Southern dietary customs

There are rice cakes in the south and jiaozi in the north.

Spring Festival is the biggest festival in China. As a tradition of festivals, rice cakes and jiaozi each occupy half of the country. Generally speaking, southerners are used to eating rice cakes, while northerners pay more attention to eating jiaozi. Rice cakes have also penetrated into the north, but they are monotonous. Only southerners can make many tricks. As for jiaozi, it is obviously a product of the north, and the south also opens jiaozi. Generally, the name "Northern jiaozi" is used to indicate authenticity. This is just like some shops emphasize "manual jiaozi", which is different from the "machine jiaozi" produced on the assembly line. Classic food, the more authentic the preparation method, the better, as if this can keep the original flavor. Rice cakes are sold in the south of the Yangtze River, and the words "Shuimo Rice Cake" are often printed on the wrapping paper.

Although China has been unified for a long time, its dietary customs are still regional. Just like the interpretation of "south rice north", "south cake north" and "south sweet and north salty", it is not wrong to say that there are rice cakes in the south and jiaozi in the north. Especially on the occasion of the New Year, they are symbolic foods with strong symbolic significance and can be called auspicious classics on the table. Even if the existing living conditions are good, delicacies and delicacies often take the lead, but because the significance of rice cakes and jiaozi to festivals is far greater than their taste, they still cannot be abolished. Come to think of it, eight generations of ancestors used this quaint food for the New Year, and later generations were less afraid or too willing to resist. Even in other aspects of life, they pretend to be "new humans". It is estimated that it is rare for the whole family, old and young, to go to KFC McDonald's for dinner to celebrate the reunion. The more "cultural heritages" like rice cakes and jiaozi, the better. They have completely become family heirlooms of China people and will not be lost.

The name of the rice cake is very good, meaning "rising year by year", which seems to be repeated several times. Honesty is the spirit. It not only sounds sweet, but also tastes good. Between the lips and teeth, you can chew the natural fragrance of southern rice. But also because of its high viscosity and unique taste. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang put a plate of rice cakes as a sacrifice on the table of the Eight Immortals at the New Year's Eve nightclub. When I was a child, I used to cut steamed and chilled sugar rice cakes into pieces and put them in my mouth. At this time, Xiangtang came to chew and play. Grandma said, "Little Mouse" is grinding his teeth again. Sweet rice cakes and a kind of meat and oil rice cakes can be eaten as snacks; Cooking, generally choose clear water rice cake, colorless and tasteless. The old family held a banquet, and finally came a fried rice cake, which was an appetizer and a staple food. Stir-fried soybean sprouts, wild vegetables and shredded pork are better. Shanghainese make this dish "excellent": crab fried rice cake. Using crabs as ingredients, rice cakes are glorious enough. The delicious smell of crabs soaked the sliced rice cakes through the boiling soup. Some people say: eating crab fried rice cakes can't beat you with a slap. Do you believe me?

In the Spring Festival custom in old Beijing, there are steaming rice cakes, which echo Bao jiaozi to show that there is enough rice, flour and leftover food at home. I think this steamed rice cake as a foil is probably a habit brought by southerners. There were many southerners in Beijing at that time. Because of jiaozi, they won't forget the rice cakes. I won't forget my hometown because I came to the foot of the son of heaven.

Bao jiaozi is the only place that shows the cleverness of northerners and the clumsiness of southerners. I mean the manual aspect. Even a Suzhou girl who can embroider meticulous flowers and birds on silk may not be well wrapped in jiaozi. The northerners, on the other hand, can pinch jiaozi perfectly, with style and style. They burned jiaozi's Geely, which is very important. On the one hand, it looks like an ancient ingot as "hard currency"; Eating jiaozi is similar to a ceremony and symbolizes "getting rich". On the other hand, by using the homophonic words of Jiaozi, it means "alternating old and new" and "making friends at a young age".

China people believe that jiaozi can bring wealth and good luck. If this is a superstition, it is also a very beautiful and positive superstition. No matter how hard life is, there must always be a little spiritual sustenance. If it brings you enjoyment at the same time, it may not be a bad thing. People also introduce the custom of drawing lots into their diet. When wrapping jiaozi, they will bury some small mascots in the stuffing, such as copper coins, silver coins, precious stones and pearls, to predict their respective destinies. The process of eating jiaozi is as exciting as winning the lottery. Let's see who can win the big prize. This also adds a romantic color to the popular diet. This is the best seasoning.

During the Qing Dynasty and even the Republic of China, jiaozi was also called "Cooking Cakes". "Summer, autumn, New Year's Day, wait on my mother-in-law, and cook quickly. Thin skin and much stuffing. The mother-in-law laughs and the daughter-in-law pays. " This is a folk song included in Li Guangting's book Xiang Yan Jie Yi in Qing Dynasty. It seems that Bao jiaozi helps to integrate the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Smile!

There is also a proverb in the north: "Eat jiaozi for thirty nights-there are no outsiders." To show intimacy. It can be seen that jiaozi is a necessary thing for a family to celebrate their reunion on New Year's Eve. My friend Sha Yi wrote a "cool comment" on CCTV Spring Festival Evening: "How does jiaozi cook this pot?". He compared the past Spring Festival Gala to a pot of "cultural jiaozi". Whether there is innovation depends on the stuffing in the bag. Northerners who don't eat jiaozi for 30 nights will feel that there is no atmosphere for the New Year. Just like people in China now, it must be empty if they don't watch the Spring Festival Gala.

In the slow-paced era, it is a very interesting collective labor for a family to sit around a table and pack jiaozi. Bagging seems to be more enjoyable than eating. Especially in the Spring Festival, all family members are present and happy; The absence of any one person will make everyone feel sad and miss "one person is missing" Brothers and sisters, before the New Year bell rings, be sure to go home and eat a bowl of jiaozi. This custom is very human. If you can keep it, you must keep it.

Not only ordinary people, but also Empress Dowager Cixi of Qing Dynasty regarded Bao jiaozi's thirty nights as an unavoidable etiquette. Ye wrote "New Year's Day at the Palace in the Late Qing Dynasty", recalling the past of the previous dynasty. "Twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve will be over, and the Queen Mother will order everyone to come to the temple. After a long queue, all kinds of vegetarian dishes prepared in advance will be served by the chef, and everyone will start making vegetarian cakes together, so they will cut and cut, and the hall will jingle for a while. Cut it and give it to the Empress Dowager. Empress, concubines, big princess and others mix the stuffing, and the taste is salty and light, which is decided by the Empress Dowager. At dawn, jiaozi has been wrapped. The queen mother ordered everyone to go back and change clothes and comb their hair again. After a while, people returned to the temple. The queen mother sat at the end of the case, and the queen and others stood by. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the ladies-in-waiting to serve the cooked cakes. Empress Dowager Cixi said: This is the beginning of the new year, the new moon, a new day and a new time. We can't forget the day when we left that year. Today, we can eat a bowl of calm rice. This is the blessing of Buddha and the protection of ancestors. Say that finish, life everyone to eat. Everyone kowtowed to the Queen Mother. After eating and cooking, it will be bright. "

When Empress Dowager Cixi ate jiaozi, she was really pious: thank God, thank earth and thank ancestors. I'm afraid she never imagined that the Qing Empire, a big "jiaozi" that has been packaged for more than two hundred years, was short of money and was about to "leak stuffing". Once you "leak the stuffing", you can't make it up.