Camera, backpack, travel whenever you want, meet up, walk alone, go out whenever you want. Zhuoshui Ancient Town is a place where you can relax for free.

Houhe ancient opera, wind and rain covered bridge, white cranes in the Apeng River wetland, blue bricks and black tiles, stone slab old streets, Tujia Amei’s oil-paper umbrella, plus me, take a leisurely stroll to wash the water and relax Come down and settle your mind in this quiet and quaint town. With the sound of sesame candy being hammered and sold, the feeling of your hometown seems within reach.

I have always felt that scenery and food are the reasons that call us to walk. Good scenery is a feast for the eyes, touching people and exciting the brain, and eating delicious food pleases the taste buds, soothes the mood, Purify the mind. While enjoying delicious food, the disturbing thoughts in life will often be calmed down, making people forget the original ups and downs and feel the taste of happiness.

If you are a diner, wherever you go, you need to calm down and listen to what the local people have to say. Zuoshui's cuisine still retains too much of its original roughness, whether it's knife skills, plating, or taste. The names are also crude, "Five waist platforms", "Three waist platforms", "Nine plates and ten bowls", "Five items and four linings" are all just words. The saying of "eating shaved soup" is a direct description of the lively scene when the Tujia people kill the New Year pig. It comes from life, is elegant, humorous and direct. It can be seen that Zhuoshui's dishes are in a style of their own, similar to those in Sichuan and Chongqing. Other cuisines in the area also lack a lot of connections.

?I heard the old people say, "Wuyaotai" means eating a meal five times up and down five times, drinking appetizing oil tea soup, eating cold dishes, drinking hot dishes... five times It takes half a day to come down, and there are more than 40 dishes. The "Three Waist Platform" requires three tops and three bottoms, and there are more than 20 main and auxiliary dishes. "Nine plates and ten bowls" refers to nine plates with a large bowl in the middle. "Five dishes and four linings" means five bowls and four plates to hold nine different dishes. Each dish has its own requirements. Ranking is also very particular. So much so that later, when talking about the ostentation, "the waist does not fall down" was used to describe it. These dishes also emphasized color, flavor, nutrition, and vegetables had a place, such as carrots. Later, the saying "it can't be a feast without carrots" in the menu world came from In addition, the descriptions of the old people are very grand, which shows how particular they were about eating in the small town.

The Apeng River runs between Qilingai and Wufuling, and meets the Puhua River in a small town. It is like a long-lost lover. The Apeng River belongs to the man of this mountain, crossing thousands of mountains and flowing backward for 800 miles. , the Puhua River is meandering and subtle like a tender woman, light and beautiful. Their meeting created two rivers, two mountains, and two dams on the Zhuo River. The locals rely on the mountains to eat, and the water to eat water. The food must be diverse: the mountain people are so smoky. , with the fragrance of bacon, people in the river fish and catch shrimps, and the smell of fresh river food and water comes to their faces. People in the countryside have worked hard on "pickling" and "bream" for thousands of years. Pickled" and "breamed" are originally used for food preservation, and the result is that the ingredients have a unique sour, fragrant and delicious taste.

? To have food, you must also have wine. The 60-degree Quankong wine is called "Baogu Shao" by the Tujia people. It has a strong and distinctive personality like the mountain people. Use this wine as a door-to-door wine and drink it in one bowl. This momentum brought down countless people.

Eating and drinking are ordinary things, but they are the truest reflection of life. Snacks such as oil drum, sour fish, fried fennel, vanilla paste, horse rolling, and mung bean powder are among the main meals of the locals. external supplement. The grandmother on the old street seems to have been frozen in age. She has been making these simple snacks on the street for decades, faithfully maintaining the taste of the old street.

? The old street came from a thousand years ago. When scenery and food meet, it takes root, sprouts, and accumulates here, attracting friends from all over the world to experience the food and caress the Puhua River. Rafting on the Apeng River, I really want to meet you.

? Liu Changyong. April 2017, at Tianya Inn

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