When it comes to vegetarianism, people always think it has something to do with Buddhism. Actually, the vegetarian origin of China people has nothing to do with Buddhism. According to "A Brief Introduction to Vegetarianism" written by Mr. Wang Zihui in 1996, the system and habit of fasting vegetarianism were derived from the worship of ghosts and gods and ancestors. "Book of Rites" said: "Every time a child comes, millet eats vegetable soup. "and" Zhou Li "said:" If there is a big funeral, then don't lift it. "This is a" fast food "that means eating vegetables instead of killing animals and eating meat. Another vegetarian concept is derived from the pursuit of immortality. "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" said: "Fat meat is thick and wine is thick, so we should strive for self-improvement, which is called the food of rotten intestines. "and" the taste of all the treasures is full of stomach, and the stomach is full of big sputum, and the big sputum is not enough, so that you can live forever. It is an early statement that advocates eating less meat and eating more vegetarian food. There is also the idea of wanting to be immortal. "on balance? The article "Dao Xu" says: "You can be immortal because you eat fine food and light body. If scholars eat the meat of clams, eat with ordinary people, and have no subtle test, can they go to heaven vertically?

From the above remarks, it can be seen that the concept of vegetarianism in China has gradually taken root in people's hearts since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At this time, Buddhism had not been introduced to China. Although there is no essential connection between vegetarianism and Buddhism in China, there should be no doubt about the achievements of Buddhism in promoting vegetarianism and creating vegetarian dishes. After Buddhism was introduced into China, Han monks "fasted and became vegetarian", so vegetarian cooking in monasteries developed and became unique in people's diet, which further promoted the folk vegetarian customs.

On weekdays, monks in monasteries eat pickles and pickled radishes, eat yellow rice and braised dishes for lunch, and hold vegetarian meals and eat fragrant japonica rice on "Buddha Happy Day" (a Buddhist festival). The kitchen of the temple, called Zhai Kitchen and Xiang Ji Kitchen, not only manages the meals of monks, but also solves the dining problem for the monks who come from all over the country. There are many benefactors and pilgrims who worship Buddha all the year round in the temple with strong incense, and the temple has to provide them with tea and meals, thus prompting the vegetarian cooking of the vegetarian chef to pay more attention to it.

When I was in Liang Wudi, there was a monk chef in Nanjing Jianye Temple, who was skilled in cooking vegetarian dishes. "A melon can cook dozens of dishes, and a dish can change ten flavors." The fried spring rolls, scalded spring buds, roasted spring mushrooms and white lotus soup (sweets) in Wuzu Temple in Meishan, Hubei Province in the Tang Dynasty were beautifully made and were the delicacies of Buddhist children. Spring rolls in Wuzu Temple are made of wild vegetables on the temple hill, with dried bean curd, fermented soybean juice, gluten foam and various seasonings, and fried with green leaves or soybean oil bags for external use.

As a cuisine, vegetarian dishes only began to form in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and were fully mature in the Song Dynasty.

Jia Sixie's Qi Min Yao Shu in the Northern Wei Dynasty mentioned some methods of making vegetarian dishes. In the Tang dynasty, there was a vegetarian diet. In the northern song dynasty, there were even shops specializing in vegetarian food in the cities, and there were hundreds of kinds of Bianjing vegetarian food described in Wu Zimu's Dream of Liang Lu alone.

from the song and yuan dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, vegetarian dishes in monasteries have been able to match vegetarian dishes with high positions. Many dishes, such as vegetarian chicken, vegetarian duck, vegetarian fish, vegetarian ham, etc., are not only similar to vegetarian dishes, but also slightly similar in taste. Temple chefs can make "pork" from raw materials such as white radish or eggplant with hair noodles, cook "fried fish" from bean products and yam mud, imitate "pigeon egg" from mung bean powder mixed with water, and imitate "crab powder" from carrot and potato. The chef's ingenious thinking and skills meet the needs of people's eating taste. Of course, in Buddhism, there are also people who oppose the names of vegetarian dishes. They think that this is a "deliberate killing", so they call vegetarian fish "ruyi" and vegetarian sausages "agate rolls".

One of the famous vegetarian dishes in the temple, "Luohanzhai", is made of 18 kinds of raw materials, which means devotion to the eighteen arhats of Buddhism. Luohanzhai in the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai is made of * * * mushroom, Tricholoma, Lentinus edodes, fresh mushroom, straw mushroom, Nostoc flagelliforme, Ginkgo biloba, vegetarian chicken, vegetarian sausage, potato, carrot, Sichuan bamboo shoot, winter bamboo shoot, bamboo shoot tip, yuba, oil gluten, auricularia auricula and day lily with seasonings. It is plump in appearance and fresh to eat, and can be mixed with chicken, duck and fish. In addition, "Shredded eel with bamboo shoots" in daming temple, Yangzhou (the main ingredient is mushrooms) and "Huiguo Bacon" in Ciyun Temple, Chongqing (the main ingredient is gluten) are all famous vegetarian dishes, whose shape, color, taste and texture can be confused.

Temple vegetarian dishes are very popular among the people. The assorted tofu soup (also called "Wensi tofu") that Jiangsu people liked to eat in Ming and Qing Dynasties was originally made by Wensi monk in Tianning Temple. Yuan Mei, a gourmet in Qing Dynasty, praised pickled radish and pickled kohlrabi, which were originally porridge dishes of monks in Cheng 'en Temple. The assorted vegetarian dishes in the temple have already become the home cooking of Jiangnan people.

There have always been many temples in Hangzhou, and vegetarianism has influenced the people. In the Southern Song Dynasty, as the capital of Hangzhou, there were many vegetarian restaurants and noodle shops. At that time, the vegetarian dishes were already very rich. There were hundreds of varieties listed in Menglianglu, such as real chicken, cooked fish, fake roasted duck, fake sheep, fake fried white sausage and so on. Vegetarian noodles include bamboo shoots and spicy noodles, three fresh noodles and so on.

in the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China, there were dozens of vegetarian restaurants around the West Lake. In addition to the temples and vegetarian restaurants in Tianzhu, Lingyin, Hupao, Jingci and Pagoda of Six Harmonies, there are four famous vegetarian restaurants in the urban area: Kutokuhayashi, Suchun, Suxiang and Suxin. Kutokuhayashi has a long history and is a standard vegetarian restaurant. In the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), on July 13th, Lu Xun, a famous writer, came to Hangzhou to have dinner in Kutokuhayashi at the invitation of friends. Even Lu Xun, who is usually opposed to vegetarian dishes, was very interested in some famous vegetarian dishes in Hangzhou. In particular, Lu Xun greatly appreciated the dish "stewed dried bamboo shoots with sharp tips". The latter three restaurants have the reputation of "three vegetarian restaurants" and are authentic vegetarian restaurants in Hang Cheng.

It is recorded in Menglianglu that there were even more vegetarian snack shops in the market at that time in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as rich sugar cake, milk cake, chestnut cake, mirror cake, Chongyang cake, jujube cake, milk cake, shredded bamboo shoots with bran, fake meat steamed bread, steamed steamed steamed bread with shredded bamboo shoots, spinach fruit steamed bread, seven treasures sour steamed bread, ginger sugar, spicy sugar stuffed steamed bread and live sugar stuffed bread. There are also noodle shops that specialize in vegetarian food, and they don't miss fasting, such as Toutang, Shuangfeng, Sanfeng, Sifeng, Zhongdianqian, Steamed Fruit, Steamed Sheep with Soft-shelled Turtle, Large Fruits, Fried Fish, Fish Cocoons, Sanxian, Duozhen Chicken, Yuanyu, Yuanyang Foot, Plum Fish, Double Cooked Fish, Fried Oil River, Steamed Sheep Bran, Milk Dragon Bran and Bamboo Shoots Spicy Soup. We also have meals such as five-flavor bran, bad sauce, roasted bran, fake roast duck, dry-signed mixed dove, fake sheep incident, fake donkey incident, fake fried white sausage, fried onion, preserved bone rice, large pieces of sheep, red meat, fried fake mullet and so on. Vegetarian noodles, such as large pieces of paved sheep noodles, three fresh noodles, fried eel noodles, rolled fish noodles, bamboo shoots splashing knives, bamboo shoots spicy noodles, milk-washed noodles, bamboo shoots washed noodles, bamboo shoots washed noodles, Qibao chess pieces and Baihua chess pieces, are all fine milk bran and bamboo shoots powder vegetarian.

On October 12th, 25, Mr. Wang Zihui talked about imitating Tang cuisine from the food culture in China and the benefits of vegetarianism from its historical origin. He said: "The advantage of vegetarianism is that it is mainly fresh, elegant and pure, and rich in nutrition, which can not only keep fit but also strengthen the heart. Mental health is very important. Vegetarians are more calm. Regular consumption can make people kind, calm, courteous and courteous, and can also create the character of being considerate, forgiving, lenient and strict with others. "

Reference article:

The history of vegetarianism, Buddhism and vegetarian dishes (Author: Xue Xingguo)

Dream of Liang Lu (Author: Wu Zimu)

The folk vegetarian custom has a long history and is unique, and it is the temple vegetarian food (Author: Xiaoxing).