Maitian traditional noodles

China has a vast territory and abundant natural resources. Different regions have different eating habits and varied food types. As far as staple food is concerned, it is the most obvious difference that southerners eat rice and northerners eat wheat.

This article first talks about "Mai", but where to start? Let's start with the word "mai" in the Book of Songs. After all, the word "Mai" appeared seven times in The Book of Songs.

Wheat in the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs is the beginning of China's poetry, which can be said to be the earliest collection of poems. When the Book of Songs is mentioned, many people will think of the poem Guan Ju. The name may be strange, but I must have heard a poem in it, namely: My Fair Lady, My Fair Gentleman.

There is no exact record of the completion time of this book, but it collects poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, which should be works in the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. At present, it is not only a collection of poems and songs, but also a portrayal of history and ancient life.

Take our common wheat as an example. It appeared seven times in the Book of Songs, which means that at least in the Spring and Autumn Period, people began to grow wheat, so we picked out two interesting records:

Vole, vole, don't eat my wheat! I have served you hard for many years, but you are not kind to me. Swear to get rid of you and enjoy the state. That country, that country of music, is my good place! -The Book of Songs and Storytelling

In today's words, voles, voles, don't eat my wheat. After all these years of hard work, you treat me like this. Now I swear, I must get rid of you and go to that country full of joy, which is what I yearn for.

Seeing this, some people may feel puzzled. The vole that eats wheat in the wild is exactly what the author laments. In fact, the squirrel here is used by the author to refer to the ruling class, which reflects the people's psychology of opposing exploitation and yearning for the promised land at that time. The appearance of wheat here refers not only to food, but also to a kind of spiritual food.

I walked slowly in the field, and the wheat was kept secret. Who can rely on to help report to big countries? Guo Xu, gentlemen, don't blame me. You think hundreds of times, I'll run by myself. -"Book of Songs, Records"

This poem is one of the few poems recorded by the exact author in The Book of Songs. The author of this poem is Mrs. Xu Mu, the earliest recorded poetess in China. The writing background of this poem is that my wife's motherland was occupied by Di people and came all the way overnight to mourn the peril of the motherland.

It means that I am driving slowly in the field, and the wheat on the ridge is dense. Many ministers want to go to a big country to complain about their troubles, but no one can come to the rescue. Doctors and gentlemen of North Korea, don't hold a grudge against me. You've thought about it hundreds of times here. Why don't I go myself?

From this poem, we can easily find that Mrs. Xu Mu is not only brilliant, but also concerned about the country and the people, and is a well-deserved poetess. Although the dense wheat field here is the scene that Mrs. Xu Mu saw on the road, it also represents her chaotic and complicated mood.

In addition, we won't list the other records about "wheat" in the Book of Songs, but is the wheat in the Book of Songs the staple food of northerners now?

This point is inconclusive, but from the above two poems, we will find that both the importance people attach to wheat and the planting area are similar to those of wheat now. It can be inferred that wheat in the Book of Songs actually refers to wheat, because wheat has become one of the main wheat seeds at that time.

However, wheat is not native to China, but spread from the west. According to some historical records, wheat originated in the two river basins. 1 10,000 years ago, human beings began to grow wheat. The wheat planting in China probably went through the process from West Asia to Central Asia and then to the western part of China.

Wheat planting in China has generally experienced a development process from west to east and from north to south, and the earliest wheat remains were found in northwest China. Besides the Book of Songs, other ancient books also recorded the situation of planting and eating wheat by ethnic groups in the western regions. For example, the Biography of Mu in the Warring States Period recorded that some tribes in the west gave wheat to them when they traveled to the west.

Wheat planting in China has enriched people's production and life, and played a positive role in land development and utilization and population growth. As a foreign or later staple food crop, the widespread popularization of wheat in China actually overcame many obstacles, and finally became an indispensable part of food supply with people's recognition.

So when was wheat planted on a large scale? It should be from the Han Dynasty.

Wheat in Han dynasty. Wheat is planted in a large area, because there are few related documents, so there have been different opinions in academic circles. Japanese scholar Xishan thinks this is the real Tang Dynasty, namely:

The milling operation in Tang Dynasty was endowed with a unique history, which was mainly based on the milling operation of wheat. If wheat planting is not popular, flour milling operation will not be widely popularized.

However, with the continuous research and archaeological discoveries of Chinese scholars in recent years, this statement has gradually lost its foothold, and people have gradually realized that it has been planted in a large area in the Han Dynasty, which is also evidenced by Ban Gu's Hanshu:

Dong Zhongshu said that Chunqiu is not a book. As for wheat and grain, it is a book to see that saints value wheat and grain more than grains. Nowadays, it is not good to grow wheat in Guanzhong custom, which is the loss of Chunqiu and the tools of the people. May your majesty have the honor to send a letter to Dasinong, so that the people in Guanzhong can benefit from planting wheat, so that it is not too late. -"Hanshu Shihuozhi"

This passage was written by Dong Zhongshu, who saw that the external wars in the Han Dynasty continued, the people stressed fame and wealth, and all kinds of labor expenses rose. However, many people gave up their jobs, which led to many contradictions in the Han Dynasty, so he wrote a letter to the emperor and made a suggestion.

Spring and Autumn Annals recorded immature wheat and rice instead of other grains. It can be seen that the most important food of the ancients was wheat and rice, but now the people in Guanzhong don't like to grow wheat, which damages the material equipment needed by people's lives. I hope we can order big farmers to increase the planting of wheat that matures every other year, so that they won't miss the season.

From this sentence, we can get at least three messages:

1. During the Han Dynasty, wheat had become the "root". Dong Zhongshu made this suggestion when many farmers gave up their jobs.

2. During the Han Dynasty, the ruling class attached great importance to the cultivation of wheat, and "overnight wheat" matured every other year appeared.

3. During the Han Dynasty, wheat played an important role in grain supply, otherwise Dong Zhongshu could not have written directly to the emperor, asking the emperor to give orders directly to Dasinong to supervise the people to grow wheat.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see from these news that the cultivation of wheat in the Han Dynasty has made a qualitative leap compared with that in the pre-Qin period, and this phenomenon appears not because the varieties of wheat have changed, but because people's way of eating wheat has changed.

Having said that, it is necessary for us to talk about another commodity, namely the stone mill. It is the appearance of stone mill that urges people to change the way of eating wheat from cooking to "deep processing (grinding into flour) and then eating".

The wheat that people eat now is actually deeply processed. In today's words, it is pasta, and the main component of pasta is flour ground from wheat. Many northerners may be very familiar with the word "beating flour". Behind these two words, it represents the "evolution" process from wheat to flour.

I still remember making noodles with my elders when I was a child and going to a small workshop. Wheat was poured into the machine, and soon flour and bran came out. It feels amazing. Now these small noodle workshops have almost become history.

However, in ancient times, people didn't have machines to make dough, so how did they realize this process? This uses the stone mill, and the large-scale planting of wheat in China is also marked by the popularization and use of the stone mill.

Stone mill probably appeared in the Warring States period, but it was widely used in the Han Dynasty. Of course, this is also based on the stone mill unearthed in recent years. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 80 stone mills and pottery mills unearthed in Han dynasty, involving more than 10 provinces and more than 50 counties.

The excavation of these stone mills is actually the most powerful evidence that wheat has been planted on a large scale in the Han Dynasty.

Since the Han Dynasty changed the way of eating wheat, what foods are made of flour?

Pasta in Han Dynasty. Before the stone mill appeared, people ate wheat and soybeans the same, that is, they used it for cooking. There are still ways to cook and eat soybeans, but the cooking and eating of wheat is hard to imagine for people now. When I was a child, I ate immature wheat, but I really didn't try to cook and eat wheat.

Perhaps it is precisely because wheat is really not easy to cook and delicious, so before the appearance of stone mill, wheat's position in crops has not been in the front. After the appearance of the stone mill, wheat can be ground into flour, so the ancient people's consumption of wheat changed from granular food to pasta, which is a great progress in the history of China's diet.

Today, pasta has always been a popular food, so what kinds of pasta are there in Han Dynasty?

There are: cakes, noodles, steamed buns, steamed bread, jiaozi, etc. In terms of popularity, cakes are undoubtedly ranked first.

There are many kinds of cakes in Han dynasty, and there are also many cooking methods, such as steaming and baking. Before making a cake, grind the wheat into flour, remove the wheat skin, then mix it with water and knead it into a cake.

If it is steamed, it can be steamed directly in the kettle. In the "Urgent Articles", it is strictly noted that if it is steamed, it is a cake.

This method of making cakes is still used by people today, but people didn't know the fermentation method of noodles at that time, so most of the cakes at this time were "dead cakes" and we can still eat them now.

Baked cakes are also called "Hu cakes". Taiping Yulan quoted a cloud from Hanshu: Hu cakes were eaten by the spiritual emperor, so Hu cakes were still popular in the Han Dynasty. If it is described as a food now, it is actually scones.

In fact, most of these foods made of flour are still being eaten. Taking steamed stuffed bun as an example, it is now the first choice for breakfast in many northerners. I have to say that the wisdom of the ancients is really amazing.

It can also be seen that since the Han Dynasty, wheat has greatly changed the way of life of the ancients, and even affected the whole historical process of China.

After the vigorous promotion of the Han Dynasty, the planting area of wheat in China has expanded, the output has also increased, and its position in food supply has also risen, and it has gradually become an extremely important war preparation material. In the Han Dynasty and the subsequent war history, wheat also began to appear frequently in history books.

Take Cao Cao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty as an example. He took Yanzhou, which is rich in wheat, as the rear area and his opponent's wheat producing area as the main attack target. Later, when Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu, he collected rations from the people, that is, wheat. Later, because the wheat fields were often trampled by military forces, Cao Cao also issued a special military order that "the soldiers are unbeaten and the offenders die."

Once, Cao Cao's own horse stepped into the wheat field, and Cao Cao set an example by cutting his own hair instead of being executed. Although it is only a form, it also shows that Cao Cao attaches importance to wheat.

But Cao Cao is only a "representative" ruler who attaches importance to wheat planting and production. In the later historical development, the rulers paid more and more attention to wheat. Today, wheat has occupied a decisive position in our diet and deeply influenced our lives, especially for people who like pasta.

It can be seen that wheat, as an exotic crop, is undoubtedly the most successful one in localization, but it is an exotic staple crop after all, and it is impossible to completely replace our original local crops and completely change our diet.

For example, in the north where wheat is the food, although people have accepted the changes in the diet structure brought by wheat, they have not chosen bread as the staple food. For example, in the south where rice is the food, wheat has never shaken the status of rice from beginning to end.

What do you think of this?

References: Hanshu, The Book of Songs, Chunqiu, Mu Zhuan, etc.

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