Editor's note: Traditional customs say that Chinese New Year's EveChinese New Year's Eve meal, the new year's day of the New Year, the second day of the new year... Reunion and reunion are indispensable to food, the growth of taste buds always carries memories, and is the "new year's taste" reflected in food customs? What are the characteristics of your hometown meal? Interface Culture (public number id: booksandfun) released two excerpts from Beijing writer Xiao Fuxing and Nanjing writer Ye Zhaoyan today, let's see how this southern and northern food customs are different.
Beijing snacks, the vast majority are halal. Whether it is the many mouth-watering snacks described in old books such as "Gudu Food Miscellaneous Songs" and "Yanjing Small Food Miscellaneous Songs", or the newly opened "Nine Cities" Snack City in Shichahai, or the traditional snack bars of Longfu Temple, or the snack street next to the original door frame alley, most of them are halal, and the signs of the paggress halal characters must be hung up. Even before liberation, those who carried small burdens through the streets and alleys to sell snacks had simple halal signs on their burdens. Why? Why do the Muslims, who are only a small part of Beijing, occupy almost all of the territory of Beijing snacks? During the Qing Dynasty, when Beijing snacks were at their most popular, the flag people were not Huimin, so why was the appetite of the Hui people transformed from Empress Dowager Cixi to the appetite of the common people into halal taste?
That day, I met a high-ranking man who had been an apprentice in his youth at Liangyixuan, a famous halal restaurant in the south of Beijing, and after liberation, had been the manager of Nanlaishun. When Caishikou Street was not built, Nanlaishun was in the south of Caishikou T-shaped intersection, which was the largest snack bar in Beijing at that time, including almost all Beijing snacks. It can be said that he has been dealing with Beijing snacks all his life, not only the zhiwei people, but also the zhidi people.
The old man told me that Beijing snacks, halal playing the main card, have historical origins, the earliest dating back to the second year of Tang Yonghui (651). At that time, the first Muslim emissary from Arabia came to Chang'an City to meet Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and since then Islam has been introduced to China, while bringing halal spices and spices. For example, the pepper we are talking about now is obviously a "hu" word for pepper, which refers to the Muslims, and others such as fennel, cinnamon, and cardamom all come from there. The variety of spices and spices really refreshed the Central Plains and greatly increased appetite. To say that the taste that changed our Chinese began at this time, from such spices and spices to taste, first from the taste buds to the appetite.
A large number of Western Muslims flowed in and settled in China during the Yuan Dynasty. The most famous Hui people in Beijing, NiuJie, was formed at that time, and they also brought the Hui people's food culture to Beijing, spreading into people's throats like water, which was more powerful than spices and spices. Ku Sihui, who wrote "Diet is Coming", was a Hui citizen and an imperial doctor at that time. Most of the recipes written in "Diet Zhengyi" are Huimin recipes, both in the court and in the folk, probably the earliest halal snacks and even the small encyclopedia of diet. For example, fried cakes and other fried products that we are still eating, in old Beijing, among the Han people, have not been eaten before, that is, from the ancient Persian era to love to eat the traditional halal snacks, if it is not the Hui people on the cow street to pass it to us, perhaps, we will only eat rice cakes, not fried cakes.
It should be said that Niujie is the earliest birthplace of Beijing snacks.
The old man said that the snacks of NiuJie are also very famous until now, even if there is no health license in the underground small workshop to do black snacks, it is necessary to play the sign of Niujie to sell. Niujie is indeed a symbol of Beijing snacks, a golden signboard.
In the past, the Hui people of Niu Street, "two knives, eight ropes", could do the business of snacks, saying that the cost was low and the threshold was not high. The old gentleman asked me, do you know what is called "two knives, eight ropes"? I said this, I know, the so-called two knives, that is, a knife that sells cakes or a knife that cuts sheep's head meat, you can break into the world. Don't look at just ordinary two knives, among the Muslims who sell snacks, there is exquisiteness. Cutting the cake sticky knife, not good, make it very sloppy, pay attention to the knife before cutting dipped in a little water, a knife cut down, the cake flat knife net, and the amount is not bad at all (and later Zhang Binggui master sold sugar "a quasi" meaning). Selling sheep's head meat, you have to pay attention to knife work. In the past, the bamboo branch word said: In October, Yanjing cold Shuo wind, sheep's head market taste endless, salt flowers sprinkled like snow flying, thinly cut into the same paper. The sheep's head meat, which is cut as thin as paper, must be real kung fu. In the early 1980s, after smashing the "Gang of Four", the traditional snacks of self-employment that had been broken for many years were restored, and at the terminus of The 23rd Road in the South Plains of Hufang Bridge, a stall selling sheep's head meat was set up, with the sign of "White Water Sheep's Head Li Family". An old man, cut—in fact, it should be called slices, and the slices of sheep's head meat are really fast, and the slices of meat that fly out are as thin as paper. Every day at about five o'clock in the afternoon, the stalls are set up, it is the time after work and school, there are many people watching, the kung fu on the old man's knife, like the performance, let the old man sell the sheep's head meat without shining away.
Eight ropes, said to tie up a pair of picks, you can walk the streets and alleys, the entry is simple, it quickly popularized, became a way of survival for the poor Muslims living in Niujie at that time. Therefore, the earliest Beijing snacks were stalls, which were walking the streets and alleys to drink and sell, with door faces, and snack streets with door frame hutongs, all of which were things that happened at the beginning of the Republic of China.
The Cleanliness and Hygiene of the Hui people themselves were stronger than the Han at that time, and won people's reassurance and trust. In the past, when old Beijingers bought things, they often instructed our children: Buy the real thing, not the halal! To some extent, halal and hygiene have become synonymous with hygiene.
Beijing snacks, in this way, slowly spread in the change of years, not only deeply among ordinary people, but also into the court within the red wall, becoming one of the contents of the imperial menu. It can be said that beijing's famous snacks, now still active fried belly Feng, sheep's head horse, rice cake Yang, pie week, cheese Wei, tofu brain white... Almost all Muslims. During the Republic of China and the early days of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, the most famous snack street in Beijing, the door-framed hutong in Dashilar, many Of the Hui people from NiuJie. Statistics say that at that time, more than half of the snacks sold in Beijing came from NiuJie. Shi Kunsheng, the bursting treasurer who opened the overpass, was the eldest brother of imam Shi Kunbin in the Cow Street Mosque. Beijing snacks, really tree after tree, root after root, broken bones connected to tendons, and cow street, and halal, inseparable.
Such a root, you will find that Beijing snacks, even if they are a little outdated now, are really not to be underestimated, and its roots are very deep. Only by understanding its history can we cherish it and tap and carry forward its traditional advantages. At the same time, it will also be tasteful, don't look at the ancient Beijing, the things that really belong to Beijing itself, in addition to the skull of the Beijing ape man hidden in Zhoukoudian, in fact, there are not many, basically from the outside. Only with an open attitude and psychology can we have Beijing's snacks and form Beijing's character.
From Beijinger, by Xiao Fuxing, Nanjing University Press, January 2014
One
Around me, there were a large group of quasi-Nanjing people who settled in Nanjing, but did not grow up here. Because of their own merits and ability, they all came to Nanjing from all over the country, especially from all over Jiangsu, to settle down and become honorary citizens of Nanjing. Talking with them about eating, talking about eating in Nanjing, all of them were indignant and scornful. Nanjing's eating, in the eyes of these foreigners in Nanjing, is very bad.
As a native of Nanjing, I feel ashamed. I am not an eloquent person, and to be honest, Nanjing's current food is really not good. Facts always speak louder than words, and I don't have to punch a swollen face and call me fat, jump out hard, and defend Nanjing's eating. Whether you admit it or not, anyway, Nanjing's eating has never been so bad, so expensive, and so unworthy of mentioning as it is now. The food in Nanjing in memory should not be like this at all.
In the late spring of this year, there is an opportunity to go to Gaoyou in northern Jiangsu, so it is natural to taste the local food and cuisine. 8 years ago, Gao You's eating, like Mr. Wang Zengqi's novel, once left a deep impression on me. Before that, what impressed me was the eating in Yangzhou. At that time, the impression was that Yangzhou people would eat more than Nanjing people, and Gaoyou people would eat more than Yangzhou people. Even today, my view remains the same. However, I regret that compared with the past, today's Gaoyou has dropped a lot in just a few short years, and Yangzhou is even worse.
Gaoyou is only a small county under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou, and Yangzhou seems to be under the jurisdiction of Nanjing, so a very simple conclusion has come out, that is, the further down you go, the farther away from the big city, the more you pay attention to eating. In other words, the smaller you go, the more delicious things you have, and the more likely you are to taste them. This simplistic conclusion will certainly be attacked by urban chauvinists, and first of all, the people of Nanjing themselves will not agree, and cities larger than Nanjing will not agree. Beijingers will not be convinced, although Beijing's eating is indeed worse than Nanjing, in Nanjing to invite Beijing friends to the restaurant, they will rarely be picky about Nanjing's dishes, but pointing at the nose of Beijingers and saying that he does not know how to eat, he must be in a hurry with you. As for the people of Shanghai and Guangzhou, they would have eaten more than the people of Nanjing today, and to tell them this truth is uncomfortable.
Let's talk about eating from another angle. The bigger the city, the easier it is to lose the tradition of good eating. Eating should first of all be a tradition, without which there is no way to talk about eating, and without this tradition there can be no taste. Eating is not only for the sake of early taste, eating can also be nostalgic. Guangzhou and Shanghainese do not need to gamble with the people of Nanjing, who pay more attention to eating and know the true meaning of eating more than anyone. They should be compared to the old Guangzhou and old Shanghai of the past. Although there are more and more restaurants now, and the grades are becoming more and more luxurious, we have to honestly admit that the level of our eating has become worse and worse. We are facing a problem of widespread degradation of eating levels. In history, Nanjing's eating is by no means inferior to Yangzhou's, and Yangzhou will never be worse than Gao's postmanship. The most important reason for this level reversal that has occurred over the years,
It is the big cities that have lost their excellent traditions in eating at too fast and on fire. The fire at the city gate will affect the pond fish, and it will not take too long, and it will be difficult to eat anything good in a small city.
Two
To say that Nanjing people do not pay attention to eating is really wronging the people of Nanjing. In a tea house in the Confucius Temple, there was a couplet on the wall facing it:
Close to the residence of the Master, the food is not tired of essence, and the neck is not tired of fine;
On the left bank of Qinhuai, it grows well with the flowers and is round with the moon.
This couplet very eloquently writes about the leisure of the Nanjing people, and also vividly finds the root of the Nanjing people's lack of appearance. The traditional Nanjing people are always a group of people who will enjoy. This wind of pleasure created the gold powder of the Six Dynasties, promoted the prosperity of the Qinhuai River culture, and naturally also came with the fall of the country again and again. Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty only after "night berth Qinhuai near the restaurant" will have a feeling singer "across the river to sing backyard flowers". The "History of Ru Linwai" records that restaurants on both sides of the Qinhuai Strait operated day and night, "every day five drums opened for business, until the night three more did not stop." It can be seen that as long as there is no war, as long as there is some money in the pockets of Nanjing people, they are all good at eating and drinking. In those days of singing and dancing, Nanjing was lined with liquor stores and restaurants, which was really the world of hungry people. It is no wonder that Yuan Ming of the Qing Dynasty wrote poems in addition to writing poems, and here he would write a "food list with the garden".
The people of Nanjing are really very particular about eating in history. Eating on the territory of the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties has always been a graceful and happy thing. Gluttonous people, talking about the palm of eating, like a number of family treasures. This tradition of eating and appreciating was still stubbornly maintained until the liberation. Mr. Hu Xiaoshi, a famous professor in the Department of Chinese of Nanjing University, is a famous gourmet, and for many years, the signs of Nanjing University Three Yuan and Liu Huachun have been the handwriting of his old man. Mr. Hu is a well-known scholar and scholar in modern times, but because his old man is hungry, the owners of those restaurants and taverns, as long as they make the dishes well, it is not difficult to get Mr. Hu's words.
Celebrities in the past often prided themselves on being able to eat. For example, "Mr. Hu Tofu" is said to be because Mr. Hu Xiaoshi loves to eat it, and it has become a specialty dish for shopkeepers to attract customers. The tradition of eating in Nanjing is good in eclecticism, love innovation rather than old-fashioned, love to taste fresh and love nostalgia, and can taste the famous dishes and delicacies everywhere, and can get their intentions and forget their shape. Therefore, Nanjing is the place where it really should be a big and profound foodie. Nanjing people are not as stubborn as Sichuan, Hunan and other places, without spicy, there is no appetite, nor like the southern Jiangsu people, with spicy, there is no way to chopsticks. The people of Nanjing are deeply rooted in the middle way, and when it comes to tasting, there is no localist ideology at work. Nanjing people are always very open-minded and very serious about the true meaning of each famous dish. If you want to eat, you can eat a famous place, and if you want to eat, you can eat the position. Nanjing people are inevitably suspected of being vassals and elegant, too much love to taste fresh, too much love to eat what they have not eaten, too much love to eat famous, in a word, Nanjing people are hungry, very pure.
Nanjing used to be the world of diners, and those old gourmets always looked for various names and took a big sip. When Tan Yan, a Xiangren, was the chief executive in Nanjing, he once paid tribute to Li Ruiqing, a Qingdao priest, for a Cantonese dish of 120 yuan a table. The meaning of the drunkard is not in the wine, Tan Yan set up a feast to sacrifice the Pilgrims, and the sacrificers are of course poets and celebrities plus gluttony, the climax of this activity is not the sacrifice, but the living people after the sacrifice. At that time, a stone of rice was only 8 yuan. How about a 120 yuan table! They are all diners who can eat and can eat, and the scene is so spectacular. Li Ruiqing, a Qingdao person, is Hu Xiaoshi's mentor, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, the academic and educational circles all know the name of the Qingdao people, and his calligraphy works are even more impressive at home and abroad. Interestingly, the Qingdao man is not only a scholar, but also a famous gluttonous mouth, very good at eating and eating, and can cook by hand, so the disciples and grandchildren he has trained are all full of learning and hungry soil, such as Mr. Hu Xiaoshi. Although I studied in the Chinese Department where Mr. Hu taught for 7 years, I did not have the opportunity to meet Mr. Hu, but I had the opportunity to go to the restaurant with Professor Wu Bo, a disciple of Hu, who is not only very successful in the study of opera, but also the most delicious old gentleman I have had the honor to meet.
In the history of Nanjing, many "Yapishi" acts such as the sacrifice of the Qing Daoist can be found. In Nanjing, it is not a shameful thing to eat, on the contrary, it will not eat, but it will appear to be emotionless. It is said that Chairman Jiang is not very good at eating, and I once heard an old man who waited for him say that Jiang only likes to eat soft and rotten food because of his bad teeth, and among the dishes he likes to eat, only Ningbo's "big soup yellow fish" has some taste. Compared with Jiang, Wang Jingwei is much more interesting. For example, Ma Xiangxing's famous dish "Beauty Liver" was deeply loved by Wang, and when Wang was a traitor in Nanjing, he often wrote a small note in the middle of the night with Rong Baozhai and wrote the words "Wang Mansion Orders Food, And the Military and Police Will Let It Go", and sent a car to buy "Beauty Liver" and came back to feast. In fact, "beauty liver" itself is not a remarkable thing, just the pancreas of the duck, and the native language of Nanjing is called "pancreatic white". In traditional halal dishes, this thing has not been of much use, but Ma Xiangxing's famous chef turned decay into magic, making this dish shine and leap to the top of the famous dish. Of course, the production of "beautiful liver" is not an easy task, not to mention a duck and a pancreas, make a small plate to get forty or fifty ducks, just say that the heat, it can not be exquisite, the heat is not soft and not crispy, the heat is too skinny and not tender, can serve this dish well, must be a famous chef.
Three
It would be a mistake to think that nanjing's food, in history, was only for the service of those celebrities. Celebrities can often only lead one head, stir up trouble and stir up trouble, and the masses of the people are the real driving force for history. Nanjing's eating, so it is worth writing about, not because there are several celebrities who will eat, but because Nanjing has a wide base of people who can eat. The people take food as the sky, and food culture can only be improved on the basis of popularization, and only with the active participation of the people can it develop. The reason why Nanjing's eating has been brilliant in history is that some people can do it seriously, and some people can eat it seriously. Under the heavens, if you are afraid, you are afraid of the word serious. In the concept of ordinary people, eating is always in the downtown area, in fact, this is a big misunderstanding. Compared with the past, the mistake of eating in today's downtown is that eating has become a kind of incidental thing. Eating is more than just eating. Eating is not the primary purpose of people coming to the downtown area. Eating is becoming less and less pure, which is an important reason why people's gastronomic standards have dropped greatly. In the busy downtown, when people are exhausted for shopping, the most ideal food is simple and convenient fast food, so fast food culture is quickly popular.
Eating is not pure is also manifested in too many invitations, whether it is a public guest, or an individual who pays for blood, eating itself has retreated to the second place. The hospitality for various purposes has made the restaurant lose its aesthetic interest. Eating has become a means of communication, an investment and return with ulterior motives, and eating has become vulgar. Eating impurity has caused a series of vicious circles, consumers are not in order to eat and break the fee, the operator does not have to work eating, so they have to think about how to make money.
Ma Xiangxing only moved from the remote Zhonghua Gate to today's downtown Drum Tower after 1958. Its golden age is long gone. People are puzzled that it does not recreate its former glory because it has moved to the downtown area. Ma Xiangxing is now difficult to become a topic, every day there are so many people, walking by it, but people are not even bothered to look at it. The world is hot and cold, this time, another time, the past is really unbearable to look back. Think of Ma Xiangxing at that time, the wine is not afraid of deep alleys, there is no incredible decoration, and he does not advertise in the newspaper all day, but the business is always so hot. Not only the dignitaries and nobles who came here to enjoy, but also the peddlers and pawns in short shirts sat here and drank cup after cup like the dignitaries. People come here all the time, the purpose is very pure, is to eat and love to eat, just to Ma Xiangxing's brand, just to come here to eat egg roast to sell, just to come here to eat anchovies, eat braised duck tongue palm. "Beauty liver" is more expensive, don't eat it.
The price of eating in Nanjing has never been so expensive and unreasonable as it is today. Nanjing's catering expenses today are definitely higher than those in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and the income of Nanjing people is far from being comparable to that of people in these two places.
Think of that year, the big three yuan of braised abalone wings, only sold for 2.5 yuan, tangerine peel duck palm is cheaper, as long as 8 corners. On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, near the Xinjiekou, the Slender West Lake canteen, four cold plates, four hot stir-fried five large pieces of a banquet, only 5 yuan. People go to Qifangge to drink tea, chat, hungry, spend 5 cents to eat a dry silk, spend 7 cents, you can eat a large bowl of noodles. The beef seller with sauce, with a small knife cutting board, cut very thin slices, and handed it to you with a newly picked lotus leaf, is so cheap that it is not worth mentioning.
It was in the late 70s and early 80s that when we got together in a Restaurant in Sichuan, it was already very enjoyable to have a 10 yuan. At that time, people, in addition to eating, did not have many other consumptions like today, and people often had more than enough money in their pockets. Eating then becomes serious, simple and tasteful, people eat for the sake of eating, and the more they eat, the more they eat, the more refined they are.
Today's people can hardly put too much effort into eating. Compared with the past, everyone is living a prosperous life, and eating seems to be no longer a problem. It's not a problem, but it's a new problem. Today's eating is often eating decoration, eating grades, eating human feelings, eating public funds, eating bonuses, eating strange things, the only regret is that it can't eat the taste. But the ultimate purpose of people going to the restaurant should still be to eat the taste, otherwise the food in Nanjing will never be brilliant. In fact, Nanjing's eating today has been severely punished. I live near the lively Hunan Road, and when I walk in the evening, I often see rows of restaurants illuminated, and the welcome lady stands awkwardly in the doorway, but the guests can't see one. If the person who opens the restaurant just wants to calculate the money in other people's pockets, people can refuse without hesitation. I really think that the people of Nanjing don't know how to eat, it's really stupid.
I can't forget when I was a child, more than 20 years ago, the alley where I lived had a small ravioli, a small façade, a big pot of bone broth, boiled there for many years, and the taste of the wontons was natural and fresh. At that time, Nanjing was such an ordinary but very delicious snack, I really don't know how many, today I can't help but drool.
Selected from "Nanjing People", by Ye Zhaoyan, Nanjing University Press, June 2016.
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