I have been reading the book China Food Culture by Hu Zishan recently, which is very interesting. The book introduces the food anecdotes, legends, allusions and other contents of China cuisine, and the reading room is like swimming in the long river of China's tip of the tongue, which is always mouth-watering.
In this world, only love and food can't be disappointed. Love has failed too much, and food can't be disappointed any more. That's right, you never tire of eating fine food, and you never tire of being meticulous.
saints are still like this, but what's the matter?
At this moment, the delicious food that I have tasted is like an angel falling into the earth.
the taste buds hidden in the deep heart are mixed with people and things in memory, and unconsciously hover in the mind, which is full of fun.
1. The first memory on the tip of the tongue
Everyone's first memory in the root of the tongue seems to come from the taste cooked by his mother.
When I was young, I always liked to lean next to my mother in the kitchen and watch her cook. While observing her meticulous cooking, I talked and laughed with her.
Chicken stewed mushrooms, pork stewed vermicelli, shrimp dumplings, fresh rehmannia root, pot-wrapped meat, silkworm chrysalis, sausage and sticky bean bags have all become my favorite foods under my mother's skillful hands, and all the ingredients are exquisite, which makes me feel fragrant after a full meal.
though the three meals a day in the finely divided time are not gluttonous meals, they actually have a strong taste of belonging to the family.
My mother knows my taste buds' preferences better than anyone else, and she doesn't ask questions. All the care and love are done in silence, and I don't even need to order anything or nag her to tell her.
She knows whether I like carrots, green peppers, Chinese cabbage and fungus, and she also knows that I like sour, spicy or sweet mouth.
She just needs to hear the familiar sentence: "Mom, I'm hungry." In a short time, the favorite fragrance will be floating in the kitchen.
people are like this. They often don't know what they are blessed with, like me.
When I was a child, I still didn't understand the hard work of my parents in managing the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar tea. I was too young to understand, either because the food was salty or because the soup was weak. My mother always patiently listened to my advice as a "family gourmet" and tried to improve it again and again.
For more than 2 years, not a day has passed without me going out hungry, nor have I ever returned home with an empty dining table after a busy day.
The only exception is that I make an appointment with my friends to go out for a big meal in advance. Before I leave home, I usually throw out a sentence: "Mom, I'm going out for dinner today, so I won't go home to eat."
She will smile and nod, and when I put on my shoes and go out, I will still remember the sentence, "Eat less meat outside and eat less junk food with additives ..."
No matter what setbacks, tests or unsolved problems I encounter outside, I will feel that there is no hurdle in life when I see my mother at home and that table of carefully cooked hometown dishes.
In fact, the seemingly ordinary three meals a day may also give us a lot of potential philosophy of life-eat this meal well and have a good day!
Later, when I left my hometown, I got farther and farther away. However, the taste of those mother's specialty dishes became clearer and more important in my memory.
sometimes I think that the food at home is no longer limited to the category of delicious and not delicious.
when I wandered around the city for many years, ordered my hometown dishes on the dining table, lifted the lid and smelled the familiar smell, I was homesick for the first time, not wanting to eat.
Because it is the smell of home, the memory of childhood, and the beautiful and gentle figure of my mother wearing a pure white apron embroidered with silk.
Sexy knowledge of a certain period of time and detailed recollection of a certain scene are just a way for us to gain a happy understanding in the process of growing up. I miss my mother's hometown cooking, and that's it.
2. Undeterred youth, pure complex of taste buds
If I have to pick up a frozen time point from my memories, it will be my college days, especially the memories in those taste buds, which are my purest memories in that mixed years.
I believe that those students who have lived in universities have an unforgettable menu in their minds!
an egg burger with tender inside and tender outside, a spicy roasted cold noodles with fresh Q-bomb and a steaming bowl of tremella, Sydney and Lycium barbarum soup can easily evoke our feelings of youth.
Although those foods are so ordinary, for me, they are a nostalgia from the tip of the tongue to the apex of my heart.
Although I always spit in the canteen, now that I think about it, the delicious campus food infiltrated by memory has become my unique complex of "just biting my tongue and getting sharp on my heart".
Just after the final exam of sophomore year, my classmates and I went out for a snack.
There is a lively food street behind the university called Xuefu Sidao Street, which is also commonly known as a midnight snack street. Even before dawn, it is still brightly lit.
there are a dozen people in the group, either with draft beer or steaming hot pot with herbal tea.
We especially like to go to a restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is a man from Shandong. He is straightforward and sincere, and speaks a strong dialect. We often sit under an open-air shed with orange light bulbs at the door of his restaurant and have a good chat all night.
Order a few signature dishes, a bowl of fried tripe in old Beijing with thick sesame sauce, and a variety of small pots of local delicacies. Just smelling that smell is attractive enough, and all of them are fragrant. Just order at will, and it will be delicious.
At that time, I often joked with him and said to him half jokingly, "Boss, your five elements must belong to the fate of water, and the fortune of catering is so good."
When the boss listened, it seemed that he met a noble person who gave me directions. He couldn't hide his joy. He nodded to me all the time, and often came to teach me how to do business in the catering industry after he was busy. By the way, he gave me a 6% discount in private. It was delicious and affordable. Our group must be repeat customers.
think about it, it was also in 213.
One day a few years later, when I accidentally found that restaurant disappeared in that street like into thin air, I was extremely sad.
Later, inadvertently recommended by a friend, I really tasted the unchanging taste again. When I saw the smiling face of Shandong boss, my tears almost didn't fall.
It's not melodramatic, nor anything else. It's just that time has passed in a trance, and a long-lost thing suddenly appears in front of me. It's like drinking lightly and getting slightly drunk.
college memories are like opening a dusty box, and all kinds of feelings come out, reminding me at all times what the happiness called "recovering after losing" is.
3. After reminiscing, pick up your past self
There are flowers in spring and moons in autumn. Time seems to stand still, but in fact it is moving forward rapidly.
We think we can do anything, but it's hard to keep the years flowing freely. That's why memories are so precious that people are reluctant to part with them, not only the years, but also the taste.
The delicious food that once lingered between the lips and teeth and on the tip of the tongue hides the past us, the wonderful time that we can't go back, and the relatives and friends who accompany us.
the most valuable thing is the eternal smell condensed in our hearts, which belongs to our unique nostalgia and still has the warmth and intimacy of the sun.
The years ahead continue to accompany us, interweaving and circling in the track of life, which is long, far-reaching and enduring.
Even if you dream, it is a world full of warmth and love.
Could it be that a large part of the reason is due to the tone inside?