Shi Kuang and Yi Ya were the first people to know the ancient taste. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a famous witch named Diya in Qi Huangong who became a monk because she was good at cooking. "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals Jingyu" said: "The combination of the son and the bo is elegant and tasteful." Zihe River and Luhe River are both rivers in Qi State. Putting the water from two rivers together, Yiya can taste which is Zishui and which is Lushui, which is really great. Shi Kuang was a blind musician in Jinping during the Spring and Autumn Period. "The Biography of Northern History Wang Shaochuan" said: "Shi Kuang eats rice, and the cloud is cooked by labor. Minister Jinping takes this as the axis." When you pick up your rice bowl and taste it, you will know what firewood you are burning. The taste is really extraordinary. Reward refers to firewood split with old utensils. The rice cooked with it probably has some peculiar smell, but most people can't recognize it.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were obviously more people who knew the taste in historical records than those in previous dynasties. Minister and writer of the Western Jin Dynasty Xun? He is a very prominent one. He even worshipped the supervisor of the Chinese Book, the assistant to the middle school, and the order of ministers, and was favored by Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty. Once, he was invited to have dinner with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He said to the person sitting next to him, "This meal is made by labor." People didn't believe it, so Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty immediately sent someone to ask the chef. The chef said that he burned a car wheel while cooking, which was really a reward. His deeds are so similar to those of Shi Kuang that ancient historians suspect that one of them may be attached.
Fu Jian, who claimed to be the former King of Qin, had a nephew named Fu Lang, who was called a colt by Fu Jian. After Fu Lang was promoted to Jin, the official worshippers rode assistant ministers. He is one of the best tasters, and he can even tell where the meat he eats grows on the carcass. Wang Sima Daozi, the royal family of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, once hosted a banquet for Fu Lang, which covered almost all the delicacies in the south of the Yangtze River. After the banquet, Sima Daozi asked, "Is there any delicious food in Guanzhong that can be compared with Jiangnan?" Fu Lang replied, "The food at this banquet tastes good, but the salt tastes a little raw." Later, when I asked the caterer, it was true. Someone once killed a chicken and cooked it for Fu Lang. When Fu Lang saw it, he said that the chicken was raised in the open air rather than in captivity, which is exactly the case. Fu Lang once ate a goose and pointed out which meat had white hair and which meat had black hair. People don't believe him. Someone slaughtered a goose and carefully recorded the similarities and differences of coat color. What Fu Lang said later was exactly the same. This is a rare delicacy, and it is impossible to reach such a state without long-term experience accumulation.
Liu Ziyang, an official of Wei State, can tell the difference between raw and cooked salt. He "knows raw salt when he eats bread", which is sometimes called "the best taste". Among Jin people, Huangfu Mi, who calls himself "Mr. Xuanyan", is also a master of taste discrimination. Huangfu Mi once visited his good friend Wei Lun, and Wei Lun asked his servant to take out a dry food to entertain him. Huangfu Mi tasted it, only to know that the main ingredient of dry food is wheat flour, but it contains three kinds of fruit flavors: apricot, plum and glutinous rice. So he asked Wei Lun: "How are these three fruits mixed together because of different ripening seasons?" Wei LUN smiled without a word. After Huangfu Mi left, Wei Lun sighed and said, "This guy has much better taste than Liu Ziyang. I mix wheat flour with apricot juice when apricots are ripe, and then mix it with plum and glutinous rice juice when plums and glutinous rice are ripe, so it has three flavors! "
In the eyes of many literati, their taste is different from that of ordinary people. They often pin their interests on wine and food, neither pursuing luxury nor indulgence. Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, is famous for his talent, painting and infatuation. He eats sugar cane in a different way from ordinary people. He started from the top that was not too sweet and went deep into the roots step by step. The more he eats, the sweeter he gets. He calls it "getting better". Since the Jin Dynasty, China's diet began to change its atmosphere, which has nothing to do with the efforts of scholars. In the past, all food was greasy. Since then, it has become a light and meaningful beauty, and it has really entered another good place. (End)