a new variable, and the emergence of new variables is not only related to social and economic development, but also related to foreign cultural exchanges. The changes of food culture in the Tang Dynasty fully illustrate this point. The most exotic food in the Tang Dynasty was "Hu food", which came from the Han people's view of food imported from the western regions. Hu food reached its peak in Tang Dynasty after it was introduced to China through the Silk Road in Han and Wei Dynasties. "The Book of the New Tang Dynasty, Yu Fu Zhi" said: "Noble people are prepared for food." There are many kinds of Hu foods in the Tang Dynasty, such as noodles, beer and Hu cakes. The cake is fried in oil. Kelly said in All Classics, Sounds and Meaning: "This cake was originally eaten by Hu, but it was effective in China, with slight changes, so it was also named in modern times." Biro originated from Persian, and it is generally believed that it refers to a kind of food made of flour with stuffing and steamed or baked. In the Tang Dynasty, there were many restaurants in Chang 'an that operated Biluo, including Biluo with Crab Yellow, Biluo with Pig Liver and Biluo with Sheep Kidney. Hu cake is sesame seed cake with meat in the middle. Shops selling Hu cakes are very common. According to Zi Zhi Tong Jian Xuanzong Ji, when Xuanzong fled to Jixian Palace in Xianyang in the Anshi Rebellion, it was at noon. "There was no food in Judah, and Yang Guozhong offered Hu cakes from the city." Famous wines from the western regions and their production methods were also introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty. According to the records in Volume 97 of, in the early Tang Dynasty, Gaochang's mare's milk grapes and its wine-making method were introduced to Chang 'an, and Emperor Taizong personally supervised and produced eight kinds of wines, which were "aromatic and cool, with a taste of twips". Since it was awarded to the ministers, the capital began to know its taste, and thus many Tang poems singing wine were produced. The Tang Dynasty also introduced cane sugar and its sugar-making technology from the Western Regions, which added a little sweetness to the ancient diet in China, and its significance was no less than the introduction of wine brewing.
The exchange of food culture between the Tang Dynasty and foreign countries has aroused great waves for a time. In cities such as Chang 'an and Luoyang, people's material life has an atmosphere of advocating the western regions. Food flavor and costumes are all beautiful in western countries, and worshipping foreign countries has become a big trend. At that time, in Chang 'an, there were many hotels run by Hu people, accompanied by beautifully dressed Hu Ji. Li Bai and other scholars often entered these hotels, and many poems in Tang poetry mentioned these hotels and Hu Ji. Restaurant Hu and Hu Ji have become an important feature of food culture in Tang Dynasty. The food culture from all over the world brought by foreign cultural messengers, such as a clear stream, merged into the ocean of food in the Tang Dynasty. Because of this, the food culture in the Tang Dynasty can show more beautiful colors than in any previous historical period. The opening of diet life, in turn, promotes the opening of society.
In the East, Jian Zhen Dongdu also brought China's food culture to Japan, and the use of chopsticks by Japanese people was influenced by China. In the Tang Dynasty, Japanese students studying in China almost brought back a full set of old-age food customs in China, such as drinking Tu Su wine on New Year's Day, eating seven kinds of dishes on the seventh day of the first month, having a Qushui banquet on March, drinking calamus wine on the fifth day of May, and drinking chrysanthemum wine on the ninth day of September. Among them, after the Dragon Boat Festival Zongzi was introduced to Japan, the Japanese made some improvements according to their own eating habits, and exhibited several varieties, such as Daoxi Zongzi, Yi Zongzi, Ge Zongzi, Asahina Zongzi and so on. In the Tang Dynasty, Japanese also introduced noodles, steamed bread, jiaozi, wonton and sauce-making methods from China. Soy sauce, vinegar, lobster sauce, red yeast and tofu, sour rice balls, dried plums, sake, etc., which Japanese people often use for seasoning, all come from China. Interestingly, Japanese people call bean paste Tang sauce, broad bean Tang Xiang, pepper Tang Xinzi, radish Tang thing, peanut Nanjing bean, bean curd skin Tang skin and so on.
The prosperous Tang Dynasty is also a prosperous time in food, and the barbecue is the highest representative of this. What is a "barbecue"? According to the Biography of Su Huan in the Old Tang Dynasty: "When a minister or minister first worships an official, he makes an example of offering food, which is called burning the tail." That is to say, when the minister first took office, in order to be grateful, he offered a feast to the emperor, which was called "burning the tail".
how extravagant is the barbecue?
Qing Yi Lu records an incomplete food list left by Wei Juyuan when he hosted a barbecue. In the menu, there are 58 kinds of dishes and more than 2 kinds of cakes. There are 32 kinds of dishes, including bears, deer and donkeys in the north, raccoons, shrimps, crabs, frogs and turtles in the south, as well as fish, chickens, ducks, quails, pigs, cows, sheep and rabbits.
For example, at a banquet, there is a kind of ornamental dish, that is, craft dish, which is mainly used for decoration and appreciation. Among them, there is a kind of ornamental dish called "vegetarian steaming sound department", which is made of vegetarian dishes and steamed noodles into a group of Penglai fairy singers and dancers, with 7 pieces. You see, how much time and energy it takes to cook a craft dish. For example, a cake named "Gold and silver with flowers cut flat" is to pick out crab roe and crab meat, put them in a steam roll, and then cut them into small pieces of equal size. Another example is a dish called "Tong Hua Ruan Niu Intestine", which is made of sheep bone marrow and other auxiliary materials and made into sausages and other foods. The soup in the barbecue is also very delicate, such as "cold toad soup", that is, clam soup, but it should be cooled and eaten cold, such as cool minced meat, which is made of raccoon dog meat and chopped and eaten cold after cooling, similar to aspic.
These 58 kinds of dishes are not the whole menu of the "barbecue", but only the strangeness among them. Due to the long history and brief records, the exact overall scale and luxury of the barbecue banquet are beyond our real knowledge today.