Porridge, also known as rice, is a sticky food cooked by rice, millet or corn.
In the recorded history of China, the traces of porridge have always been with us. The writing about porridge was first seen in Zhou Shu: The Yellow Emperor began to cook cereal for porridge.
China porridge was mainly used for food 4000 years ago, and was first used as medicine 2500 years ago. The Biography of Historical Records of Bian Que and Cang Gong records that Chunyu Kun, a famous doctor in the Western Han Dynasty, treated Wang Qi's disease with "Hodge porridge"; Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage in the Han Dynasty, wrote in Treatise on Febrile Diseases: Taking Guizhi Decoction for a period of time and drinking a liter of hot porridge to help medicine are powerful examples.
In the Middle Ages, the function of porridge was to highly integrate "edible" and "medicinal" and enter the level of "health preservation" with humanistic color.
Su Dongpo wrote a book in the Song Dynasty, saying, "When you are hungry at night, Wu advised you to eat rice porridge, which can bring forth the old and bring forth the new and benefit your stomach." . Porridge is fast and beautiful. It's wonderful to have a sleep after eating porridge. Lu You, a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, also strongly recommended eating porridge for health preservation, believing that it could prolong life. He once wrote a poem "Eat porridge": "Everyone in the world is an old man, but I didn't realize that at present I want to learn from the people and only eat porridge from the gods." As a result, the world's understanding of porridge has risen to a new height.
It can be seen that the relationship between porridge and China people, like porridge itself, is thick and sticky. As a traditional food, porridge is more important in China than in any other country in the world. Laba porridge is porridge cooked with a variety of ingredients on Laba Festival, also known as Qibao Wuwei porridge. The legend of Laba porridge comes from India and Tianzhu. The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment, commonly known as Laba Festival, which is called Magic Weapon Festival in Buddhism. The custom of Laba porridge no longer belongs to Buddhists. Laba porridge, as a folk custom, is eaten on December 8 of the lunar calendar to celebrate the harvest, and has been passed down to this day. The earliest Laba porridge was boiled with adzuki beans, which gradually enriched through evolution and local characteristics. According to Tianyi Luo's Treasure Mirror, the porridge made of japonica rice and millet has a light smell, so it is light and comfortable, which can facilitate urination. A person is dying, but he never takes medicine. The doctor told him to eat millet gruel instead of other foods. The condition improved ten days later and recovered one month later. This is the principle that grains can cure diseases. Eating porridge not only saves time, but also tastes delicious. It's great to have a sleep after eating porridge. People say that porridge has great benefits.