Lu Cai as the first of the eight major cuisines, that why did not appear in the state banquet?

China's development of banquets can be said to have a long history, as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the earliest rituals are the beginning of the form of banquets, so far, there has been a history of 4,000 years, with the development of history, banquets have gradually become diversified. In terms of categories, banquets can be divided into wedding banquets, birthday banquets, wedding banquets, full moon banquets, housewarming banquets, thank you banquets and so on. But in State Banquet has not appeared Lu Cuisine, that is mainly because of the high cost of Lu Cuisine production, not only time-consuming and laborious, but also on the culinary requirements are very high.

I. The origin of the eight cuisines.

We like to eat different dishes in different seasons, leeks in spring, eggplant in summer, fungus in fall, cabbage in winter. The environment and personal habits of each region are different.

Because the regions are different, everyone has their own unique piece of nostalgia for the food, after thousands of years of time evolution and competition, each different region of their own hometown dishes to the high point, so that the formation of a very local characteristics of the cuisine. Their exquisite taste and texture with the great migration of population, gradually recognized by all the people of the country.

With the chefs' exquisite craftsmanship, and also with the guardianship and development of the inheritors of the major cuisines, this has given rise to the different schools of our country about the cuisine, which are Lu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Suzhou, Fujian, Hui and Zhejiang.

Two, meal culture

China's meal culture originated in the Shang Zhou, when people began to realize the formation of the feast, to the Northern Song Dynasty, banquets and dishes also gradually have a genre, In general, the specifications of the banquet is higher than the daily life of the table, big big banquets, small small banquets, depending on the individual needs.

But the South's cuisine is sweet, the North's cuisine is salty, which has become a recognized universal phenomenon, like a bowl of tofu brain, the South likes to add sugar to eat sweet mouth, the North likes to add shrimp and seaweed with seasoning to eat salty mouth. This is the North and South because of the different climate and culture which affects the taste preference.

Each cuisine has a different preference, Lu cuisine originated in Shandong, it is heavy salt and fresh, thick oil and red sauce, its representative dishes are three silk shark's fin, nine-turned sausage , this kind of long history of the dish, it is difficult to do up, but also more test of the chef's skills.

Sichuan cuisine because of the region's humidity, its flavor will be spicy, heavy oil bias fresh aroma, Sichuan hot pot and Kung Pao Chicken became one of their major features, fish incense is also considered a unique feature. Cantonese cuisine advocates the original flavor, which originated in Lingnan, Hakka cuisine on the support of the half of the sky of the Cantonese cuisine, such as white cut chicken , white shrimp has become the leading role of the Cantonese cuisine, seemingly simple, but there are other mysteries.

Su cuisine is known for its stews and soups, such as chicken soup with dried threads, which looks ordinary, but other regions often do not do so authentic, although this is a seemingly ordinary dish, but it has a unique place. There's also Fojiao Wall in Fujian cuisine, West Lake Vinegar in Zhejiang cuisine, Yipin Fresh in Anhui cuisine, and La Mai in Hunan cuisine. They are either sweet or salty with their own specialties, and each dish has a chef's secret way of doing things.

Three, the state banquet.

When it comes to banquets, we have to mention state banquets, which refer to the formal banquets organized by our country in order to entertain important guests from other countries, or in important festivals for people from different industries.

Generally speaking this is a higher level of the banquet, it is to learn from all, take the core of the eight cuisines, in order to health and flavor as the main purpose, need to meet certain standards,that is, not only the taste should be good, but also health, in addition to the need to achieve a certain standard, which seems to be simple, but the operation of it is very difficult.

The reason why the state banquet is called the state banquet, it is mainly in the meaning of the representative behind it, the state banquet and other banquets are different in that it represents our country to banquet as a feature, want to convey to the culture of other countries.

The state banquet is particularly strict on the skills of the chef, and it is said that the chef must be required to shave his head in the kitchen, not to mention not allowed to come in and out at will. Additionally, a handful of excellent cooking means is also the first condition, must be completed in a short period of time all the order of food, a chef's lifelong desire to become a state banquet chef as a matter of pride, who let the state banquet represents a higher specification it.

Additionally, there are many taboos at state banquets, such as Szechuan cuisine will reduce the amount of spicy, can't let them bring fire to discuss important matters, right? And Huaiyang cuisine will reduce the original amount of sugar, and strive to make all foreign guests can adapt, while making it more healthy and appropriate.

Four, the state banquet why do not use the first of the eight cuisines Lu Cai?

Lu cuisine originated in Shandong, is a spontaneous formation of the cuisine, for the difficulty of the technique, the long history, is the most test of the chef's skills. But with the passage of time, the major cuisines because of the Lu Cuisine developed more famous dishes at the same time, for the different voices of the Lu Cuisine, is also getting bigger and bigger.

As a new generation of health professionals, many people have to less salt and sugar, light flavor to the pursuit of food, but Lu Cuisine is time-consuming and laborious, relatively more heavy mouth, careful observation you will find that State Banquet are now dominated by the Huaiyang cuisine, Lu Cuisine's share is also gradually becoming less.

This is why, the main reason is that the eating habits of foreigners are slightly different from those of the Chinese, and their tastes are lighter. Some of the famous brussels sprouts in Lu Cuisine can't be found as a main dish. So it's not Lu Cai is not good enough, on the contrary, it may be too good, Lu Cai in the eight cuisines is the big brother, because it is a very test of the knife, so the appearance of extraordinarily beautiful, but also because of the complexity of its procedures and become a lot of chefs to test the necessary homework.

And the master of this road has become particularly precious, according to Shandong locals said, generally no two brushes of Lu Cai master, is not dare to open authentic Lu Cai restaurant, Because of Lu Cai it is not only raw materials are expensive, but also extremely test the chef of a variety of kung fu, Lu Cai is like a watershed, and many of them do not have the talent to refuse to make an effort to the master, throw the In the door of the Lu Cuisine.

Lu Cai from ancient times it does belong to the official dishes, its cost is very high, but also extremely waste of labor, in the cuisine is properly the existence of the first place, but also these two reasons so that the Lu Cai is not as pro-people as a few other dishes.

Like Sichuan cuisine, the national popularity stems from its cost, in any small museum, can be about the same price, to buy almost the same taste of the dishes. But the three silk shark's fins, nine-turned large intestine in the Lu cuisine, the average restaurant, it will not be able to afford those two big Buddha.

People really can't eat which one is more authentic, because of the above reasons let the Lu Cuisine's audience is even smaller, but also let a few other cuisines have the weather of a hundred competitions. Compared to the unattainable state banquet, when it comes to the popular dishes, we may be more familiar with, because the eight dishes from the very beginning of the origin is the most common dishes on the table of our people.

As a dish, the first thing you need to do is to satisfy your taste buds, and that's because most of our staple foods are simple and unadorned, like steamed buns, siu mai, and noodles, and it fills us up.

If there is no dish, then life always feel less two points of taste, a variety of dishes of delicious dishes contain sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty these five flavors, are said to be the five flavors of life, the five flavors in the smoke and fire, but also represents a wide range of the public on the life of the profound experience.

This is why, as history advances, our picky taste buds are getting more and more serious, because we are no longer the same as the people before us, just to be able to eat and thank goodness, the abundance of life, so that we have the time to pursue better things, food, clothing, housing and transportation are all the same.

People's pursuit of taste buds is what triggered the chef's research and development of dishes, because the market determines demand, and there is a further demand for the market. Imagine, in a famine era, you will still care about the sweet potato in your hand it sweet or not? As long as you can not be starved to death, even if it is chewing wax, it is a delicacy on earth.

Only when the society develops to a certain height, the pursuit of human can become self-conscious in the general environment. Only then can chefs in various places have the ability and time to develop more complex and tasty food. You see Africa, there is no cuisine , can eat is good.

V. The cultural story of Lu cuisine.

We have eight major cuisines, more fortunately, these eight major cuisines have their own heritage, behind each dish, there are different stories. Just like the Lu cuisine, let's take the Sihi Dumplings, the dumplings are made with meat as the base and four round dumplings are evenly placed on the plate.

It is said that it was born in the mouth of Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Jiuling to a downtrodden scholar a day over the Dragon Gate, became the first scholar of the dynasty, and was recruited by the emperor as his son-in-law. That year, Zhang Jiuling's hometown was flooded, and his parents were nowhere to be found. On the day of his marriage to the princess, the man who sent him out reported that his parents had been found.

Then, just on the food servant came, hand holding a plate of fat pills, this Zhang Jiuling mood, and the servant to talk, asked him, what is the name of the dish ah, servant is also a small wit, so the joke to: this is called four rounds, a round of Langjun gold list, two rounds of Langjun married, three rounds of into a dragon fast son-in-law, four rounds of the whole family reunion, and a round of the whole family. The first one is the one with the most important thing to do, and the second one is the one with the most important thing to do.

Zhang Jiuling changed the name of the four circles to "Four Happinesses". He thought that Four Happiness Dumplings was more meaningful and louder than Four Round. From then on, the four joy balls became the wedding banquet must be ordered the grand finale. It is thought that it is also to dabble in the four joys of Lord Chancellor's life.

From the Shang and Zhou sacrifices to the people on the table of the ordinary delicious, from each different dishes flourish to the national feast on the different improvements, eat this word that everyone is concerned about, is never a person's mouth decided, and even behind it represents the different cultures and good memories.

From Lu Cuisine to Hunan Cuisine, no matter what kind of cuisine, which kind of dish, there is always a dish that can impress you. Or maybe you're a foodie with a slight taste for it. So you can travel the world and try every cuisine and see who is the champion of your heart?