Eating habits of Hubei people

The raw materials of Chu people's diet are produced in Chu, and its characteristics and level are consistent with the characteristics of natural resources and the development level of productive forces in Chu. The food culture of Chu people most vividly embodies the characteristics of the land of fish and rice, and its main features are:

Rice is the staple food.

A large number of rice husks and paddy rice unearthed from ancient cultural sites such as Qujialing in Jingshan, Maojiashan in Jiangling and Meng Xi in Lixian indicate that clans and tribes living mainly in rice cultivation lived in Jingchu as early as 8,000 to 4,600 years ago. In addition to staple food rice and miscellaneous grains, people's lives have improved with the development of production for thousands of years: food production has also become diversified and refined, such as rice flour, rice cakes, rice cakes, dumplings and zongzi.

Love fish

Archaeological excavations have found a large number of animal remains and lifelike animal pottery such as chickens, sheep and fish. This shows that the ancestors of Chu raised pigs, dogs, chickens, sheep, fish and clams thousands of years ago. In addition to livestock, fish is also an important nutrient in plain valley areas. Mountains, plains and hills all eat pigs, cattle, mutton and game. Today, at the wedding, funeral and festive banquet in Jingchu, it is also "no fish, no table". Jingchu is a land of fish and rice, and the production and consumption of fish are very complicated and dazzling. Dried fish and bacon is a landscape of Chu in the twelfth lunar month in winter: "In first frost in the middle of winter, bacon and salted fish come out of the altar. I'm afraid the cold wave will never end Hanging on the balcony every day. " Some high mountains. Most farmers have no fish except pond farming. In order to have more fish every year, we should go out of the mountains to buy fish before the Spring Festival. For example, farmers in the deep mountains of Dabie Mountain will go to Taihu Lake, Wangjiang and Huangmei fish areas in droves to collect fish.

All kinds of vegetables and food

People in Chu eat vegetables and fruits, which can be summarized as fresh, soaked, salty and dry. Kimchi has a long history and can be cooked all year round. It is very common in Jingchu throughout the ages. Once upon a time, in the deep forest in front of Huoying Mountain in Dabie Mountain, many farmers had several large grain tanks that could hold 3-6 loads of water. Every autumn, vegetables are packaged in different categories, and some peppers and radishes are pickled together. Wrap the vegetables, add some salt and press them firmly. Then put some pebbles and vegetables, cover them with a wooden cover, seal them with paste, and open the jar when eating, which will make the room full of fragrance. Take out the hot and sour vegetables and cook them in a hanging pot. Add cucumber, amaranth, lentil, radish and other seasonal fresh vegetables. Sauce-flavored fermented bean curd, pickles and fresh vegetables cooked in a hanging pot, red rice and stove fire, it is also pleasant for the whole family to sit around and eat. Whether it is soaked or pickled, it has a special flavor, which is sour, hot and crisp, fragrant and delicious, and appetizing. Sun-dried vegetables are also a landscape of Chu State. Radish, cabbage, mustard tuber, shepherd's purse, pepper, eggplant, cowpea, mung bean, potato, lentil, sword bean, Toona sinensis seedling, day lily, bamboo shoot, purslane, sweet potato stem and leaf, Osmunda japonica, etc. Can be dried. Just in case.

There is a lot of soup.

Chu people love soup because of the weather, soil and water, climate and other conditions in this area. People love simmering soup: simmering soup on holidays; Celebrate your birthday by simmering soup; Distinguished guests should simmer soup at the door; Women "sit on the moon" simmer soup; The patient needs to simmer soup after his illness. There are many kinds of simmering soup, such as sparerib soup, chicken soup and beef mutton soup. The most precious are turtle soup and bagua soup. In a word, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, game and delicacies are all good stew families. The average family's favorite is ribs lotus root soup. There are many ways to make soup, such as boiling, stewing and stewing. Stewed soup at home is often a "casserole jar". Simmer soup pays attention to the temperature, big fire and slow fire, which is what people often say.

"The porridge is cooked with high fire and the soup is simmered with low fire." The soup is oily but not greasy, and the soup is rotten but not sticky. Soup is an appetizer and can promote blood circulation. In cold winter, use soup to drive away the cold; In hot summer, appetizing with soup can supplement the salt, water and nutrition needed by the body. What needs to be added here is that in the past, people in mountainous areas had a taboo to eat New Year's Eve, that is, they didn't drink soup, but said that it was very troublesome to go out and rain. In some places in Yingshan, there is no soup at the funeral, and even a spoon is not put on the table.

Good wine and more tea.

There are many tributaries of rivers and lakes in Chudi Port. It has been a habit since ancient times that people farm and fish and drink alcohol properly to drive away cold and dampness. Chu is rich in grain and has had the habit of drinking soju since ancient times. I still like to drink glutinous rice wine. The name of this glutinous rice wine varies from place to place, and some are called "Shuilaogu"; Some are called "double"; Some are called "Juzi wine"; Some are called "sweet wine" or "rice wine" and so on. According to some sources, Dongshan old rice wine in Macheng, Hubei Province is called "head wine". At present, a large number of people in Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan like to drink old rice wine, which may be related to the irrigation of Huguang in Jiangxi and Huguang in Sichuan.