Why do people in China eat the most pork, not beef?

Nowadays, pork is in an unshakable position in China. Our population is less than 1/5, but we consume nearly half of the pork in the world.

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, people in China didn't like eating pork very much. At that time, mutton was more popular with people. There is a saying in the Song Dynasty, "Su Wen is ripe and eats mutton; Su Wensheng, eat vegetable soup. " In Know No, which is set in the Song Dynasty, the main meat at that time was mutton.

Moreover, Su Shi also wrote about the present situation of pork in Ode to Pork: Huangzhou is good pork, and its price is as low as dirt. If you refuse to eat, the poor can't cook. When you get up in the morning, you make two bowls, which are full, and you can't care.

The reason why pork has become a national delicacy today is inseparable from the agriculture in China. As we know, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the population of China has been expanding, and the increase in population means that the demand for crops will increase, which makes people reclaim land and turn pastoral areas that originally belonged to animals into agricultural areas.

With the increase of cultivated land area, the advantages of pigs appear. We know that if the soil wants to maintain fertility, it needs to be fertilized regularly. In the past, there was no chemical fertilizer, so people could only use farmyard manure. Pigs are a good helper to produce farmyard manure.

In the Qing dynasty, there was a book that said, "When you are old, you can have pigs. After you sell it, you will only take its own money. 20 vehicles will be accumulated in a year. Most of them will pay by car, and the least will pay by selling pigs. "

In addition, pigs are omnivores, and they can eat agricultural by-products, such as wheat bran, straw and even grass. Because of this, pigs have been popular in China since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition, China has a vast territory, rich resources, and is also very good at cooking, which has unlocked a variety of ways to eat pork and made it more closely combined with our dining table.