National Studies

4.4 Dialect and Food Culture (2)

There are, however, other dietary vocabularies that appear to be ordinary but have very different connotations. This is what we are going to focus on next, "the problem of 'name and reality' of dialect dietary vocabulary."

The so-called "name" refers to the "name", and "reality" is the "actual reference". There is a case called "same name, different reality", which means "the same thing, but the name is different".

Let's take a look at a very common food in our daily lives, "steamed bread". In Mandarin, steamed buns refer to steamed pasta without filling. However, in other dialects, this is not the case. In Wu dialects, "steamed buns" also refers to pasta with "filling", which is what we usually call "baozi". For example, now the streets of Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas common "fried buns" is this kind of stuffed. If further subdivided, such as the Shaoxing language without filling, called "solid steamed bread". The filling is called "meat buns" "vegetable buns" or "sugar buns". In recent years, the solid steamed bread called "light bread", short for "light package".

Then look at the "bread". Usually, when we say "bread", we mean pasta that is baked after fermentation, and this kind of food comes from the West. But in some dialects, the traditional pasta of steamed buns or buns, called "bread". For example, in the Wu dialect of Shanghai Fengxian, Jiading, Zhejiang Jiaxing Pinghu, Quzhou Changshan Lishui and other places, as well as in the Cantonese dialect of Guangdong Wuchuan and other dialects, bread, in fact, is steamed bread. But in the Cantonese dialect of Guigang's Pingyongdang area in Guangxi, as well as in the Hezhou Zhongshan dialect, the word "bread" refers to buns.

There are also many other cases, such as "noodle". When it comes to the word "noodle" alone, it is expected that southerners and northerners will have different reactions. In the northern dialect, "面" can refer to "flour" or "noodles", "面粉义" uses the "original meaning" of noodles. The "flour meaning" is the "original meaning" of the word "noodle". In the Shuowen - Maibu (说文-麦部), it is said that "flour is also the end of wheat crumbs." Some southern dialects, however, only "noodles" as "noodles", not even the "noodles" this statement.

Another example is "rice". In the vast southern region, the so-called "rice", generally refers to rice, also noted as "rice seeds". The south is rich in rice, rice is the staple food of the southerners. Therefore, when saying "rice", do not need to specify "eat is rice", generally only say "eat". However, in Shanxi, the expression is different. In Shanxi, the word "rice" can mean both "rice" and "rice". If a friend from Shanxi asks you, "Do you eat rice?" or "Do you eat rice? or "Do you want to eat rice?" Don't mistake it for an invitation to eat raw rice, he's actually asking you, "Do you want to eat rice?"

We often say, "Raw rice is ripe". But why is the Shanxi dialect "raw rice" "cooked rice" is not divided? The key issue, or and regional characteristics. Shanxi is located in the high loess slope, not suitable for growing rice. Its consumption of rice, mostly imported from abroad, there is no local production, so there is no need to distinguish between "raw rice" and "cooked rice", will be collectively referred to as "rice" or "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice", "rice". There is no need to distinguish between "raw rice" and "cooked rice", and there is no ambiguity in referring to them collectively as "rice" or "rice". In addition, as noodles are the staple food in the local language, it is a "special case" that "rice" is the staple food, so it is also necessary to emphasize that "it is rice that is eaten". Therefore, in Shanxi dialect, both "raw rice" and "cooked rice" are called "rice" or "rice".

Another look at a "porridge". In most regions, porridge is defined as a semi-liquid food made from grains or legumes cooked in water. Some places call this "thin rice". There is a special word in the Min dialect called "Mee", which also refers to this substance. "Mee" is an archaic word.

In Taiyuan, Shanxi, "congee" is not simply equivalent to "rice". In Taiyuan, "congee" refers to dry rice made from millet, also known as "thick porridge" and "dry porridge". The real millet porridge is called "thin porridge". And the porridge made from rice is called "rice porridge".

Do you know what "flat food" refers to? In Shandong Jining, Heze, Weifang, and Shanxi Taiyuan and other places, "flat food" is "dumplings" nickname. In Fujian, Xiamen, Fuzhou and other places in Fujian Province, the term "flatbread" refers to "wontons". How did these questions arise? At what time did they arise? These questions need to be explored in our further thinking.

Let's look at another term, "homonym". This refers to the fact that "the same thing" has a different name.

Let's take an example of the influence of different dialects and regional cultures on the names of food.

In Jinhua, Zhejiang, there is a snack called "Fujian soup", which is usually used for breakfast. If you ask a Fujianese to ask "Fujian soup" practice, origin and other issues, I'm afraid the other side will only answer you three words, "I do not know".

Even the Fujianese don't know about "Fujian soup", how did it come about?

Let's take a look at how it's made. It is said that the practice of this snack is in the hot iron pot, along a circle of pouring rice paste, hot cooked after the rice skin shoveled to the bottom of the pot, add boiling water and a variety of condiments cooked into.

Speaking of which, I'm afraid many of you who are familiar with Fujian cuisine already know that this is in fact the famous Fujian snack "pot side paste". In the dialect, it is called "Dingbian", "Dingbian Paste", "Dingbian File", etc. It is popular in the East Fujian and South Fujian areas.

It is said that this snack, was brought to Jinhua by the neighboring county of Longyou people. Longyou merchant gang is one of China's top ten merchant gangs, in the Ming and Qing dynasties have great influence. This snack is known as "Rice Paste" in Longyou area and "Fujian Soup" in Jinhua area.

The question is, why the practice of this snack has been preserved, but its "big name" such as "pot side paste" "Ding side paste" is not known? I'm afraid this has a lot to do with the dialect.

In Fujian language, "pot" is called "tripod", which is a very characteristic and very old dialect word. The word "dingbian paste" means "paste on the side of the pot" and is named after the way it is made. In Wu, the word for pot is "wok", which is also a very solid and representative dialect word in Wu dialect. Therefore, when the snack "Dingbian Paste" was introduced into Zhejiang, its original name was difficult for the local people to accept, and there was no such word as "ding" in the region. Therefore, Longyou, Jinhua and other places have adopted the most convenient way to abandon its original name, renamed. Named after its "raw material", it is "Longyou Rice Paste"; named after its "source", it is called "Fujian Soup". The name of the "source", it is called "Fujian soup".