"Cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle and for pleasure, you will have to drink three hundred cups, Cen Fuzi, Dan Qiusheng, will enter the wine, the cup will not stop" - Li Bai", "Will enter the wine"
To understand the ancients, the most direct way is to read the writings of the ancients, many people yearn to return to ancient times, live a life of cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle like Li Bai, and drinking with friends, but don't think too beautifully, who is Li Bai? He was a great poet who had been praised for more than 1,000 years, and no matter how unsatisfactory his life was, he also married the daughter of the prime minister and lived a luxurious life.
In ancient times, commoners were not without the right to eat and drink in this way. The most difficult environment is the Paleolithic Age, when people did not understand the diamond fire, and lived a life of drinking blood, and the food at that time did not belong to the cultural category, but was completely for survival.
So, in the period when there are historical records and there are words, has the diet of the poor changed? In ancient times, people were divided into three, six, nine, etc., paying attention to poetry, books, rituals, music, and at the same time in clothing, sacrifices, travel... There is a special culture above, of course, eating is no exception, not everything can be eaten by the people, let alone the poor.
The Book of Rites records: "The princes do not kill cattle for no reason, the doctors do not kill sheep for no reason, the soldiers do not kill dogs and pigs for no reason, and the common people do not eat treasures for no reason." "So in ancient times it was very difficult to eat a meal of meat. Even princes could not kill cattle for no reason, and in Chinese history and culture, cattle were the most important labor force, and they were only used during the sacrifice of the Son of Heaven.
So why can't mutton be eaten casually? "Good" and "beauty" are all attributed to the "sheep" department, and the traditional virtues of our country "truth, goodness, and beauty" are also related to sheep, and "the sheep is great beauty" in the "Commentary on the Interpretation of Texts", and it is simple and kind, and there are also in the saying: "Sheep have the grace of kneeling milk, and crows have the meaning of feeding back" So mutton cannot be eaten casually.
In the pre-Qin period, it has always been cattle and sheep as precious, it is rare to be able to eat beef and mutton, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, pork finally began to reverse, the Ming Emperor's surname Zhu, Zhu Houzhao once saw the people's family kill pigs during the New Year, heard the screams of pigs, so the people were not allowed to kill pigs, although this edict was finally abolished, but in the homes of ordinary people, pork can only be eaten at the New Year. The word "home" means that there is a "pig" in the house to be home, so pork is not generally eaten.
Cattle, sheep, pigs and other large animals can not be eaten in normal times, so what can they eat? It is chicken, duck, goose, put in the Tang Dynasty era when the people were rich, these foods can still be eaten by the people, because at that time it can be said that the family has surplus grain, because of the rich, there is also an aesthetic trend of fat as beauty, but in other eras, let alone eat meat, even vegetarian dishes are difficult to eat.
Warring States period, the most important food is radish, in the era of low grain production, once the harvest is not good, the people can only eat wild vegetables, bracken has become one of the most popular vegetables, when there is a lot of bracken, people will also pick it, and then dry, store well, into winter food, to the Han Dynasty, food is richer, with tofu this kind of soy products.
In the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was opened, and crops began to be slowly enriched, but this road did not take long, because there were often Xiongnu infestations, it was not easy to manage, and finally it was not passed. In the Tang Dynasty, the country was opened to the outside world, and cucumbers, lentils and other foods were also introduced at that time. Later, more and more food can be grown.
However, is there food on the line? The most important thing in cooking is oil and salt, and the ancient salt is official salt, the price is high, when cooking can be put salt at will in the family that must be rich and noble, if it is born in a poor family, in the peaceful days, generally that is to drink porridge, to later can eat a little sweet potato, which is already very good. If you live in ancient times and eat these things all at once, you may not be able to last a day.
There are 10 realms of diet: "fruit belly, food, party, banquet, health, relief, foraging, hunting, dating, drinking alone", of which drinking alone is the highest realm, Li Bai, born in 701, once wrote "Drinking Alone Under the Moon". However, the ancient people basically stayed in the realm of "fruit belly". Don't watch the TV series full of people, drinking and eating meat, that basically has nothing to do with the poor.