Text: Wei Shuihua, Zou Tianyi, Picture: Pixabay The peoples of East and South Asia have many historical characteristics.

For example, they all have a history of not eating beef.

Although the reasons for not eating beef are different, whether it is Japan’s meat ban originating from imperial power or India’s religious belief that cows are gods, they are essentially the same as the Chinese not eating cattle as a means of production.

Attribution.

Yes, Chinese people do not believe in God or imperial power at their core. Therefore, the reasons for the ban on beef in ancient China were clearly explained from the beginning.

On the other hand, such a delicious thing as beef has never really been discontinued in a country where China loves to eat it so much.

Although slaughtering old, sick, and disabled cattle has always been a legal business, in that era when there was no food traceability system, it was impossible to verify the origin of the beef after it became cooked food on the plate.

The "two kilograms of beef and a jug of good wine" about the heroes in the forest in "Water Margin" can quite represent the real life of the lower class people in ancient China who wandered on the edge of imperial law.

Similarly, for a long time in ancient China, wheat products were not regarded as good things to be sold in the hall.

Shu Xi, a scholar in the Western Jin Dynasty, wrote an article "Cake Fu", which listed many pastas. He said: Spring is neither cold nor hot, so it is suitable to eat "mantou" (steamed buns); in summer, when it is very hot, it is suitable to eat "bozhuang" (

Maybe it’s cold noodles); when the temperature drops in autumn, it’s best to eat “qixue” (breaded dough cakes); in the middle of winter, when it’s freezing cold, it’s best to eat “soup cakes” (noodle slices).

And "Lao Wan" (glutinous rice balls) is the best among the pastas because it is delicious all year round.

Some of these pastas were introduced from distant foreign lands, while others were spontaneously formed from the lower classes of society. In short, they have nothing to do with the great tradition.

Therefore, the encounter between beef and noodles naturally brings with it a sense of recklessness that originated from the world of martial arts. It condenses the hustle and bustle of the market and the fireworks of the world.

In the pedigree of Chinese cuisine, if freshwater fish such as saury, anchovies, and lake crabs represent the taste of the elite and are elegant delicacies praised by literati, then beef noodles are the most popular among the common people.

Lili spring grass has vitality and best reflects the regional scenery.

No: 1? From a macro perspective, beef noodles are not a native food in China. The beef noodles we eat today probably come from two major sources, the western food spread to the east, and the beef noodles imported from the sea.

It is different from the Chinese custom of separate meals at formal banquets.

The Central Asian diet is mostly about staple food and side dishes: various grilled meats, sauces and vegetables are placed on a plate with naan, or saffron, onions, chicken and long-grain rice are stir-fried into a bowl...these are in

To the Chinese, it seems to be a poor-looking dish, a mixed bag of good and bad, and can only be used as food for the proletariat, but it is a high-end delicacy in Islamic society.

Starting from the Han Dynasty, these Western ways of eating, as well as wheat native to Central Asia, began to be introduced to the Central Plains, and affected the diet of people in the central and western regions from bottom to top.

The pasta culture in the Yellow River Basin and the custom of eating cattle and sheep as the main meat in the Central Plains gradually formed.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was already a "Tangguan" who specialized in making soup cakes.

Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi once suspected that He Yan's face was as white as jade because he applied powder on his face.

Therefore, Emperor Wen sent He Yan to the palace and rewarded him with a bowl of soup cake.

Seeing He Yan sweating profusely after eating, and his complexion turning from white to red and then back to white, he believed that He Yan was really fair.

This kind of Western food spread to the East and reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin's reputation as the "Khan of Heaven" and the inclusive and open national policy of the Tang Dynasty allowed a large number of Central Asians, including the poet Li Bai, to come to the core of the Tang Empire through the Hexi Corridor and after transiting in Tianshui and Lanzhou.

: Chang'an.

These Central Asians brought with them the eating habit of boiling beef and mutton in boiled water, as well as various ways of eating pasta.

Soon, the Chinese, who are full of creativity in food, improved the Central Asian way of cooking noodles and noodles in beef and mutton soup, and formed long and thin strips of pasta that were more flavorful—later known as noodles.

In the "Jiyuan of Things" written by Gao Cheng of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was mentioned: "In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people still ate soup cakes, and now Suo cakes are also used." Suo means strips in Chinese. This is probably the earliest accurate record.

noodles.

Coincidentally, at almost the same time, when wheat was spreading further west, the Italians invented Anclle Hair, which is the spaghetti we later eat.

The same strip-shaped wheat products and the same easy-to-taste properties show that people who love food often have strikingly similar aesthetics.

No:2? After the 20th Ming Dynasty, the crop distribution of rice in the south and wheat in the north has been fully formed, and the structure of "southerns have rice and northerners have rice" has become increasingly solidified.

At the same time, as noodles spread across the country, the word "noodles" has increasingly become a synonym for noodles, rather than its original meaning, wheat flour.

For the South, which is rich in literati, noodles have been reduced to a mood that embellishes life rather than a prop to fill the stomach. Therefore, the side dishes of noodles are also striving to rely on aquatic products and fresh vegetables that are not enough to fill the stomach.

Li Yu described with great interest his "Bazhen Noodles" made with dried fish, dried shrimps, fresh bamboo shoots, sesame seeds, pepper, etc. Yuan Mei also talked with interest about his "Bazhen Noodles" made with chicken soup, eel, shrimp juice and mushroom juice.

of small pastries.