Second, a brief introduction to Liuzhou food culture
Sweet: Liuzhou people are so sweet because it has the effect of clearing away lung heat and moistening lung. There are more than ten kinds of sweetness in Liuzhou population, such as eight-treasure rice, mung bean porridge, millet porridge, kelp syrup, lily powder, peanut syrup, peanut paste, corn syrup, sweet potato syrup, egg liqueur, red dates, tremella and so on. The more advanced ones are lotus seed syrup, ginkgo stewed eggs, tremella fresh milk, stewed milk and stewed eggs. These desserts are all over the streets of Liuzhou, from dessert stalls to star-rated hotels.
(snail powder)
Spicy: Spicy is an essential condiment in Liuzhou diet. Although not everyone likes spicy food in Liuzhou, it is also necessary at the table, especially in restaurants and rice stalls. On the dining table of a restaurant, guests are usually served a small spicy dish made of pepper, garlic, onion and soy sauce. Some people like to order one or two small plates of sour peppers as snacks before eating. There are fried Chili powder, fresh Chili sauce and Chili sauce on the pepper stand, and diners have their own needs. In addition, Liuzhou people are still thinking about "spicy" and created snail powder, which is a folk snack known for its spicy, sour, fresh and fragrant taste. Although the drama of spicy snail powder makes many people daunting, it makes more friends who like spicy food full of praise, so it is not surprising that some people see someone sweating shirtless and eating powder with a paper towel on a hot day. It is also deeply loved by Liuzhou people and even foreigners because of its spicy taste and a wide variety of ingredients. One thing that Liuzhou people who have lived in other places for a long time must do after returning to Liuzhou is to run to the powder stall and have a bowl of snail powder. This shows the importance of spicy food in Liuzhou diet.
(brewed with bitter gourd)
Bitterness: When it comes to bitterness, Liuzhou people will think of Liuzhou herbal tea. The so-called bitterness mainly refers to herbal tea and "Wang Lao Ji", "Liu Le Xian" and other summer drinks. As for bitter vegetables and bitter melons, they are also common on the dining table of Liuzhou people. Liuzhou people love "bitter" food for a reason. It belongs to the subtropical zone, and the summer climate is hot, so people are prone to get angry, or have a sore throat or a blistering mouth. They must often drink and eat the tea and vegetables listed above to reduce calories, so herbal tea stalls can be seen everywhere in Liuzhou streets. Some people even drink herbal tea in winter to get rid of the greasy taste of hot pot.
(Liuzhou sour snacks)
Acid: The most characteristic is "acid". Girls in Liuzhou love sour food. Liuzhou sauerkraut is not only crisp and delicious, but also rich in variety. Mustard, radish, cucumber, beans, peppers, taro seedlings, sword beans, onions, various vegetable stalks, ginger, garlic, pineapple, plums, peaches, Chinese cabbage, radish seedlings and papaya can all be used to make hot and sour snacks. Some stores make it into acid series products, which contain colorful plastic boxes, which are colorful and very bright. Sour food is very popular in Liuzhou because it can stimulate appetite and help digestion. Especially in summer, a bowl of cool rice porridge with a bowl of delicious sauerkraut is the best. In addition, there are many ethnic minorities living in Liuzhou, and some ethnic dishes, such as Miao cuisine and Dong cuisine, include sour meat and sour fish. Unlike ordinary vegetables that can be eaten in three to five days, sour fish and sour meat have to wait for three to five months before they can be taken out. However, although the curing cycle is long, it can be preserved for a long time. Some pickled products can be stored for decades, and the longer the time, the better the taste. When eating, there is a tradition of eating sour fish directly in many places, but now it is rare to eat like this, and it is not worth advocating. More methods are frying or baking sour fish and meat. The drier the fish is processed, the richer the taste will be, and it has the penetrating power of "smelling its fragrance within a hundred steps".
(Sour fish and sour meat)
Baijia Banquet: It is a unique dietary custom of the Dong people, also known as "joint meal" and "long table banquet", which has a history of hundreds of years in Sanjiang. Whenever the village visits each other or has special distinguished guests to visit or celebrate the holidays, every household in the village brings its own special dishes, wine and vegetables, sets a long table in Gulou Ping, eats and drinks hundreds of "repeat customers" dishes and enjoys hundreds of blessings. At the dinner table, you come and go, and flowers are blooming. Everyone is chatting and singing wine songs. The scene is very lively. There is a saying in Sanjiang Dong area that "eat a hundred banquets, be blessed by a hundred families and enjoy a hundred years of life". Therefore, the banquet is the highest etiquette for collective hospitality in Dong areas.
(Dong Baijia Banquet)