China's first "Hometown of Steamed Vegetables in China"

On the morning of April 28th, 2111, at the opening ceremony of the first China (Tianmen) Steamed Vegetables Food Culture Festival, Zhang Aiguo, deputy secretary of Tianmen Municipal Committee and mayor, received the plaque of "Hometown of Steamed Vegetables in China" from Su Qiucheng, president of China Cuisine Association. This indicates that Tianmen is the "hometown of steamed vegetables in China" and that the steamed vegetable industry in Tianmen has entered a new stage of development.

Su Qiucheng, president of China Cuisine Association, pointed out that Tianmen steamed vegetables not only have a complete, mature and unique traditional technical system of steamed vegetables, but also have a long history of development, profound cultural accumulation, distinctive flavor and personality and a broad consumer market. Tianmen steamed vegetables are well-known at home and abroad for their unique cooking skills, flavor characteristics and rich humanistic connotations, and have a strong local flavor. "No cooking, no steaming, no banquet" is a true portrayal of steamed vegetables in Tianmen. The recognition of Tianmen as "the hometown of steamed vegetables in China" by China Cuisine Association indicates that Tianmen has a well-known brand of steamed vegetables in China. I hope Tianmen will cherish this brand, make it bigger and stronger, form a food supply base for steamed vegetables industry, a talent training reserve base and a logistics base for steamed vegetables, and push Tianmen steamed vegetables with a long history, unique characteristics, green pollution-free and unique taste all over the country and the world.

Deng Jie, the director of Home Style, the fourth episode of China on the Tip of the Tongue 2, thinks that Tianmen Steamed Vegetable is the most representative presentation of this form. "Tianmen Steamed Vegetable has a very long history. Although we talk about it from the perspective of home style, there will be many classic dishes in the film, such as steamed scallops, steamed pork and steamed pork ribs ... We filmed an ordinary Tianmen family.

Sheng Lin, vice-president of Hubei Chu Culture Society, said that steamed vegetables are popular in Tianmian area, which is related to the local environment. In ancient times, there were many lakes around Tianmian (including Honghu Lake now), and most local residents made a living by fishing and lived on fishing boats most of the time. If it is cooking, it is easy to be cold, while steamed vegetables have the advantages of heat preservation, time saving and unique flavor. With the passage of time, steamed vegetables have gradually become a local specialty food. Sheng Lin said that Tian Mian area is known as "nothing can't be steamed", such as steamed crucian carp, bream, grass carp and eel in fish, steamed pork in meat (pork and beef can be steamed), and chrysanthemum, radish, lotus root, pumpkin and potato in vegetarian dishes can all be steamed. It is because of the easy materials, convenient production and unique taste that Tianmen steamed vegetables can enter China on the tip of the tongue.

Tianmen steamed vegetables with "no food, no steaming, no banquet"

"Three steaming, nine buckles and ten bowls, not a steamer that doesn't treat guests", which is widely circulated in Tianmen, vividly illustrates the position of steamed vegetables in Tianmen food culture. "Steaming" is one of the common cooking methods in hubei cuisine. The dishes made by this cooking method-steamed vegetables, have been well-known at home and abroad and have been widely praised by people.

There are different opinions about the origin of steamed vegetables, including beautiful legends and occasional written records.

Tianmen steamed vegetables, also known as Jingling steamed vegetables. Its history has a long history. According to the Records of Tianmen County, pottery pots, pots, earthenware retort and other cultural relics have appeared in the excavation of Shijiahe culture in Tianmen, which has a history of more than 6,111 years. Shijiahe civilization in the tribal groups at that time, has developed to the equivalent of new york in the 21th century, a city of considerable status and scale. It presents a scene of "long-smashed beads shine on the ground, and the big cooking jade is even fragrant in the village".

retort refers to an ancient steaming cooker, which has many small holes at the bottom and is placed on the retort for cooking, just like a modern steamer. In the excavation of Shijiahe civilization, there are also remnants of rice seeds and the remains of chickens, ducks, meat and fish. This shows that as early as 6,111 years ago, Tianmen used steaming to cook food, and the original steamed vegetables were steamed on rice. The earliest cooking method of steamed vegetables was "steaming". "Steamed" raw materials are steamed directly on rice without seasoning or with little seasoning. For example, put a few eggs, carrots, bacon and fish on the rice and steam it at the same time. In Qi Min Yao Shu, Jia Sixie of the late Wei Dynasty described in detail the steaming cooking method and the steaming method of bream.

After Wang Mang replaced the Han Dynasty, natural disasters and man-made disasters occurred frequently, and the situation went from bad to worse, making people miserable. In the late autumn of the 17th year, Wang Kuang and Wang Feng uncovered the White Lake, and were attacked by the landlord's armed forces and officers and men, and were trapped in food shortage. Although farmers mostly rely on digging wild water chestnuts and wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, after hearing the news, they still enthusiastically donated some food for the spring drought to help the rebels. However, a drop in the bucket is of no help. So the Wang brothers ordered the soldiers to grind these grains into rice flour, mix them with wild vegetables and steam them, so that the wild vegetables that were difficult to swallow became delicious food. Since then, this method of steaming vegetables has spread everywhere, known as "Kuangfengcai" and "Greenwood Vegetable". It can be seen that as early as the Han Dynasty Tianmen, there were steamed vegetables with powder.

In 351 AD, when Zhi Dun, a monk of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was stationed in Xixita Temple, he was famous for his love of steamed vegetables.

In the Tang Dynasty, Cha Sheng Lu Yu and his mentor, Zen Master Zhiji, lived in Xita Temple for a long time, and they were accompanied by the lotus lake day and night, and kept company with the lotus root. That "the boat in the West Lake is ten miles long, half of which is lotus", and that "the lotus leaf skirt is cut in color, and the hibiscus blooms on both sides of the face" was really moving. The provocative lotus lake had to make them spend their love and work hard on the lotus root, and finally it was burned into a fresh and refreshing. Up to now, "crucian carp in East Lake, lotus root in West Lake, steamed stuffed bun in South Gate and wine in North Gate" are still widely circulated in Tianmen. Since then, Lu Yu's steamed dishes have spread from monasteries to the people, from vegetarian dishes to vegetarian dishes.

Since the Republic of China, after a stable period in the 1921s, in the 1931s, the catering service industry in Tianmen has developed greatly, and some comprehensive restaurants have appeared, such as Songmao Pub and Chunmao Restaurant. Although they have experienced twists and turns, they always develop and advance in twists and turns. Especially today, with the in-depth development of reform and opening up, it has made great progress. It is the emergence and growth of these restaurants that have cultivated famous teachers from generation to generation: from Tianmen chefs Ni Juwa and Ni Haiqing to Pan-cage master Bi Luozi. To China chefs Lu Yongliang, Yang Tongsheng, Liang Shaohong and 21th century young chefs Huang Zhixiong, Zhang Zaixiang and Yuan Yinjun. They tried hard to absorb nutrition from the people, summarized and inherited the experience of their predecessors, persisted in pioneering and innovating, integrated the technology of red and white cases, expanded the range of raw materials, and turned the single variety raw materials into comprehensive category raw materials, so that many delicacies and even some seafood were also steamed in the form of seasoning, which made the "Three Steams in Tianmen" in a corner of the bureau develop into "eight treasures listed, mixed water and land, Xian Yi with vegetarian dishes, technical integration, mutual reflection and mutual penetration"

For a long time, the overall understanding of China hubei cuisine, who is known as "good at fresh water cooking and cooking steamed vegetables", has always been in a state of ambiguity. Geng Yin Zhongchun came to Tianmen City, Hubei Province with the expert group of China Cuisine Association. In the process of identifying Tianmen as the "Hometown of Steamed Vegetables in China", he got a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the steamed vegetables in Jianghan Plain centered on Tianmen, especially the steamed vegetables in Tianmen City. In fact, he also got a further perception and understanding of Hubei cuisine.

Tianmen steamed cuisine not only has a long history, a large number, colorful techniques and a wide audience, but more importantly, Tianmen steamed cuisine has historical connotation and cultural value in the sense of China's traditional health preservation. Even if it is analyzed by using the scientific principles of modern nutrition, it is a "scientific" eating system in a sense.

In a word, whether from the historical background and cultural significance of Tianmen steamed cuisine or the natural advantages of the cuisine itself that are beneficial to human health care, Tianmen steamed cuisine system is a must in China. If Tianmen is called "the hometown of steamed cuisine in China", there is no doubt. Similarly, if it is exaggerated to say that "the steamed vegetables in the world are out of the sky", it is also beyond reproach.