What is the difference between elegance and vulgarity in Manchu food culture?

Anthropological principles tell us that living conditions such as human geographical environment restrict people's livelihood and lifestyle, and also determine the corresponding food culture. Manchu ancestors who lived for a long time between Baishan and Heishui in northeast China mainly lived by fishing, hunting, gathering and nomadic. The main food sources are roe deer, bears, pigs, geese, pheasants and ducks in the mountains, and all kinds of wild vegetables, wild fruits and mushrooms that can be collected, as well as fish and shellfish in the river. Fishing, hunting, gathering and nomadism not only cultivated their rough and generous temperament, but also formed the inherent eating style of northern nationalities, which was eating meat with big mouths and drinking in big bowls. Up to now, many Manchu dishes and foods with national characteristics have left traces of this way of making a living and eating habits, showing and confirming the original characteristics of Manchu food culture.

Manchu Shaman Family Sacrifice

Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Bei Jing contains:

"In the wild, there are mountains whose names are not salty, and there is a country where gods live." In this regard, Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty noted: "Now Sushen has gone to Liaodong for more than 3,000 miles and lived in a cave, with no clothes and no pigskin. ...

The so-called "Lou Guo" in the later Han Dynasty is also known. "The book says that it is now Jingpo Lake in Ning 'an, north of Changbai Mountain, in the upper and middle reaches of Mudanjiang. In this area, many stone shovels, stone knives, Shi Mao, fishhooks made of bones, a large number of remaining animal bones and pottery pigs were unearthed in the site of the ancient Soviet God in Yinggeling, Jingbo Township, Ning 'an County. In the south of the kitchen site in the middle of one of the living room sites, five well-preserved, neatly arranged and complete roe deer and pig skulls were unearthed. And in the ash pit, there are also some exquisite pottery sculptures, such as pottery pigs and dogs. In particular, these pottery sculptures unearthed from the ash heap are not only lifelike, but also different from male and female pigs. These show that Su Shen, the ancestor of Manchu people, not only used wild animals and fish such as wild boar, but also domesticated wild boar and gradually used pigs as the main source of meat. Moreover, according to the pottery pots, retort and other cooking utensils unearthed from the same site, it can be judged that the ancient Soviet gods have mastered the technology of turning raw food into cooked food or semi-cooked food by burning, steaming and cooking. This is also consistent with the "clothes and pigskin" mentioned in Guo Pu's "Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Bei Jing". As recorded in the Biography of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "the country of Gusushin is also ... full of grain, hemp, ruby and good mink. Without a monarch, every city has its own adults. Between the mountains and forests, the rustic is extremely cold, and it is often a cave, and the depth is more expensive. Everyone is connected to nine ladders. It is a good thing to raise, eat and skin tapirs. In winter, I put a layer of plaster on my body, which is a bit thick to keep out the cold. "

A sugar vendor at the temple fair.

The ancient Sushen people's diet custom of eating pork, vegetarian food and millet, which was created by geographical environment, was inherited by later generations such as Lou, Buji, Xiongnu, Nuzhen and Manchu. This is particularly prominent in some popular dishes with pigs as the main raw material.

Moreover, this dietary custom is particularly prominent in offering sacrifices to gods and religions. For example, according to his neighbor He Gangde's "Talk about Spring Dreams and Visiting Couples", Manchu people offered sacrifices to the gods. "The sacrifices were made before it was clear, and the sacrifices were steamed with skinned whole tapirs (pigs). At dawn, the guests gathered in the hall and lined up on the kang with the square table. All the guests boarded the kang and sat down. The table was filled with minced sugar, minced garlic and leeks, and a plate of white meat was put in the middle, which was handed up one after another, regardless of the number of plates. There are several kinds of lungs and intestines next to them, all boiled in white, with no salt or lobster sauce. Finally, there is a plate of white minced meat and a bowl of white soup, you can eat old rice "and so on. "This is the famous Manchu traditional food' whole pig mat'. Because the Manchu eating custom takes pigs as the top grade, pigs are the main sacrificial products in Manchu sacrificial activities, so pork is called "blessing meat" and "spiritual meat". After the sacrifice, people will share food. As for the "roasted little pig", "braised pork in the jar", "roasted pig", "white meat and blood sausage" and "killing pig dishes" which are still popular today, they are famous ethnic foods with a long history in Manchu eating customs.

Eating dog meat and using dog skin as clothes and ornaments are forbidden in Manchu diet customs. As far as the production and living conditions necessary for its survival are concerned, dogs are important domestic animals used for hunting, guarding property and self-defense in national production activities, and also important companion animals in daily life. The story of "the savior of the righteous dog" widely circulated in Manchu folklore tells that a righteous dog once saved the life of the Qing Taizu Nurhachi in danger. Although this passage is attached to Qing Taizu, it is still a reflection and portrayal of the consciousness of treating dogs as close partners determined by the living conditions of Manchu ancestors.

Based on their own living environment, customs and habits of production and living, the original characteristics of Manchu traditional food culture have been formed, that is, they like to eat meat, fish and delicacies, and the cooking methods are mainly barbecue and stew, which was written by Yuan Mei, a famous scholar in Qing Dynasty, in his "Suiyuan Food List". For the ancient Manchu, this kind of diet is rich in resources, easy to obtain, high in calories, convenient to process and make, and suitable for the living environment and production mode of this nation.

In the past, Manchu people liked to eat millet, yellow rice dry rice and yellow rice cake (sticky bean buns), ate jiaozi on holidays, and must eat braised pork on Lunar New Year's Eve. There is a Manchu love song, which expresses love with sticky bean bags. The song sings: "yellow rice cake, sticky, red kidney beans, sprinkled on it, Gege's engagement rice, held in front of me with both hands ... the more sticky, the more sticky my heart is." Saqima, a unique Manchu flavor, is still a favorite snack of the broad masses of the people. Today's "Liao cuisine" is formed on the basis of a full banquet in Manchu and Han dynasties, absorbing the strengths of northern and southern cuisines. The white meat and blood sausage in that restaurant was opened by Naji, a native of Zhengbaiqi, in the 13th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1874), and there was also home-cooked stewed chicken with mushrooms, which concentrated the delicious flavor of Manchu. "That restaurant" has white meat and blood sausage. Its white meat is pork belly in the pig's hard ribs. Boil with water and seasoning first, and then soak with low fire. The meat is rotten, mellow, fat but not greasy. Its blood sausage is made of fresh pig blood, purple in color and bright in luster. With chives, fermented milk, Chili oil and garlic paste, it gives people a fresh and delicious taste. As for the famous "Manchu-Chinese banquet" in the court, it is the crystallization of the blending of Manchu-Chinese food culture.

Manchu is a "nation on horseback", and it is also a great nation that moved from Baishan and Heishui to the whole country in Qing Dynasty, and once established a unified national territory, which made indelible contributions to the reunification and development of the motherland. In the nearly 300-year history of the Qing Dynasty, we not only paid attention to learning and carrying forward the essence of the long-standing Han traditional culture, but also made its excellent national culture, including food culture, constantly improve, improve and sublimate with the development of the times and society. From the folk to the court, at the same time, the advantages and disadvantages of ancient and modern food art in all parts of the country were widely collected, which made the national food culture undergo a historic evolution and promotion. One of the most typical is the "Man-Han Banquet" which is now well-known at home and abroad.

As a peak of the development of China's cooking skills after the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu-Han Banquet is the most famous and largest classical grand banquet in China. After entering the customs in the Qing Dynasty, with the gradual strength, prosperity and stability of the country, Manchu rulers naturally attached importance to diet. In the era of Kang, Yong and Gan, in view of the fact that the palace banquet should not only highlight the eating habits of the rulers, but also take care of the needs of other people attending the banquet, a system of "full banquet" and "Chinese banquet" was formed. This system provided a convenient platform for the court catering system, which led to the "grafting" or "confluence" of the Manchu-Chinese banquet, making it a logical and normal transition.

According to China literature, the name of Manchu-Han Banquet first appeared in the middle of Qing Dynasty, which was called "Manchu-Han Banquet" at that time. This is the so-called "Man-Han Banquet", which was first seen in Yuan Mei's "Eating List with the Garden" and Li Dou's "Painting a Boat in Yangzhou" in the Qing Dynasty.

According to the cloud "Take Garden Food List, Notes List, Notes on Duty", "Manchu cuisine is more cooked, while Chinese cuisine is more cooked, and children are Xi, so they are good at it. Han invited Man Han, each with his own specialties, feeling fresh at the entrance without losing the old steps of Handan. Today's people forget their duties, but they should please them more. The Han people invited Manchu people to eat full dishes, and the Han people invited Chinese dishes. It turned out to be a gourd in name only, and painting a tiger was not a dog. " In this regard, he also said, for example, "The scholar finally wrote his own words, worked extremely hard and had his own meeting. If you imitate every time you meet a master and imitate every time you meet an examiner, it will make no difference and you will miss a lifetime. " In "Suiyuan food list, warning list and falling set", he wrote again:

"Tang poetry is the best, five words and eight rhymes, and famous people don't choose. Why? It is also because of its settlement. Poetry is still like this, and food is also appropriate. Today's official dishes are called sixteen dishes, eight obstacles and four snacks. They are also called "Full of Han Xi", "Eight Snacks" and "Ten Dishes". Various common names are against bad cooking habits. Can only be used for new relatives to come to the door and the boss to enter the country, in order to perfunctory; With a chair, a table skirt and a screen table sweetmeats, it can be said that there are three statues. If there is a banquet at home, can Ann use this evil set? Only when the dishes are patchy can there be a rare atmosphere. The people who moved to five or six tables at the Yujiashou banquet called for foreign chefs, so it is inevitable that they will fall behind. However, if you train, you will have different tastes. " In addition, there is the so-called "Man-Han Banquet", which can be found in Clearing Banknotes edited by Tsui Hark. However, the Man-Han banquet here does not refer to the Man-Han banquet, but to "roast the whole pig".

"Qing paper money and catering" records: "Barbecue seats are commonly known as Manchu-Han seats. The banquet is not top grade. Bake and dry in the fire. In addition to treasures such as bird's nest and shark's fin, we must cook pigs and roast vegetables, all of which are cooked all over the body. After three rounds of wine, we will enter the roast pig, and the banquet and servants will wear dresses.

The caterer was waiting for him, and the servant untied the knife he was wearing, cut it open, put it into the container, knelt down on one knee and presented the first special guest. Welcome special guests. People sitting at the banquet begin to taste, and the code will last forever. The second one is burning square. Square, dolphin meat square, not all, but compared with only roast duck, it is still valuable. "Some people regard this as the documentary evidence of Man-Han Banquet, which is obviously a big fallacy. A thorough study is just a dish at the Manchu-Han banquet, or a dish uses barbecue skills. It should be noted that the roast whole pig is called the Manchu-Chinese banquet, but it also reflects from another angle that the characteristics of Manchu barbecue occupy a very heavy weight in its dishes and are the main flavor characteristics of Manchu-Chinese banquet.

China has a vast territory, rich and colorful eating habits, different flavors and different local colors. Through addition, subtraction and integration, several local versions of "Manchu-Chinese banquet" with local colors have been formed. For example, the version of the Manchu banquet in Shengjing (Shenyang), the birthplace of the Manchu Dynasty, is the so-called "one monarch and eight ministers" format with a large plate of eight dishes, and it is always * * * to turn over Taiwan twelve times during the dinner. In Guangzhou, there are 54 southern dishes and 54 northern dishes, respectively. The dishes are arranged according to the number of thirty-six plough in the stars and seventy-two dishmen. In addition, the two parties broke up, four Guo Jing, four candies, four sour fruits, four raw fruits, four ornamental fruits, delicacies and 78 kinds of staple foods, which were divided into four meals for guests to enjoy. Tianjin format takes 108 as a lucky number, which is roughly similar to Beijing format. Among them are dried fruits, fresh fruits, candied fruit, candied fruit, cold dishes, pasta, sweet bowls, porridge bowls and so on. The dishes and refreshments are all in groups of four, while the big dishes are promoted layer by layer according to the "one belt and four" format of four reds, four whites and four big plates. The arrangement is compact, the dishes are simple, and there is little whitewashing, which retains the Manchu-Chinese style. This also reflects the characteristics of local scenery in Tianjin. No matter which version of "Man-Han Banquet" is cooked with raw materials according to local dietary tastes and customs, the dishes are constantly changing and updating, but they all highlight the main characteristic tone of "Man-Han Banquet" technology and flavor. Although there are many varieties of Manchu-Han banquet in different places, the dishes and formats are not the same, but its grand scene, luxurious style, exquisite tableware, exquisite materials, rich names of dishes and rich levels, especially the emphasis on etiquette, have finally been shaped into a major "state banquet", a classic of China's food culture and a microcosm of China's cuisine, laying a foundation.

Manchu folk food culture first entered the court life with the mainstream appearance through the system of "full banquet" and "Chinese banquet" formulated by the court after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and then it was created and sublimated into a Manchu-Chinese banquet on the basis of retaining the flavor characteristics of Manchu food, and then became the most grand and noble state banquet at that time. Through the way of "from folk to court", the historical evolution and promotion of the food culture of a nomadic hunting nation in the north have been realized. This historic evolution and promotion further strengthened the influence of Manchu culture and the integration of Manchu and Chinese cultures.