Jiangsu Huai 'an Chinese New Year custom

Before 202 1 1.8, the small town in northern Jiangsu, the hometown of the great Zhou Enlai, was the most eye-catching label of Huai' an, and after 1.8, UNESCO declared Huai' an as the "global creative city network-gourmet capital", Huai' an became the fifth in China.

Before the official announcement, the story of Huai 'an people and food has a long history.

A sumptuous Spring Festival dining table

"In response to the call of the local New Year this year, I may not return to Huai 'an, but the dinner table for the New Year will not change. "For terns who have worked and lived in Su for many years, making a table of Huai 'an dishes for the New Year is the best comfort for Huai 'an wanderers and the beginning of a year's taste.

In the memory of terns, every year's New Year begins with a bowl of solid glutinous rice balls dipped in black sesame seeds and sugar. Tangyuan was made by my mother the night before. Everyone has an even number of dumplings in his bowl. If you can't finish eating, the rest must be even. The most common food for terns is sesame candy mixed with black sesame seeds and white sugar. "Delicious, My Sweetie, I always eat two more jiaozi to eat sesame candy." .

Zuo Bin, a 48-year-old native of Jiangpu, Huai 'an, is the trade union director of Huai 'an Maternal and Child Health Hospital, but in Huai 'an, he also has a more widely known identity-the moderator of Huaiyang Food Edition in An Lan, Huai 'an. As a veteran food lover, the earliest food blogger in Huai 'an, except for three New Year's Eve dinners in his military career, Zuo Bin shared every New Year's Eve dinner in Huai 'an with his family.

Zuo Bin introduced that the New Year's Eve dinner for 6-8 people in Laoqing Jiangpu usually consists of ten dishes, which means perfection. Among the ten dishes, there will be two meat dishes, two vegetarian dishes and four cold dishes (pork, sausage, beef, cucumber, radish, etc. ), four cooked dishes (generally, there will be green vegetable meatballs, day lily roast chicken, bean sprouts, roast beef and so on. , or will use fried spring rolls instead of one of them), a family photo (braised chop suey), and a fish (braised fish) every year. Two cold dishes and four stir-fried dishes (fried long fish, fried kidney flowers, fried seasonal dishes, etc. ) will join a family dinner of 10 people. Among them, meatballs, family photos and fish are essential dishes for every family reunion dinner.

Huaiyang cuisine, which started in the Spring and Autumn Period and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is the benchmark cuisine of the "First Banquet for the Founding of the People's Republic of China" in New China. There are more than 300 kinds of famous classic Huaiyang cuisine 1300, and 298 cooking techniques have been selected into the provincial intangible cultural heritage list, which is the largest number of districts and cities in China. Huaiyang cuisine is also an important part of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office's "Chinese Food Prosperity Plan". Huai 'an has built the largest theme food museum in China-China Huaiyang Cuisine Culture Museum.

Terns are not surprised to learn that her hometown has been selected as the "Global Creative City Network-Food Capital". Since she left her hometown at the age of 24, she realized that many delicious foods in her hometown could not be found outside. When people talk about Huai 'an, many people's reaction is "the restaurant is delicious". Terns use "just right" to describe Huaiyang cuisine: "not spicy, not sweet, not salty or light". So that the tern's "Huai 'an stomach" can't adapt to any heavy taste, especially spicy, no matter where it goes.

Counting the festival foods of Huai 'an people, terns think the biggest feature is that the ingredients are fresh and diverse, and the meat and vegetables are matched. "Our Spring Festival table usually has braised fish, shrimp, bean curd soup, shredded pork with chrysanthemum, braised pork balls (stewed lion's head), fried spring rolls (stuffed pork with leeks), fried lotus root clips and so on."

Huai 'an is located in the geographical dividing line between north and south of China, with four rivers passing through the city and five lakes embedded. Its water area accounts for 1/4 of the urban area, and it is known as "a city floating on the water". The unique green ecological environment has created high-quality and rich ingredients such as lobster, hairy crab, Euryale ferox and cattail.

Huaiyang cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine and Cantonese cuisine are also called the four major cuisines in China. Huaiyang cuisine was formed in Yangzhou, Huai 'an and Zhenjiang. "Huai" refers to Huai 'an, Jiangsu, and "Yang" refers to Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Huaiyang cuisine pays attention to swordsmanship, with exquisite swordsmanship and light taste. The main dishes are braised lion's head, soft-pocketed long fish, Si Wen tofu, crystal meat, shrimp, Pu Cai and Wenlou steamed stuffed bun.

In ancient times, Huai 'an was the border between the north and the south, where there were many famous ministers and famous families, so it was also the gathering place of famous chefs all over the world. Huaiyang cuisine is light in taste, mainly because of the taste of the edible materials themselves.

In the ancient city of Huai 'an, on the eve of the Spring Festival, there is a traditional custom of exchanging steamed bread, assorted rice and crystal lobster sauce between relatives and friends and neighbors, which is called "San". Every year, as soon as the twelfth lunar month comes, the urban and rural people in Huai 'an find out the big plaques and dustpans that have been put on hold for many days, and set about making mixed rice and crystal fermented beans. So far, this traditional folk custom is still continuing. These two ordinary side dishes are the testimony of Huai 'an people who are the birthplace of Huaiyang cuisine and are good at cooking. In the era of insufficient material supply, they are keen on food. In order to make family, relatives and friends who come to visit during the Spring Festival eat well, housewives will make delicious assorted rice and crystal cold beans with cheap and good ingredients grown at home and bought in the market.

Today, Huai 'an still follows the traditional custom of inviting relatives and friends to eat "Nianjiu" during the Spring Festival. Your family invites you today, his family will take you tomorrow, and my family will go back to the East the day after tomorrow.

Zuo Bin introduced that Huai 'an people pay attention to family and etiquette. Usually around the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, close relatives and girlfriends begin to agree on the time to get together. Basically, every Huai 'an family will have a conference table during the Spring Festival. Terns born in the 1990s like the family dinners you visit during the Spring Festival. Relatives and friends usually choose to treat guests at home. Whoever has a happy event, go to the restaurant and invite a few tables. It is a courtesy to get together and enjoy delicious food during the Spring Festival.

Inherit the beauty of cooking

In the eyes of international friends, Zhang Shenglai, a professor at Jiangsu Food and Drug Technician College, is a master with good craftsmanship, humor and love for Huaiyang traditional culture. In the eyes of students, John Zhang is a professional teacher with "international demeanor", deep love and great charm-2065438+02 was sent to by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council for a "Huaiyang Cuisine Cultural China" 2 1 day tour; In 20 15, he won the third prize of the International Young Chef Cooking Competition. China Golden Chef Award was awarded in 20 19. In the same year, invited by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Tourism, he went to the royal family of Jordan to carry out food promotion activities such as "Walking New Year's Eve".

As the inheritor of Huaiyang cuisine, John Zhang has successively served as the director of the cooking training center and the leader of the cooking major in the Food and Drug Vocational and Technical College, and spared no effort to work overtime to ensure that teachers and students can teach and learn comfortably in the beautiful training center, so that they can be deeply influenced by Huaiyang cuisine culture in the professional workplace atmosphere.

Huai 'an is a famous food city in China. The output value of the city's food industry exceeded 65.438+000 billion yuan, with 654.38+029 national geographical indication certification trademarks, ranking among the top cities in China. By the end of 2020, there are more than 250,000 catering employees in the city, and the annual sales of catering is 2 1 100 million yuan.

At the same time, cooking education in Huai 'an is relatively developed. There are 10 colleges and universities offering cooking majors, which have trained more than 65,438+10,000 senior chefs and 20 national "culinary masters"10. There are more than 30 cooking master studios and non-legacy food studios in the city.

Cheng Ping, Deputy Secretary-General of Huai 'an Cuisine Association, introduced that Huai 'an Cuisine Association was established in 2002, adhering to the purpose of "inheritance, development, pioneering and innovation", promoting the cooking culture of Huaiyang cuisine, exchanging skills, developing and improving cooking skills, studying cooking science, publicizing cooking knowledge, cultivating cooking talents and management talents, uniting catering industry and cooking workers, and promoting the cooking career of Huaiyang cuisine and Huai 'an area.

Since 2002, Huai 'an has actively promoted and protected Huaiyang cuisine by holding food festivals, cooking competitions and other activities. Huai 'an cuisine is characterized by its freshness, crispness and tenderness of southern cuisine, and its saltiness, color and taste of northern cuisine, forming its own flavor, with moderate sweetness and salty sweetness. Because Huaiyang cuisine takes fresh food as raw material and pursues lightness in seasoning, it can highlight the original flavor of raw materials. According to the cooking procedure of "taking fire as discipline" put forward by the ancients, the tripod has become exquisite and delicate, and through the adjustment of pyrotechnics, it reflects the different characteristics of the dish, such as freshness, fragrance, crispness, tenderness, waxy, fine and rotten. Strict material selection and fine production; Pay attention to fireworks and be good at stewing; Pay attention to knife work and elegant shape; Moderately salty and sweet, paying attention to the original flavor; Focus on soup, both liquor and alcohol.

"Food belongs to both the country and the world. Only by going to the world and integrating into the world can the classics last forever under the baptism of years. " John Zhang said, "After Huai 'an becomes the' Food Capital of the World', it will better inherit and carry forward the food culture of Huaiyang cuisine on a global scale, promote the transformation and upgrading of Huaiyang cuisine industry to characteristics and internationalization, dig deep into the food elements in literature, film and television works, promote the closer and deeper combination of food and tourism, culture and creativity, better carry forward Huaiyang cuisine culture, and let more diners know and taste Huaiyang cuisine. "