In China, the diet of emperors and empresses in Qing Dynasty can be called "the best in China's court". The court meals in Qing Dynasty reached the peak of history in color, fragrance, taste and quantity.
In the archives of the Qing Dynasty's internal affairs office, there are many lists of the emperors' meals. The contents of these lists are very detailed. It is very clear where the emperor ate today, what dishes he ate, what utensils each dish contained and how much he made.
Usually, the emperor has more than 20 dishes, four staple foods and two kinds of porridge (or soup) per meal. The dishes are mainly chicken, duck, fish, goose, pork and seasonal vegetables, supplemented by rare seafood, exotic melons and fruits. The rice that the emperor ate was specially cultivated in yellow, white and purple, and the first-class "Gong Mi" that was paid tribute from various places. At the same time, the administrative heads of all localities should hand in deer, roe deer, deer tail, deer tongue, deer tendon, bear, wild boar, wild duck, tiger bone, goose, wax pig, salted fish, sturgeon, perch, Luan color fish, milk wine, emulsifiable concentrate, bird's nest, shark's fin and sea cucumber in a specified amount every year, and Mongolian princes should also enter. There are all kinds of delicacies and delicacies.
In the Qing court diet, the most representative is the diet of Empress Dowager Cixi. According to records, Empress Dowager Cixi usually has more than 100 dishes in a meal, and the utensils and tableware used to hold food are also very elegant. Before meals, eat fruits and tea first. Among the dishes, there are about 10 kinds of pork, several kinds of chicken, duck and mutton, and there are all kinds of cooking methods, such as roasting, steaming and frying. The chefs have to rack their brains to put the dishes in various auspicious patterns such as Jackie Chan, phoenix, butterfly and flowers, or spell them into "happiness", "longevity" and "longevity" There are many "famous chefs and big names" in Cixi's royal chefs, such as Wang Yushan, who is good at "grasping the stir-fry" and is known as the "four major grasps"-grasping the stir-fry fillet, the stir-fry fillet, the stir-fry kidney flower and the stir-fry shrimp.
Emperor China "didn't have enough to eat"
From the Northern Qi Dynasty, Guanglu Temple became a specialized institution in charge of court catering, which was extended to the Qing Dynasty. Sui and Tang dynasties also opened up a second imperial catering institution-the food bureau of the palace province. Guanglu Temple is mainly responsible for sacrificial food, food for court banquets and meals for officials in Beijing, with thousands of staff. The Shangshi Bureau of the Temple Province is responsible for the daily meals of the emperor, and its head is Feng Yu, ensuring that the food supplied meets the dietary taboos of the emperor.
The emperor has a set of procedures that must be followed when dining. Take the Southern Song Dynasty as an example. When the emperor was about to eat, between the Palace Province and the Jiaming Hall where the emperor ate, the guards were strictly guarded and no idle people were allowed to pass by. A person in the temple province first shouted: "Dial food!" Then 10 more than 0 "courtyard home" dressed in purple clothes appeared, holding a lunch box covered with yellow embroidered dragon cloth in their right hand and a towel embroidered with red Luo in their left hand, and placing the lunch box on the dining table of Jiaming Hall. After the emperor's dishes are served, it is necessary to test whether the food is poisonous with silver products, and then it is necessary to "taste the food" by a special person to make sure that there is no problem before the emperor can eat it.
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty had two meals a day, with breakfast at 6: 00 to 8: 00 and dinner at 2: 00 to 4: 00 in the afternoon. Every day, before eating, the emperor should consult the meal list, which indicates which dishes are cooked by who, for the emperor to check and order. The dishes ordered by the emperor should be prepared in the imperial kitchen every time unless otherwise specified. There will be another case at the emperor's dining table for reward. After the emperor ate, the leftover food could be distributed to others.
It stands to reason that it is a pleasure to enjoy such a rich meal, but the emperor did not enjoy it. For example, there is such a rule in the court of the Qing dynasty that people who eat can't show what they like to eat; Even for favorite dishes, we should strictly abide by the family law of "eating only three spoonfuls of vegetables"
According to the provisions of "Zhou Li", emperors should be accompanied by music when eating. Although music was not closely related to the emperor's daily eating, later generations added various rules to show the emperor's dignity. For example, the emperor wants to eat alone, and if he is happy, he can give others (such as the queen, concubines, children of the emperor or minions) to eat with him.