This plant grows in many lakes in the south, and it is distributed in Yunnan, Zhejiang and Sichuan. To be precise, this is a kind of aquatic grass, and the names are different from place to place, some are called horseshoe vegetables, some are called lake vegetables, depending on how the local dialects are called.
Such a kind of aquatic weed, but the leaves are famous dishes, many northerners have never heard of such a dish, and even some people think that this can not be eaten as a dish at all. In fact, is it not just modern people who eat? Ancient people also like to eat, and lettuce has a long history, the growth history is very long, the ancient people are very fond of and dependent on this dish, wrote a lot of poems about this aspect.
Wang Shuo of the Tang Dynasty wrote in his seven-word poem "Songjiang Pavilion" that he rhymed with you rhyme:
In the past year, Zhang Han returned to rest, and the perch soup was in august and autumn. Ten thousand acres of smoke and waves are extremely dazzling, and the sails will not turn back. The cave garden has a road to the fairy room, and Kasazawa has no one to hook straight down. Self-hatred eunuch name is not gone, whisk clothes east to Ah who stayed.
In the "Biography of the Book of Jin and Wenyuan" co-authored by Fang Xuanling and others in the Tang Dynasty, it is written:
Zhang Han ,有清才,善屬文), and Qi Wang (劉王囧) were created the Grand Sima Dong Cao Tuan (曹掾). Because of the autumn wind, Si Wuzhong cabbage, lettuce soup, perch, said: Life is precious, how can he be bound thousands of miles away to want a famous lord, so he returned home with his order.
So, is the origin of lettuce in our country? When did it start to appear and be used as a dish? What developments did they have in ancient times?
In fact, the official record of pure vegetables is not easy to find, and one of the main reasons for this is that lettuce is an aquatic grass that was born in the water in the south, and in ancient times, most of the power or power center was in the north, which caused some southern fruits and vegetables to be rarely recorded, and the record is also in some southern local records.
For example, this pure dish, if we go to find poetry and song, the earliest we can find that the han dynasty that wrote the lettuce is the Han Dynasty, and the author's name has no examination, the name is called "Big Move", which is written like this:
Bitter dog, Tho Tho only. Wu acid artemisia, not stick thin only. Soul Return!
The direct translation of this sentence is: sauce pig bitter dog, plus a little finely sliced pure vegetable stem. Wu Guo's artemisia is made into sauerkraut and does not stick to thin only. Come back with your soul!
Looking down further is the Wei and Jin dynasties. So, is there a record of lettuce before the Han Dynasty? Could it be a dish that only appeared during the Han Dynasty?
Of course, this is not the case, and this dish is also recorded in the Book of Poetry.
There is such a record in the Book of Poetry, Lu Song, Andhi Panshui:
Sile pan water, thin picking its mao.
This means: rush to the pan palace waterfront with great joy, and pick sunflower vegetables for the purpose of the ceremony. This "Mao" here refers to pure vegetables, of course, we can not say nonsense, one of the eighteen scholars of the early Tang Dynasty, the scribe, Confucius 31st grandson Kong Yingda in the "Kong Yingda Shuo" has this explanation of this word:
Mao...... Gangnam people call it lettuce.
Therefore, lettuce is a kind of native aquatic grass born in the lake in the ancient period of China, because it is born in the south, but also because of its unique growth habits, so it is mostly not recorded by northern scholars. However, as a kind of aquatic weed, it was still eaten very early, and it was first recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it was not recorded in the Han Dynasty agricultural book "The Book of Victory".
In fact, if we want to write about some things in the south is still quite difficult, because the information is too difficult to find, and want to support something and can not use orphan evidence, which caused certain difficulties, pure vegetables in the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties period of the record is slightly more, and the north of the formal historical records are still very few records.
From the Wei and Jin dynasties, a song with an unknown author's name, "Wuzhong Nursery Rhymes", it is written:
Rather eat the lake flies. Do not eat the sweet lettuce on the lake. Yu Wu was not killed. Re-kill the king leader.
Of course, in some serious documents, it is also recorded, such as the "Yan Family Training" of Yan Zhitui, a famous writer and educator during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period:
Liang Shi had Cai Lang, whose father was pure, who did not involve himself in learning, so he called Lu Kui, a disciple of the wall, and imitated him. In the midst of the chengsheng, he sent a master to hire Qi, and Li Shu, the main guest of Qi, asked Liang Zhiyi: Is there a lukui in Jiangnan. 荅曰: Dew sunflower is a lettuce, water town, Qingjin eater green sunflower ear.
When we first see ancient books such as "Yan's Family Training", we often disagree, thinking that this is just a family training, how much historical value can it have? In fact, "Yan's Family Training" is not so simple as a family training, this book is rich in content, the system is grand, can be called a serious academic work, which has Yan Zhitui's thoughts and intellectual experience, and has certain research value.
Of course, during the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zhiwei novels were also very popular, everything can be entered into Zhiwei, some Zhiwei novels naturally do not let go of lettuce, but it is interesting that we look at some Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties Zhiwei novels, such as the Taoist scholar Ge Hong, these people, most of the things they write are northern, and rarely write about some crops and fruits in the south. This is the limit of where to live.
A collection of Zhiwei novels called "Youminglu" compiled by Liu Yiqing, a member of the Southern Song Dynasty and song dynasty, wrote about pure dishes as follows:
There are often ugly slaves in Hedong, who will pluck a small child by the lake and stay in the empty farmhouse at dusk. Time to the sun, saw a young girl, the posture is extremely beautiful, in a small boat to carry the path of the ugly slave house to live, because lying down, feel ashamed, the woman knows the will, she asked to leave the house, turned into an otter.
The story written here is very magical, and if we don't dwell on the authenticity of this story, in fact it can't be true. Liu Yiqing has lived in Jingkou for generations, that is, in the modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, so there are pure vegetables in the Zhiwei novels he presided over, but there are no pure vegetables in the Zhiwei novels in the north, which is also a regional difference!
In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu" did not include the cultivation method of pure vegetables. Here, there is still no agricultural book, so we have reason to speculate that pure vegetables in ancient times are pure wild, and no one deliberately planted them, and the growth power of this aquatic grass in the south is amazing, the vitality is very strong, and it does not affect its growth and circulation without deliberate planting.
In the Tang Dynasty, most of the records were also the origin of pure vegetables, but there was still no record of cultivation, and the Tang Dynasty novelist Zhao Xuan's "Record of Words" recorded:
Thousands of miles of lettuce soup, unsalted soy sauce. Shido boiled lettuce soup lightly, not mixed with soy sauce with salt, non-also. The last character of the cover is mistaken for the undo, and the last is the place name, and these two places produce this object ear, and its land now belongs to Jianggan.
Although the planting method is not written much, but the pure vegetable at this time is a very cheap dish, which is related to the wild, that is, anyone can pick it, so when some people write about the biography of someone who is poor or willing to be poor, they will write about pure vegetables, Li Yanshou recorded in the "Nanshi Shen Yan Biography":
Su Su did not care about family property, and when the Qi Dynasty was in a famine, he ate with his family and ate with the sun. Or those who feed their sorghum meat, they do not close the door, but pick the lettuce and the root of the cherva to feed, and use the tree to collect their own funds, and Yi Yiran will not change his pleasure.
Therefore, from the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, pure vegetables did not enter the agricultural books, and no one was deliberately planted, and when people wanted to eat, they were picked and eaten in the lake. Of course, this is only talking about the south, and the north can't eat it if you want. This is quite sad as a dish, and the fate of pure vegetables not entering the agricultural book will continue.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Bangji wrote in the "Mozhuang Manga" that Du Fu wrote about pure dishes when he sacrificed others:
Du Zimei sacrificed the house to the country, and in September, the foundation of the tea lotus crucian carp was used. Lettuce is born in the spring, but it is inedible in the autumn, and I don't know what it is. And Jin Zhanghan also thinks about lettuce, lettuce soup, perch, and perch with the autumn wind, and the lettuce is unknown.
Luo Yan wrote in "Erya Wing" that Wu people like to eat pure vegetables:
Nowadays, Wu people love lettuce, the beauty of the perch cover fish, and the water vegetables are bassed on lettuce, and the two things are suitable and uniquely cherished.
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the agricultural books of Wang Zhen and others did not include the cultivation methods of pure vegetables. In the Ming Dynasty, pure vegetables were written into the history of flowers, and Wu Yankuang's "History of Flowers" wrote about lettuce, but it was written very simply:
Xiaoshan Xianghu lake produces the most beautiful silk lettuce.
The record of Wang Xiangjin's "Qunfang Spectrum" explains for us why lettuce has not been included in the agricultural book, he wrote in the "Qunfang Spectrum, Vegetable And Vegetable Department, And Vegetable Branch":
Lettuce, a tamarin, a brocade, a water sunflower, Lu Jie Shuyun: Jiangdong or so-called water sunflower. One is a dew sunflower, one is a horseshoe grass, and one is a missing potted grass. In the southern lakes, it is the most likely to grow, and the seeds are subject to shallow water depth, the water depth is fat stem and leaves are few, and the shallow water is thin and leaves. Its sex is slippery by water, but the Wuyue people like to eat it...
Wang Xiangjin's sentence "the most easy to grow" explains the reason why lettuce has not been included in the agricultural book from ancient times to the present, and the wild cannot be eaten, so why should it be specially planted? Lettuce originated from ancient times in China, the Spring and Autumn Warring States period has been recorded, has been eaten, never into the agricultural book, which looks a little strange and helpless, but the vitality is too strong, there is no need to deliberately plant. But not entering the agricultural book does not mean that it is not important, just like many people, although obscure, but a certain post left him can not, although not speaking, but can not be lacking. We are talking about a simple aquatic grass, but why not have some philosophy of life contained in it?