Wedding cake with local characteristics

Where does the custom of baking wedding cakes come from? There is a legend of wedding cake gift box in Jiaodong. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan accepted Zhou Yu's suggestion and betrothed his sister Sun Shangxiang to Liu Bei without telling the courtiers and the common people. Actually, I want to trick him into Wu and trap him. Liu Bei saw through Sun Quan's plan and played with it. He ordered people to bake a batch of "dragon and phoenix wedding cakes" and take them to a blind date. As soon as Liu Bei entered, he distributed all the cakes to the people and spread the news of marrying Princess Wu to everyone, so there was a story of "Kanroji's blind date". Liu Bei not only destroyed Sun Quan's plan, but also succeeded in marrying a beautiful woman, killing two birds with one stone.

"From the geographical and cultural analysis, we will find that the fishery in coastal areas is developed, and food and pasta are cherished because of their relative scarcity. Simple, generous and hospitable fishermen often decorate cakes into various patterns and use them in important occasions such as wedding banquets, festivals and sacrifices. Wedding cakes are likely to be produced under such circumstances. " Talking about the historical origin of the wedding cake, Gao Yunsheng, deputy director of the Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, deputy secretary of the Municipal People's Art Museum, director of the art photography department and research librarian, analyzed this. At the same time, he thinks that the wedding cake has rich folk significance. Because they were originally prepared for wedding occasions, they represent happiness and auspiciousness. At the same time, they are also an important carrier to express one's mind, gain recognition and help others in the wedding. It also expresses how much people who prepare wedding cakes cherish their daughters.

During my visit, I learned that the size of wedding cakes in Wendeng is different from that in Fiona Fang. Small squares are given to friends and relatives after marriage, and used during sex. The big ones are specially treated. The bride specially reserved a wedding cake for her recommended son-in-law, which showed her gratitude to relatives and friends for their blessings and the bride's love for the groom. "Our hometown also has a wedding cake with a diameter of more than 30 cm, called' Dundi'." Jiang Wenwen, a girl from Rushan, told me that "hoarding" is a kind of food container. Using it to name the wedding cake not only means that the wedding cake is big, but also represents perfection, which means that there is surplus food at home, people are blessed and life is happy. According to the custom of the older generation, a wedding should be made of eight large hoards, which are generally cut into fan-shaped pieces and distributed to close relatives and friends who come to attend the wedding.

Nowadays, with the changes of the times, Weihai City, Rongcheng, Wendeng and Rushan, whether in urban or rural areas, should send wedding cakes on holidays, birthdays, having children, visiting relatives, and even children going to school or work in other places. The meaning of wedding cake has inadvertently expanded its connotation and extension with different gift-giving occasions and different images.

"Before the wedding cake is not for sale. With the development of the times and the prosperity of the economy, wedding cakes have become the business products of merchants. " Wendeng Intangible Heritage Protection Center said that many families often go directly to the market to customize wedding cakes when they hold happy events, and self-employed people who make wedding cakes came into being. According to statistics, Wendeng now has more than 200 self-employed people making wedding cakes.

It is understood that as early as 1990, the flour mill owned by Wendeng Grain Bureau went deep into the folk, excavated the ingredients ratio and production method of wedding cakes, and improved them, and soon developed and produced a new generation of wedding cakes, which were superior to folk wedding cakes in appearance and taste. After the product was put on the market, it was quickly snapped up. 1992, the factory sent 15 people to Beijing to produce wedding cakes, and the products have been selling well in Beijing market. Nowadays, with the popularity of Wendeng wedding cake in Jiaodong and going to the whole country, making wedding cakes has become a way to get rich in local rural areas.

"Rushan wedding cake, among many wedding cakes in Jiaodong, has the largest size, the roundest shape, the most beautiful color, the purest taste and the least heartache after eating. It is famous all over the country. " Rushan Intangible Heritage Protection Center tells us that since the 1990s, Rushan wedding cakes have gradually entered the urban and rural markets and wedding dress shops, especially the folk craftsmen represented by Wang Xiuli, constantly improving their wedding cake skills, making them more delicious and easy to carry. In recent years, with the development of tourism, investors and tourists from all over the country come in an endless stream, and Rushan wedding cake is becoming more and more famous among these people. Now Rushan wedding cake has been sold to Korea, Japan, Russia, France and other countries and regions. Rushan wedding cake is distributed in 60/kloc-0 administrative villages across the country, which has become another important channel for local agricultural products to increase value and farmers' income.

It is understood that the scale of wedding cake production in Weihai, Rongcheng and other places is also expanding and developing rapidly in the direction of industrialization.

"Moon cake wedding cake has strong local characteristics and is an important carrier of Weihai people's spirit and emotion." The Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center pointed out that wedding cake is not only a necessary snack for local people to get married and hold happy events, but also an important food that people like in their daily lives. Production customs and methods have been passed down from generation to generation, with the characteristics of the times and live transmission, and have permanent inheritance value in history. Wendeng Wedding Cake and Rushan Wedding Cake were selected into the intangible cultural heritage protection list of our city in 2008 and 20 1 1 respectively.

According to reports, in recent years, Wendeng wedding cake and Rushan wedding cake have been continuously developed through inheritance and improvement. The traditional inheritance of Rushan wedding cake is mother-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, which is completely passed down by the family itself. The inheritance pedigree is widely distributed and will be produced by every household. In the long process of inheritance, some well-known wedding cake makers and producers have appeared, among which the wedding cake made by Wang Xiuli, a housewife in Dongcun Town, Haiyang Town, is particularly famous.

Relevant local governments have also worked out a timetable for the protection of the "non-legacy" wedding cakes, such as allocating special funds for the general survey of wedding cakes, protection and promotion, making tourist souvenirs, etc., so as to further incorporate the wedding cake making skills and the inheritance and protection of skills into scientific planning.

Wedding cake has become a beautiful business card of Weihai's food culture. It is beaming and full of fragrance, attracting the favor of countless customers at home and abroad. As the inheritance and protection work becomes more and more stable, the sound of gongs and drums to expand the production scale becomes louder and louder, and the charm of this business card will be even more breathtaking. Weihai wedding cake is going to the whole country and the whole world with confidence.

(Excerpted from Mid-Autumn Moon Cake Food Sharing Station)

References: 1. Xie Yuling discusses China's marriage? Custom 2. A study on consumer gift-giving behavior of Youjiahui in March 2003. Naiwen, Du Ruize and Huang Zhenyu are from? Color consumption cognition and state? , discuss? Research on color packaging design-taking wedding cake box as an example.