evolution history of Chinese food culture

Chinese food culture has a long history, and China traditional food culture is not only an important part of China traditional culture, but also a branch of traditional culture with unique characteristics and individuality. Since Beijingers barbecued food with fire more than 511,111 years ago, the people of China began the evolution history of food culture.

popularization of stone mill

from the Neolithic age to the Shang dynasty, the processing of grain was primitive and simple. The ancestors roughed the grain by grinding plates, rods, Chu Jiu, etc., and it was difficult to provide a large number of hulled clean rice. In the Zhou dynasty, the appearance of stone was a leap in the primary processing method of grain. Stone is a stone mill. The primary processing of grain has changed from grinding to grinding. With the popularization of stone mill, the diet of Zhou people has been greatly improved.

Meat processing began

Compared with grain processing, meat processing in Zhou Dynasty was more exquisite. Moreover, as the primary processing of meat, it is as important as the later cooking. In particular, the selection, cutting and cooking of all kinds of meat enjoyed by the royal aristocrats in the Zhou Dynasty during sacrifices and banquets were in charge of the special official departments "internal and external". Zhou people have fully understood how to choose healthy livestock and poultry that are disease-free and have no special foul smell, and identify all parts of the livestock and poultry before slaughtering them. When eating, all kinds of dishes have a fixed position, and eating is also carried out according to certain procedures, which are determined by the different shapes cut by meat.

The appearance of Eight Treasures

The appearance of "Eight Treasures" in the Zhou Dynasty marked the formation of cooking as an important art, which showed the superb skills and scientific eating and drinking of Zhou people. Take the porpoise as an example. First, wash and peel the pig, fill the belly with dates, wrap it in wet mud, bake it dry, peel the mud and take it out. Then spread the pig with rice flour paste, fry it thoroughly, cut it into pieces, prepare the seasoning, then put it in a small pot, put it in a large wok, stew it with slow fire for three days and three nights, and season it with sauce and vinegar after taking out the pot. This dish has adopted three cooking methods, such as roasting, frying and stewing, and there are as many as ten processes. "Eight treasures" set a precedent for cooking dishes by various cooking methods, and all kinds of dazzling dishes in later generations were developed on this basis, and even the names of dishes were copied from "eight treasures", and there are still "eight treasures cake", "eight treasures noodles" and "eight treasures porridge" and so on.

Four major cuisines were born

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the integration of various ethnic groups gradually formed two major flavors in food culture. In the north, the ancient Qilu food culture has a long history, and the cooking technology is relatively developed, forming the embryonic form of Shandong cuisine, the earliest local flavor dish in China.

in the south, the Chu people unified half of the southeast and occupied today's "land of plenty". "There are swordfish in spring, shad in summer, fat ducks in autumn and vegetables in winter". Throughout the year, aquatic products, livestock, poultry, vegetables and vegetables are listed, which provides superior material conditions for the development of cooking technology. Because of the integration of folk customs, folk customs and eating habits of many ethnic groups in the south, the embryonic form of today's Jiangsu cuisine has gradually formed.

in the west, Qin occupied the ancient countries of Pakistan and Shu, and then sent Li Bing to transform the flooded land into a land of abundance. In addition, the arrival of a large number of Hanzhong immigrants, combined with the local climate, customs and traditional diets of the ancient countries of Pakistan and Shu, produced the predecessor of Sichuan cuisine, which has a great influence so far.

In the late period of Qin's reunification, the late Qin sent troops to annex Guilin, Nanhai and Xiangsan counties to establish Nanyue. In the eleventh year of Emperor Gaozu, he was made King of South Vietnam. Taking advantage of Guangzhou's location in the southeast coast, mild climate in the Pearl River Delta, abundant products, various edible plants and animals, and convenient land and water transportation, the political, economic and cultural center of Lingnan was established. The food here is relatively developed. At present, Guangdong's food culture is actually an eclectic food fashion that Zhao Tuo introduced the advanced cooking arts and appliances from the Central Plains into the mountains and combined with local food resources, making "flying, diving, moving and planting" all delicacies, which has been passed down to this day, resulting in Cantonese cuisine.

At this point, Shandong cuisine (including the northern cuisine of Beijing and Tianjin), Jiangsu cuisine (including the cuisine of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui), Guangdong cuisine (including the cuisine of Fujian, Taiwan, Chaozhou and Qionglai) and Sichuan cuisine (including the cuisine of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Yunnan), which are later called "four major cuisines", have taken shape.

Eating in Han and Tang Dynasties

With the complete birth of the unified situation in China, the Han emperors 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. The food expenses for the emperor and harem are equal to the property of 21 thousand middle-level people in Han Dynasty.

During this period, the spread of food culture in China has intensified. 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.

Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty was the center of world culture at that time, which provided convenience for the exchange and integration of various ethnic food cultures. Great changes have taken place in the traditional dietary structure of Hu and Han nationalities, and "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.

There are about 161 kinds of vegetables that we eat every day today. However, among the more than 111 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 into the Central Plains.

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 boiled or rinsed sheep and roasted whole sheep.

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.

There were many exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and foreign food culture, and people's material life had an atmosphere of advocating the western regions. The food flavor and costumes were all beautiful in western countries, and worshipping foreign countries became 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.

Tea food in Liao and Jin Dynasties

With the trading of tea, tea food also penetrated into the daily life of Liao and Jin nationalities. In the important marriage ceremony of Jin people, tea and food are all formal. The so-called tea food is just an advanced "cold utensil" that Han people often eat, that is, fried dough twists and other foods with large soft fat and small soft fat, followed by a plate of honey cakes. Only when the whole banquet is over and the guests who come to attend the wedding are treated will the "Jianming Tea" be served. Tea has become a drink that only the rich can sip, while the coarse can only drink cheese.

Kublai Khan's instant-boiled mutton

By the Yuan Dynasty, the territory of the empire had developed to an unprecedented extent, which also brought about a broad development of food culture. During this period, instant-boiled mutton was born under the push of Kublai Khan; Moon cakes have become an indispensable snack in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yuan Dadu became the birthplace of the first roast duck restaurant with a history; It has produced a famous dish that everyone is willing to taste so far-roasted whole sheep.

The Mongols' Western Expedition and the Muslims of all ethnic groups who came from Persia, Central Asia and Arabia in various capacities or volunteered to come to the east in the Yuan Dynasty merged with the local ethnic groups to become a new ethnic group in the Yuan Dynasty-Hui, and created and developed muslim food culture in China with other Muslim ethnic groups.

the extravagance of the court

the court food in the Ming dynasty was extravagant. The vegetables in the palace include the chicken fir in southern Yunnan, the smallpox mutton tripe in Wutai Mountain, and the sea plants in the East China Sea, such as stone flower cabbage, dragon beard, kelp, antlers and laver. Artemisia bamboo shoots and rotten bamboo shoots in the south of the Yangtze River, pine nuts in the east of Liaoning, yellow flowers and golden needles in the north of thistle, Chinese yam and potatoes in Zhongdu, moss in the south, oriole bamboo shoots, Polygonatum sibiricum and black essence in Wudang. Walnut, jujube, magnolia, manqing, bracken, and other vegetables, dried and fresh fruits, and local products are all available in Beishan.

Palace Cuisine in Beijing

Scenery dishes from all over the country have gathered, merged and developed in Beijing for many years, forming a unique Beijing cuisine. In the past, there were royal families, nobles, dignitaries, great businessmen and literati in Beijing. Due to the needs of social communication, etiquette, festivals and daily catering, various restaurants came into being, and chefs were employed in the courts, government offices and big houses. These chefs come from all directions and give full play to Chinese food culture and cooking skills. Palace cuisine refers to the dishes in the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty, and also absorbs many dishes of the Ming Dynasty palace cuisine. In particular, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong visited Jiangnan many times and appreciated the southern food very much. Therefore, the Qing Palace dishes have absorbed many flavor dishes from all over the country and the flavor meals of Mongolian, Hui and Manchu ethnic groups. Palace cuisine has been well-known at home and abroad, and has the reputation of being the best in the world. Beijing roast duck, a kind of palace cuisine, has a unique flavor and is famous all over the world.

the evolution of official cuisine

official cuisine is one of the special flavors of Beijing cuisine. In the past, there were many government offices in Beijing, and many of them paid attention to delicious food, each with its own merits. So far, Pan Fish, Kung Pao Diced Meat, Li Hongzhang Chowder, Zuan Shark's Fin, Left Rooster, Song Saoyu Soup and Beijing White Meat all came from the government. Tan Jiacai in Beijing is quite representative. It came from Tan Zongjun's family of Hanlin in the late Qing Dynasty, and was introduced into the restaurant by his chef. It was called "Tan Jiacai". In recent years, there have been red chamber dishes, which are also official dishes. Beijing cuisine blends with the flavor of all directions, so its cooking techniques are extremely rich, such as roasting, stir-frying, frying by fire, grilling, stewing, stewing, salting, marinating with brine, and baking and wire drawing.

Manchu-Han Banquet

Manchu-Han Banquet is a grand feast for both Manchu and Han ethnic groups. It is a banquet hosted by the royal family and nobles and the government in the Qing Dynasty, which is rare among the general public. Grand and noble in scale, complicated in program, full of Chinese delicacies, with both North and South flavors, and more than 311 kinds of dishes, it has the best reputation as an ancient banquet in China. Beijing Imperial Hotel once divided Manchu-Han banquet into six types: Mongolian pro-pan banquet, courtier banquet, longevity banquet, thousand-banquet, nine-white banquet and seasonal banquet.

Manchu-Han banquet gathers the essence of the world, and the materials used are not divided into east, west, north and south. Birds and animals, delicacies and delicacies are all in the mouth. In Qing Dynasty, Manchu-Han banquet included the so-called "four treasures" of mountains, sea, birds and grass. "Mountain Eight Treasures" refers to hump, bear's paw, scarlet lip, monkey brain, scarlet lip, elephant trunk, leopard fetus, rhinoceros tail and deer tendon; "Eight treasures of the sea" refers to bird's nest, shark's fin, radix aconiti, fish belly, fish bones, abalone, seal and pike (giant salamander); "Eight Precious Birds" refers to red swallows, dragons, quails, swans, partridges, colorful finches, turtledoves and red-headed eagles; "Eight treasures of grass" refer to Hericium erinaceus, Tremella fuciformis, Dictyophora dictyophora, Donkey's nest mushroom, tripe mushroom, flower mushroom, day lily and Yunxiangxin.

During the reign of Qianlong Jiashen (AD 1746), there was a man named Li Dou in Yizheng County, Jiangsu Province, who wrote a Book of Yangzhou Paintings, in which there was a menu of Manchu-Chinese banquets.

Manchu-Han banquet is the fruit of thousands of years' practice of China's totalitarian food culture, and it has reached the peak of human being's enjoyment of the delicious food. In October, 2115, some merchants spent a lot of money in Xi 'an, paying 366,111 yuan to eat a Manchu-Chinese banquet cooked by a hotel. In fact, the so-called Manchu-Chinese banquet is certainly not a real Manchu-Chinese banquet, because some things, such as bear's paw and scarlet lips, are unlikely to be obtained. This shows how much the real Manchu-Han banquet should be worth.

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