On China's Long Diet History

The development history of China's food culture.

In the Paleolithic Age, people didn't know how to make a fire and cook food by hand. Diet, such as eating bird hair and drinking blood, does not belong to food culture. Since the period of the Yellow Emperor, the diet of the Chinese nation has been improved again. The emperor started as a kitchen god, concentrated fire to save fuel and make food mature quickly, which was widely used in Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, China's food culture was formed, with grains and vegetables as its staple food. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were basically self-produced grains and vegetables, but the structure was different from that of now. The Han Dynasty was a rich period of China's food culture, which was attributed to the communication between Chinese and Western food cultures, and pomegranate, sesame, grape, walnut, watermelon, melon, cucumber, spinach, carrot, fennel and celery were introduced one after another. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu An, the king of Huainan, invented tofu, which made the nutrition of beans easy to digest, high quality and low price, and made a variety of dishes. 1960, Miqi, Henan Province, found a large relief stone in the Han tomb, including the stone carving of tofu workshop. Vegetable oil was also invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Before that, animal oil was called grease, horned animal oil was called grease, and hornless animal oil was called ointment. The fat is hard and the paste is thin and soft. The vegetable oils include almond oil, shea butter and sesame oil, but they are rare. After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the varieties of vegetable oil became cheaper. The flourishing age of Tang and Song Dynasties is also the peak of food culture, and food is exquisite. For example, Su Zheng Yin Bu and Wang Chuan Pattern best represent the Tang Dynasty. China's food culture reached another peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which was a continuation of the food customs in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and at the same time it was mixed with Manchu characteristics. Great changes have taken place in the food structure. Staple food: Sun Mi was completely eliminated, and Asako withdrew from the staple food to extract oil. Bean materials are no longer used as staple food and become dishes. The proportion of wheat in the Yellow River valley in the north increased significantly, and noodles became the staple food in the north after the Song Dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, it was introduced again on a large scale, and the cultivation of potatoes, sweet potatoes and vegetables reached a high level. Meat: Livestock and poultry raised artificially become the main source of meat. Man-Han banquet can best represent the peak of Qing cuisine.

Second, the connotation of China food culture

After thousands of years of development, China's food culture has formed rich connotations, which can be roughly summarized into four words: essence, beauty, affection and courtesy. These four words reflect the unique cultural implications of food quality, aesthetic experience, emotional activities and social functions in the process of food activities, and also reflect the close relationship between food culture and Chinese excellent traditional culture.

Essence, beauty, affection and propriety respectively summarize the basic connotation of China's food culture from different angles. In other words, these four aspects organically constitute the overall concept of China's food culture. Essence and beauty focus on the image and quality of diet, while affection and courtesy focus on the mentality, customs and social functions of diet. However, they do not exist in isolation, but are interdependent and mutually causal. With its "essence", there is a complete "beauty"; Only with its "beauty" can we inspire "love"; With "emotion", there is a fashionable "ceremony". The perfect unity of the four constitutes the highest realm of China's food culture. Only by accurately grasping "essence, beauty, affection and courtesy" can we deeply understand China's food culture and better inherit and carry forward China's food culture.