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First of all, people eat corn paste and mung bean flour on the road.
1900, when Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled hastily, disguised as an old village woman, and escaped from the Forbidden City with only a few scattered silver dollars. Half a month before I entered Shanxi, I was homeless. Even Cixi herself said, "I have completely become a grandmother." At this time, a bowl of millet gruel and half a steamed corn bun are enough to satisfy the Queen Mother who lives a luxurious life all day. Eat, meet the needs of survival, the great desire of life, and the basis of demand. When survival is threatened, everything is a cloud, and filling your stomach is the most important thing. On the way to the west, the Queen Mother, known as Lafayette, is eager to meet the basic needs at the first time. On August 30th, 1900, I arrived in Tianzhen County, Tongzhou by car, which was exactly the case at that time. Tianzhen is located at the junction of Shanxi, Hebei and Mongolia provinces, and it is also the only way for Hebei to enter Shanxi. Cixi and her party spent the night in a temple called Ciyun Temple. At that time, the food and drinks prepared for Cixi were very sloppy. It is said that they only drank a bowl of corn porridge. On September 1 day, Cixi arrived in Julebao, Yanggao County, Datong, and stayed at a deep house compound in the north of Cundong Road, namely Wang Guan Tunli family. At this point, Xiaomi porridge and Wowotou have been difficult to explain to this Lafayette. The Li family prepared local specialty mung bean noodles for Cixi, as well as brine made from wild vegetables such as mushrooms, fungus, herbs and yellow flowers. But before this bowl of noodles was imported, someone came outside to make trouble. Several local young students broke their legs while picking wild vegetables on the mountain and came to beg for medical expenses. It turned out that in order to please Cixi, the eunuch secretly ordered the local camp and forced the villagers to go up the mountain to collect. Cixi beheaded the eunuch in a rage. Early the next morning, Cixi dared not stay long and ordered to leave immediately. It is estimated that because of the storm, the bowl of mung bean noodles didn't taste anything, so the mung bean noodles didn't get praise from the Queen Mother and didn't get any popularity.
The second is to avoid taboos and rename the famous Shanxi dish "Feng Pawo" as "Jinfeng Lying in the Snow".
The next day, Empress Guangxu and her party arrived at Datong Mansion, where the preparations were well done and the materials were sufficient. At that time, the famous restaurant in Datong was Fenglinge, which was very famous in the Ming Dynasty. Local officials found a famous chef in Fenglinge to cook the most famous dishes in Datong for Cixi and Guangxu. One of them is called "Fengpawo", which is the specialty of this store. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it began to spread among the people. Its method is to cook a chicken and put it in a big plate, then put some fried dry powder strips under it, and put 10 fried boiled eggs and fried tofu next to it. After eating this dish, Cixi asked the names of the attendants around her. The attendants immediately went to the door to ask the waiting officials. Officials believe that Empress Dowager Cixi's trip was called hunting in the west, but it was actually just an escape. The word "phoenix lying in the nest" was afraid of being killed, so I racked my brains to come up with a name "golden phoenix lying in the snow" to make a dish with the meaning of being lonely and elegant. This dish has since been named "Golden Phoenix in the Snow". The chef of Fenglinge also specially made 9 cages of "steamed dumplings with flowers". There are 9 kinds of minced meat in the transparent thin skin, including chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, crab, cow, sheep, pig and rabbit. The top of steamed dumplings is made of peony, lotus, rose, peony, magnolia, rose, autumn chrysanthemum, rhododendron and plum blossom, so exquisite. Up to this time, the life of Cixi and her court officials and entourage who have been running all the way has been obviously improved. After getting rid of the dilemma of corn paste, Cixi's stomach has begun to be picky about food.
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Third, enjoy the moon in Xinzhou Mid-Autumn Festival and taste 24 Shanxi cuisines at one meal.
Cixi moved on. After hearing the news, officials from all over the country sent people to deliver food and gifts. Cixi's voyage to the West coincided with the eighth month of the lunar calendar. She originally planned to go to Taiyuan for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the rainy season was difficult, so she had to spend the New Year on foot in Xinzhou. Although we are on the run, we have to pay attention to the royal holidays. Shortly after Empress Dowager Cixi got off the sedan chair in Xinzhou, she lived in Xinzhou Gongyuan. The courtyard is big and bright, and the four corners are completely swept away. In the courtyard, melons and fruits are fragrant, gongs and drums are loud and full of festive atmosphere. Cixi's personal maid recalled: "In the past month or so, I sometimes ate well and sometimes I didn't eat well. Officials, big and small, ate the most sumptuous meal along the way: four cold dishes, four stir-fried dishes, four small bowls, four medium bowls, four seas, four big plates, and finally a big bowl of soup. This table is called' Four Four to the End'. " Empress Dowager Cixi was entertained by the emperor and queen in a resplendent private room, and the food was more advanced than this. After dinner, according to the custom in the palace, the queen went to offer sacrifices to "Taiyin Jun". In the southeast corner of Hiram's hospital, a sacrificial table was placed and incense was inserted. There are four plates of fruit and four plates of moon cakes on the table. The moon cake is half a foot high. In addition, in the middle of a big wooden plate, there is a round moon cake with a diameter of one foot, which is specially made for rabbit sacrifice. There are also two new edamame and four bowls of green tea. As a result of fleeing abroad, Empress Dowager Cixi and her party became more superstitious, fearing to offend ghosts and gods and bring disaster to themselves. This is especially true for Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, whenever there is an opportunity to kowtow to ghosts and gods, everyone is vying to participate. They were very pious in Yue Bai, and prayed to God to bless Cixi for only one day's rest in Xinzhou. However, among the gifts from local officials, there is still a famous place that attracts attention. At that time, State official Xu Handu presented a tile cake made by Ma Hui Town Master Wang Fenglong. After eating it, Cixi named it "Dragon and Phoenix Tile". Therefore, Xinzhou's tile cakes have been favored by the royal family. Since then, their fame has been growing and they have become a famous food.
Fourth, the small shop in Taiyuan spent tens of thousands of silver dollars in two hours.
On September 10, on August 17th of the lunar calendar, Cixi finally arrived in Taiyuan. In Taiyuan, the Governor's Office decorated the palaces of Cixi and Guangxu, and all the furnishings were prepared for the emperor to visit Wutai Mountain during Jiaqing period. I didn't use it in those years, but this time it happened to be used to entertain Cixi. Her maid-in-waiting said that everyone in Taiyuan felt like being in a palace. Empress Dowager Cixi is famous for her luxurious diet. De Ling, a female official who once worked beside Cixi, commented on Cixi in the book Yu Xiang Lu: "Empress Dowager Cixi's life can be said to be' eating'." In Taiyuan, Cixi's dietary standards have been greatly improved. After more than half a month, Cixi and her party moved on. They tipped off the news in a small shop in Taiyuan, and spent tens of thousands of silver dollars in more than two hours, so the cost of the queen mother staying for one night was higher: according to records, in Xugou, 52,000 silver dollars were used locally. 10 On June 2nd, Cixi and her party entered Qixian County, Jinzhong, and were given a grand reception. The Qiao family even presented delicious food. According to the records of Liu Dapeng in Qing Dynasty, the catering level of Shanxi merchants was quite high at that time: "The business here is very luxurious, and all merchants are called light meals, but in fact, there are rare treasures, giant turtles and fresh fish, and all the delicious food is delicious. Because of custom, there is no such thing as doing something wrong. " The standard of canteen for employees of Shanxi merchants is close to luxury. In the face of the visit of the supreme ruler at that time, it was considered a rare opportunity, and they naturally tried their best to make a fuss about the diet of the Queen Mother. There is nothing wrong with high standards. The key is to pay more attention to the degree of exquisiteness. When Cixi arrived in Qixian in August, just before and after the second Mid-Autumn Festival, the Qiao family gave Cixi a kind of moon cake called "Snow Lotus Crisp". This kind of moon cake was baked by a famous time-honored pastry shop in Qixian at that time. The cakes made in this shop are delicious and exquisite, while the "Snow Lotus Crisp" is made for the Qiao family, which most people can't eat. Apart from its amazing taste, this cake is as famous as its name. It is called skin-like snow, shiny and greasy. If you don't eat, just looking at it will make people feel happy. Cixi, a gourmet who is very picky about food, can't help but praise. After the Empress Dowager Cixi arrived in An, she also ordered people to take "Snow Lotus Crisp" from Qiao's home for her to taste and give it to the accompanying ministers, princes and Gege. Since then, every Mid-Autumn Festival, the Qiao family will send people to Beijing to present "Snow Lotus Crisp".
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Houma gave a banquet in Manchu and Chinese for the driver, and spent 202,000 silver in two days.
When Cixi and her party went to Houma, local officials in Houma began preparations a month ago, and the local government specially recruited 80 chefs. Running day and night, carefully configured, Manchu-Han banquet 108 dishes, all guaranteed supply. Quwo, Wenxi and other places have followed suit. Wenxi spent 200,000 taels of silver in two days, which is equivalent to the sum of money, grain and tax in the county for three years. According to the regulations of the Qing dynasty, the standards of accommodation and food supply for officials at all levels must be implemented according to their positions. Not to mention the standards of the queen mother and the emperor, just the princes and ministers will provide a "Baba" every day, including eight dishes and eight bowls of chicken, duck, fish and delicacies; Middle-and lower-level officials give a "288" every day, the number of dishes remains the same, and the quality is slightly lower than that of "88"; Even the entourage guards can't be lower than the standard of "the next six or six", and chickens, ducks and vegetables are indispensable. In more than a month, Cixi and her party have completely changed from eating steamed bread and grass into a standard royal canteen in Jinnan, Shanxi. Nowadays, Houma also has famous local dishes such as "Fishing for the Moon at Sea" and "Long Xianbao", which have been handed down by chefs in the imperial kitchen, and can be regarded as the contribution of Cixi's westward journey to Shanxi's famous local dishes. Cixi's trip coincided with the drought in Shanxi, and the huge reception expenses undoubtedly made the local economy in Shanxi worse. However, in terms of diet, it successfully completed an intimate communication between the royal family and the people. The chefs in the Forbidden City learned how to make steamed bread and grain bases, and the royal Manchu banquet and dishes also floated to the people, enriching the Sanjin cuisine.