Today's Sichuan people are actually far from Li Bai and Su Shi.

Without the chili peppers introduced during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, would Sichuan cuisine still be called Sichuan cuisine?

Sichuan cuisine claims to have a history of more than 2,000 years.

But it’s hard to say how closely the Sichuan cuisine we eat now has to do with the Sichuan cuisine of that time.

An ironclad proof is that as early as 400 years ago, there were no chili peppers in Sichuan cuisine - without chili peppers, how could it be called "Sichuan cuisine"?

The break between ancient Sichuan cuisine and the new Sichuan cuisine was in the 17th century.

In the 17th century, the Ming Dynasty spent the last 40 years of internal and external troubles.

In the Peasant War in the late Ming Dynasty, Sichuan was the province where the war lasted to the end, and it was also the province where the economy and people's livelihood were most severely damaged.

Zhang Xianzhong's ministry established local political power in Sichuan. After discovering that it was no longer possible for him to rule China, he implemented a scorched earth policy in Sichuan.

The appalling burning, killing and destruction by Zhang Xianzhong and other troops turned the Chengdu Plain into almost a wilderness.

Research by demographers shows that the war reduced Sichuan's population from millions at its peak to 600,000 to 800,000. In the Chengdu Plain, the center of Sichuan, the number of old Sichuanese is "less than one in a hundred."

Killing wiped out the population and cut off the inheritance of culture and even habits.

The Sichuan cuisine culture centered in Chengdu was also destroyed in this process.

Sichuan cuisine is said to have originated from the ancient countries of Ba and Shu.

From the Qin Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, Chengdu gradually became the political, economic and cultural center of Sichuan, which led to the great development of Sichuan cuisine.

Sichuan people have had the tradition of "valuing taste" since ancient times. In addition, Sichuan is rich in products. Birds, beasts, poultry, and fish provide rich raw materials for Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and other seasonings used in large quantities have been used as early as the Han Dynasty.

It is famous throughout the country as a characteristic of Sichuan people's "good spicy taste".

As early as more than 1,000 years ago, "Ode to the Capital of Shu" written by Zuo Si, a writer of the Western Jin Dynasty, contained the description of "sitting in the middle of a golden barrier, with dishes spread out on four sides, wine glasses filled with clear tincture and fresh wine with purple scales".

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Sichuan cuisine became even more popular.

The poet Lu You once praised Sichuan cuisine with the poem "jade eats the Emei fungus, and gold eats the fish in the Bing cave".

But after the massacre, who could possibly pass on those intricate recipes?

After the massacre on the Chengdu Plain, only Yibin, Zigong and other places in southern Sichuan, where Zhang Xianzhong's army rarely entered, partially retained the ancient Sichuan people's habit of eating glutinous rice.

Why is Sichuan cuisine unique? Since ancient times, Sichuan people have been fond of spicy food and have liked spicy food. However, it is not just Sichuan people who have been fond of spicy food.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum, ginger and dogwood are the three most traditional spicy seasonings in China, among which Zanthoxylum bungeanum is the most commonly used spicy seasoning.

According to research on ancient recipes in recent years, it was found that in the 2,000-year history before chili peppers entered China, about one-fifth of the food used Sichuan peppercorns.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum was once grown in large quantities in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin in China.

In the Tang Dynasty, when the consumption of Sichuan peppercorns reached its peak, the proportion of foods using Sichuan peppercorns in recipes accounted for 37%.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum once occupied an unquestionable dominant position in spicy condiments. It was eaten basically all over the country. Its importance in Chinese diet cannot be compared with that of today's peppers.

However, since the late Ming Dynasty, the frequency of spicy seasonings in the diet has continued to decrease, and many dishes no longer use Sichuan peppercorns as raw materials.

A very important reason is the impact of pepper that became popular during this period. At the same time, the taste of many traditional spicy foods in the region began to become lighter.

Although personal taste preferences often change, generally speaking, people in a region or a country will not create or abandon a food tradition for no reason.

The decline of Zanthoxylum bungeanum is actually closely related to the changes in the Chinese meat diet since the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The two major functions of spicy seasonings are to suppress the fishy smell in food and to remove "cold and dampness".

Before the Qing Dynasty, China's land holdings were generally more than five acres per person. Due to the small population base, a large number of mountainous areas with forests and grasslands as the main vegetation have not been reclaimed, which provides a broad space for free-range animal husbandry.

living space.

Beef and mutton account for a large proportion of the Chinese people's meat diet, and its fishy smell is an important reason why pungent seasonings are widely used in various places.

However, the introduction of high-yielding dryland crops such as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes in the Ming Dynasty triggered continued population growth and mountainous development. A large number of grassy slopes and forest lands became cultivated land. As a result, the cattle and sheep livestock industry shrank, and household pigs and poultry meat became more important in the diet.

The proportion of pork has greatly increased, and pork has become the main meat, and it obviously does not need spicy seasonings to suppress the smell.

Therefore, in the poultry and animal dishes of the Qing Dynasty, the proportion of Sichuan peppercorns dropped from 59% in the Ming Dynasty to 23%.

With this change in the structure of meat, many regions have begun to withdraw from the spicy territory and instead pursue light and mild tastes.