How did Chinese cooking develop and evolve the main characteristics of each period?

The history of the evolution of Chinese food culture should be considered from several dimensions, such as tools, ingredients, and production processes.

Pre-Qin: The basic way to eat baked food

This period was characterized by the limitations of materials and tools, basically grilled, stewed and boiled. For example, from the pre-Qin to the Qin and Han Dynasties, the poem "Erya - interpretation of grass" "Artemisia apiacea" Jin Guo Pu Note: "Today, people call artemisia in the fragrance of scorching mouthfuls for apiacea." Here roasted means roasted and eaten.

Han and Tang Dynasties: Cake and Rice

The Han and Tang Dynasties were strong, and Zhang Qian and others not only introduced Hu melon, walnut, caraway, carrot, pomegranate, and other products from the western region, but also introduced peaches, plums, apricots, pears, ginger, tea, and other products as well as culinary culture from the Central Plains to the western region. This facilitated the exchange and fusion of food cultures of various ethnic groups. Hu and Han traditional dietary structure has undergone significant changes, "meat and cheese" began to become the entire northern and northwestern region of the Han and Hu **** the same dietary characteristics.

The staple food structure of the Han and Tang dynasties, mainly cakes and rice. Of these two, cake again occupies a major position. Zhao Lin in the Tang Dynasty, said in the book "because of the words", "the world heavy cake bite", which is a true reflection of the majority of the Tang Dynasty people eat cake. Tang dynasty said cake, content than today's much broader. In addition to batter other than a variety of molded pasta, can be called cake. And the Tang people eat the most, the most representative of the cake, there are Hu cake, steamed cake and soup cake and so on.

Song: A National Love of Restaurants

In the history of Chinese food, the two Songs were a historic turning point, when Chinese food began to transition from scarcity to abundance. Today, any chef must be familiar with the cooking techniques of cooking, grilling, roasting, stir-frying, popping, slipping, boiling, stewing, brining, steaming, waxing, honeying, and onion-pulling, which matured during the Song Dynasty; and the ham, Dongpo pork, shabu-shabu hot pot, sashimi (known as "chopped" to the Song people), fried doughnuts, dumplings, popcorn, and pastries, which we are able to enjoy now, were also invented or snacked on, as well. and snacks, were also invented or popularized in the Song Dynasty.

The average urban white-collar worker in the Song dynasty, like today's white-collar workers, was not accustomed to cooking at home, but went to restaurants or ordered takeout.

Yuan: Nothing but shabu-shabu or shabu-shabu

By the Yuan Dynasty, the empire's boundaries had grown to unprecedented proportions, bringing with them a vast development in food culture. During this period, shabu-shabu was born at the urging of Kublai; of course, the Yuan Dynasty was regressive in its overall culture. The Mongols' western conquests and the large numbers of Muslims of all races who came east from Persia, Central Asia, and Arabia in various capacities during the Yuan dynasty, either issued or voluntarily, merged with the local peoples to become a new ethnic group in the Yuan dynasty, the Hui,and created and developed China's Halal culinary culture along with the other Muslim peoples.

Ming Dynasty: foreign ingredients dominate

The Ming Dynasty created a brilliant culture, one of the prominent features of which was the prosperity of the civic economy and civic culture, which focused on hedonism and pleasure, and which manifested itself in the cuisine of the twin peaks of the palace cuisine (official cuisine) and the jianghu cuisine.

Another major feature of Ming cuisine was the appearance of many exotic ingredients, which greatly enriched the original cuisine and dishes. Tomatoes, chili peppers, pumpkins, groundnuts (sweet potatoes), corn, and garlic were all introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty, and the introduction of chili peppers, in particular, was revolutionary for Chinese cuisine. Without chili peppers, today's Sichuan and Hunan cuisines could not be formed.

Qing Dynasty: the luxury of full banquet

The Qing Dynasty, famous for its "full banquet", is known as the most corrupt period on the tip of the tongue. Eating the Qing dynasty is extremely luxurious, enjoy all the world's delicious food, but they did not expect, behind every feast is gradually aggravated crisis, and ultimately turned into the late Qing dynasty can not eat.