An ancient poem says: "Flowers are flying everywhere in the spring city, and the east wind blows cold food and the willow trees slant." Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the traditional Chinese festivals.

Since it is a tradition, local food is definitely indispensable.

Different regions have different customs and habits, and the food customs are destined to be different as well.

Let’s take a look at the food customs of Nanchang Qingming Festival.

The delicacy "Qingming Fruit" originated from the tradition of Cold Food Festival. Like cattle, Jiangxi people themselves do not forget to have a feast during the Qingming Festival.

Although this day is filled with thoughts of the deceased, it is also a food festival.

"Xinjian County Chronicle" records that "the common custom is spring cakes, which are made of wheat in the city and rice in the countryside. The thinner ones are better." "Yushan County Chronicle" writes that "rice flour mixed with mugwort is used as fruit, which is called Qingming Festival fruit." Nanchang

People eat mustard dumplings during the Qingming Festival; Pingxiang locals make "Aimei Guo", and there is a proverb that "March 3rd, local vegetables are the elixir."

Before and after the Qingming Festival, most places in Jiangxi have the custom of making food with mugwort or wild vegetables, which is called "tasting green".

According to folklore scholars, the various rice and fruit dumplings made in various places in Jiangxi are all derived from the tradition of cooking without fire during the Cold Food Festival.

The Cold Food Festival was formed to commemorate Jie Zitui, and its customs have been basically integrated into the Qingming Festival.

In Nanfeng, Fuzhou, in the old days, a banquet for family gatherings to eat and drink was held, which was called the "Qingming Party".

It can be seen that Qingming Festival is no different than a food festival for local people.

Eating tribute dough and making "fish meat" to offer to ancestors has the same effect as tea sacrifice. It is a custom spread in Gan County to make "fish meat" from dough to offer sacrifice to ancestors.

The sacrifice made is called "Shigong". Compared with the extravagant sacrifices of big fish and meat in some places, Shigong is unique because of its "plainness".

The food tributes made of dough are very diverse, including carp, chicken, duck and other shapes. The appearance is lifelike and can be called a work of art.

According to Zhong Zhaofu, the inheritor of the art of making food tributes, all items used as "food tributes" have a praise number.

For example, the praise name of "Chicken" is "Virtue Bird", which comes from the saying in "Children's Story Qionglin" that "Chicken has five virtues, so it is called Virtue Bird"; the praise name of "Carp" is "Golden Scale"

, originated from the saying of "carp jumps over the dragon's gate"; "peach" is praised as "fairy fruit", which symbolizes longevity; pepper is praised as "spicy" and so on.

According to "Gan County Zhong Family Chronicles", during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1736-1795 AD), Gan County used food tribute to hold ancestor worship.

Scholars believe that the emergence of food tribute is the result of the Central Plains culture's custom of worshiping ancestors with pasta and the local integration. Coupled with factors such as food shortages in the old days, the use of pasta in worship reflects the wisdom and virtue of ancestors' diligence and thrift.