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The earliest theoretical basis of China's food culture should be the well-known phrase "Food is the most important thing for the people" and the well-known phrase "Food, color and sex are also important."

Zhang Guangzhi, an anthropologist, academician of American Academy of Sciences and professor of Harvard University, once asserted: "One of the best ways to reach the core of a culture is through its belly." "Eating", the most biological and materialistic level, may be the most important entry point to understand a nation's spiritual temperament and core. In that case, what does "eating" mean to China people? What medicine does the gourd "Food is the most important thing for the people" contain? Only by digging out the full meaning of "food is the most important thing for the people" and spying on all the psychological motives of this behavior can we accurately understand and interpret the endless absurd phenomena about "eating" around us.

"Food is the sky for the people" comes from The Biography of Li Shi in Han Dynasty. It says, "The king regards the people as the sky, and the people regard food as the sky." China entered the farming era very early. In the long agricultural society, due to the low level of productivity, relatively small social population and frequent natural and man-made disasters in history, people have to pay more attention to the problem of food and clothing. In ancient times, the country and the country were said to be "the country", and this "millet" was said to be millet in some ancient books, and cereal in some books. In short, it was a kind of food. In ancient times, millet was always regarded as the king of the hundred valleys, so emperors worshipped "millet" as the valley god, and then referred to the country as it.

Most of the previous dynasties were overthrown by peasant uprisings or were badly weakened. It was often a severe drought, and the peasants failed to harvest. However, the government was still extorting money and the people were in poverty, and finally it was uncovered. Therefore, the root cause of social unrest was, academically speaking, because of the means of production and living, and, popularly speaking, because of food and "eating". Guan Zhong, a great statesman in the Spring and Autumn Period, warned the rulers: "You know honor and disgrace when you have enough food and clothing, and etiquette when you have enough food and clothing." He believes that governing the country is a "herdsman", that is, the way to govern people is to let them have food, and then they will abide by the law and understand the rules. It is related to the country, and "food is the most important thing for the people" is not only at the core of China's food culture, but also the foundation of the country. All the ruling classes in the past dynasties valued agriculture over commerce, and the country always centered on agriculture.

Zhou Shu introduces eight national events ("eight policies"), the first is food-in today's words, it is to rise to the political height, and there is no agricultural instability, which is overwhelming. "Biography of Wei Shu Li Biao" said: "A country has no three-year reserve, which means that it is not its country." Grain is the most important strategic material. In ancient times, storage was regarded as "the great destiny of the world", and all dynasties attached great importance to it, actively building storage facilities and doing everything possible to raise grain. In Xia Dynasty, the storage system officially became one of the basic systems of the country. Until the early 199s, China's grain policy was "unified purchase and marketing" for decades, with a high degree of monopoly. Even now, it has not been fully liberalized.

In addition, China's household registration system, taxation system and salary system all take this as the basic criterion. China's superstructures such as etiquette, morality and ethics are built on such an economic basis, and all irreconcilable social contradictions are also concentrated here. Therefore, the political reforms and reforms in the past dynasties are usually about agriculture and revolve around eating. On the other hand, the system keeps the food culture from sinking and endless.

Therefore, food culture is a kind of agricultural culture in the final analysis, and it is at the core of agricultural culture. This standard is the same in the world. Looking around China and the world, most of the places where food originated used to be areas with highly developed agricultural culture, not commercial cities. Such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Paris and other places. Because businessmen or capitalists live in a fast pace, they are too busy with business to eat. Landlords, on the other hand, are a typical leisure class, with fertile land in hand and just reaching out to collect rent. They have plenty of time to eat and study food.

In the history of China, apart from those who can open up food sources, people who improve their "eating skills" have a particularly prominent social status, that is, chefs. Shakespeare once said, "A cook who can't lick his fingers is not a good cook." Tolstoy described the charm of chefs in this way: "God sent us food, but the devil sent a chef." The western evaluation of chefs is nothing more than this. They are excellent craftsmen or artists. In the history of China, the status of chefs is much higher. The ancestors who invented cooked food and were good at cooking were all regarded as saints. For example, the legendary Suirenshi, Fu Xishi, Shennongshi, etc. were honored as the ancestors of the Chinese nation by later generations because of their great achievements in opening up food sources or teaching people to cook food. The first chef with a proven history was Shao Kang four thousand years ago. He was the king of the Xia Dynasty.

"slaughter" also means management and presiding in Chinese, such as dominating and dominating. As the saying goes, "kill the son" means "make up your mind", "give instructions" and "make a decision". There was also an official name in ancient times: Taizai. "Prime Minister" is of course the highest official position in ancient times. It is also recorded in Historical Records and Biography of Chen Ping that Chen Ping, the Han Dynasty, presided over the slaughter and distribution of meat at the township celebration when he was young. Because the distribution was the most even, the folks said, "It is good for Chen Ruzi to be slaughtered!" And think that he will certainly become a good "slaughter" in the future. The three "kitchen gods" in the history of China all became great officials. According to the legend of immortals, "Peng Zu" pioneered "pheasant soup" (wild chicken soup) with pheasant and five flavors, and cured the stomach disease of Emperor Tang Yao. He was made a vassal of Dapengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu), so he was called "Peng Zu". Yi Yin was good at cooking goose soup and fish sauce. He not only got rid of slavery, but also became the founding country of Shang Dynasty. Yi Ya, also known as Di Ya, is said that Yi Ya was originally a cook who opened a restaurant. Because he was good at seasoning, he ingratiated himself with Qi Huangong and became a favorite. In addition, Jiang Shang, the founding father of the Zhou Dynasty, fished, slaughtered cattle and sold rice before entering politics, which was a beautiful talk. It can be seen that at that time, it was "a good cook is an official."

Even Confucius, a declining aristocrat, a thinker and sage full of resentment, came out with ulterior motives and taught strategically: "eat drink man woman, people's great desires are profound." List "eating" as the first nature and fundamental appeal of human beings; Tactically, it is emphasized that "the food is not refined, and the food is not fine." List eating as an important pleasure in life. For thousands of years, people have really taken "eating" as their bounden duty and happiness, except for the well-known saying that "life is alive, food and clothing are two words." It can also be seen in the most popular couplets in rural areas, and the most corresponding to "national prosperity and people's security" is "abundant crops" or "good weather" Nowadays, some restaurants often use it as a rhetoric, and some even directly name the store "Food is the most important thing for the people".

Promote "eating" as the ultimate goal of life, and "eating" is no longer a means or a condition, but a goal; It is no longer just a future, but a foundation. So it's not hard to understand why China people put banquets in temples and graves, which is not so much a homage to ghosts and ancestors as a worship to food and taste. It is said that there is no systematic religion in China. It turns out that our religion is "eating and teaching"!