Legend of convenience

The name "handy" is said to be related to "tying hooves in Foshan".

In the old town of Foshan, there used to be an old shop "Dexinzhai" (formerly called "Deji" and later renamed "Hutchison") with a specialty called "Foshan Zhati". The so-called "tying feet" means taking pig's trotters (feet) as raw materials, boiling them into brine with salt, fenjiu, tsaoko, aniseed, fennel, pepper and cinnamon, then cutting them open, taking out the flesh and blood, filling them with processed meat slices and leg meat, tying the pig's trotters with aquatic plants and stuffing, putting them into brine, and slowly cooking them. Cook until cooked, cut pig's trotters into blocks with a knife, pour sesame oil on them, and serve. It tastes fragrant and delicious, and the skin is crisp and crisp. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an "official pavilion" opposite the store (specially used to receive officials of the Qing court). All the officials passing by here love to come to the store to taste "Tiehoof", and they are full of praise after eating, but they are not satisfied with the name "Tiehoof", saying that it will make their careers successful and unlucky. Later, an official had a brainwave and changed his name to "handy", which has been used ever since.

Whether this statement is right or wrong, let's listen. However, there is another explanation that seems to be closer to reality: Guangdong people are used to calling pig's trotters "pig's hands" (pig's front hoofs are called hands and hind hoofs are called feet), so they are collectively called "pig's hands". Later, some people thought that this kind of food came from Dexinzhai, and the pronunciation of "De" and "De" was the same, so it was called "handy". In this way, it can be said that it is ingenious to respond to the "hand" of "pig hand" with the word "moral (heart)" of "moral heart".