After Pangu's creation, he first entered the Chao's period, and his diet was like eating birds and eating blood. At this time, there was no food culture. By the time of Suiren, people knew how to drill wood to make a fire. Since then, cooked food has entered the era of stone cooking. The main cooking methods: ① cannon, that is, drilling fire to burn the pulp; (2) stew: wrap it in mud and burn it; ③ Fill water and food with a stone mortar, and cook food with red-hot stones; (4) Baking and frying: heat the stone slices, and then fry the plant seeds on them.
In Fu Xishi's time, people learned to net fish and domesticate animals, and began to "make nets to teach tenants to fish and raise sacrifices to serve as cooks".
By the time of Shennong, we entered the era of "ploughing and pottery", agriculture began to develop, ancient medicine and medicine were invented, and people learned to cultivate crops.
Pottery utensils made it possible for people to have cookware and artificial containers for the first time, and made it possible to make fermented foods, such as wine, sugar, acyl (vinegar), cheese, vinegar and glutinous rice. Ding is one of the earliest cookers.
In the period of the Yellow Emperor, the diet of the Chinese nation improved again. When the emperor cooked the stove, the stove could concentrate fire to save fuel and make the food cooked quickly. "Steaming the grain for drinking and cooking the grain for porridge". For the first time in this period, food was distinguished by cooking methods.
A tribe invented the steamer, also called Zan, and the people of the tribe also took Zeng as their surname. Steamed salt industry was invented by Su Sha, a courtier of the Yellow Emperor (that is, salt mother, known as the only local god in Tianjin). Since then, it has not only learned how to cook but also know how to adjust, which is beneficial to people's health.
Legend has it that during the period of Emperor Yao, there was a chef named Qian Keng, who was very good at cooking and was also good at making health soup. The health soup he made also cured Yao's illness. When Yao was happy, he gave him Pengcheng (now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province), so people called him Peng Zu. Peng Zu became the ancestor of health care.
The Zhou and Qin Dynasties were the formative period of China's food culture, with grains and vegetables as the staple food. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the self-produced grains and vegetables were basically available, but the structure was different from now.
Modern people's "staple food" refers to all kinds of grains that people eat, or "whole grains"; And "non-staple food" refers to all kinds of meat that people eat, as well as vegetables, eggs and fruits.
The ancients thought: "Five grains are for nourishment, five meats are for profit, five fruits are for help, and five dishes are for filling".
Cultural characteristics
China has an ancient civilization and a long history of food culture. Summarize the following characteristics of food culture:
Four seasons are different
Eating according to seasons all year round is another major feature of China cooking. Since ancient times, China has been seasoning and side dishes according to seasonal changes, with strong flavor in winter and light and cool in summer; Stew more in winter and freeze more in summer.
Pay attention to beauty
China's cooking is not only skillful, but also has a tradition of paying attention to the aesthetic feeling of dishes, and paying attention to the harmony of color, fragrance, taste, shape and container of food. There are many ways to express the aesthetic feeling of dishes. No matter whether it is a carrot or a cabbage heart, all kinds of shapes can be carved, which is unique and achieves the harmonious unity of color, fragrance, taste, shape and beauty, giving people a special enjoyment of high spiritual and material unity.