Corn: collectively referred to as "corn cob". Grinding into powder, finely applying it to flour, steaming nests and pasting cakes; A rough cake is a kind of porridge that can be drunk.
Millet: Ground into rice to make dry rice, braised rice and rice soup. Rice is ground into flour and spread into pancakes, steamed silk cakes and steamed nests.
Yam: It can be boiled and eaten alone, or sliced, dried and ground into powder, which is used to steam dry food and suppress wages.
Mung beans: rice stew, glutinous rice porridge, mung bean soup and bean sprouts for cooking; It can also be ground into fine powder, rolled into noodles, wrapped in jiaozi and mixed into pimples.
Wheat: ground flour, steamed buns, steamed buns, flower cakes, wrapped jiaozi, wonton, pancakes, rolled noodles and mixed bumps. Sometimes wheat coarse grinding is used to steam dry food and cook porridge.
Millet: milling rice, adding dates to make sticky cakes, glutinous rice and jiaozi; Grind rice into flour, add dates, steam and cut into cakes, and then stick them on.
Sorghum: It tastes like corn. In the past, poor households ate more, while wealthy families generally used it as feed.
In the past, the general diet of ordinary farmers was: breakfast, porridge and cakes; Chinese food, cakes and rice soup; Dinner, spaghetti, cake. Poor farmers live on bran vegetables. That is, wild vegetables, leaves, bark, etc., with a small amount of corn or sorghum flour, are cooked into vegetable porridge, steamed vegetable nest, vegetable jiaozi, vegetable cake and cooked vegetable tofu. After the land reform, life has generally improved, and most farmers can eat clean rice and noodles. In the early 1960s, when the national economy was in temporary difficulties, "melon and vegetable substitutes" were widely implemented, and yam vines, corn cobs, cake seeds and oak grass were used as food substitutes. For leading cadres and sick people, we will provide some "snacks without food" and especially "bran jujube pills". In the middle and early 1970s, in order to solve the problem of satiety, large-scale hybrid sorghum was emphasized. Sorghum has become the staple food of the masses. After the 1980s, wheat production doubled, and white flour became the staple food. Mainly steamed bread, supplemented by steamed buns, jiaozi, noodles, rice, pancakes, fried dough sticks and so on. Milk, soybean milk and bread are gradually coming to people's table. Coarse grain products have become food for residents to adjust their tastes.
Non-staple food Before the founding of New China, domestic residents seldom ate meat, tofu and vermicelli, and there were no other non-staple foods except for major festivals such as Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival or entertaining guests. In addition to eating some dry land vegetables such as radish, melon and beans in summer and autumn, farmers often eat pickled vegetables as food, including radish, mustard, carrots, white garlic, leeks and cabbage. After the founding of New China, especially after the reform and opening up, the planting area of vegetables has increased, and there are many varieties, such as cabbage, radish, eggplant, pepper, onion, garlic, leek, fennel, cabbage, melon and tomato. Especially in recent years, greenhouse vegetables have been planted in various counties and cities, and fresh vegetables can be eaten all year round. Special dishes such as garlic moss, leek, cauliflower, lotus root, cherry tomatoes and fresh mushrooms began to enter residents' families. Poultry, fish, meat, eggs and milk used to be rare, but with the improvement of economic conditions, they have become common foods, and raw seafood is also a common dish on holiday tables.
Banquets are held on holidays, weddings, entertaining relatives and guests, etc. Most banquets are mainly meat, with eight dishes, eight bowls, twelve dishes and twelve bowls. Eight plates are generally four cold and four hot, and twelve plates are six cold and six hot. Cold dishes mainly include pork liver, pork belly, pig ears, preserved eggs, vermicelli, tremella and so on; Hot dishes are usually meat and vegetables stir-fried and fried. Bowl dishes include chicken, fish elbow, strip meat, stew, meatballs, tofu and so on. Serving is usually cold before hot, chicken before fish, and diners drink first, and only when they are full can they serve big dishes.
Smoking In the past, most people smoked dry cigarettes, put cigarettes in tobacco bags and wallets, and smoked in tobacco cans and pipes. Few people smoke. After the founding of New China, the number of people smoking middle and low-grade cigarettes increased, and most people still smoked dry cigarettes. Smoking pots are used by the elderly, and young and middle-aged people mostly use paper strips to smoke leaves and cut tobacco into horns. After 1980s, more and more people smoked filter-tip cigarettes, and quite a few people smoked imported cigarettes. At present, some people are aware of the dangers of smoking and have taken the initiative to quit smoking. Female smokers have been very few.
Drinking Before the founding of New China, people mostly drank alcohol during festivals or visitors, but few people usually drank alcohol. In the 1960s, the number of drinkers increased gradually. In 1980s, drinking gradually became a trend. People usually drink alcohol during weddings, funerals and celebrations, China New Year, visitors, customers, friends and relatives, and family reunions. In recent years, people tend to drink low-alcohol liquor, fruit wine and beer. Hengshui has the custom of persuading wine. They try their best to invite guests to drink more, for fear of poor hospitality.
In the past, ordinary people couldn't afford good tea because of poverty, so they drank homemade jujube tea and jujube bud tea. Since the reform and opening up, with the improvement of living standards, more and more people drink tea, and their taste has also improved.