As the saying goes, people are iron, rice is steel, a meal is not hungry panic, now most of us are three meals a day, after developing a habit, if you eat less than one meal will always feel hungry uncomfortable.
But in ancient times, many dynasties ate two meals a day, and the palace was also like this during the Qing Dynasty, so some people were curious, they got up so early, and they wouldn't be hungry if they only ate two meals a day?
The answer is really not to be hungry, although in ancient times the grain was not very sufficient, many people are not enough to eat, can only endure hunger, but what is the palace? Wherever the people are hungry, no one in the palace can be hungry.
Although the emperor and his concubines ate two meals a day, the scale of these two meals was not small, which was very different from the two meals a day of the common people. For example, the famous Empress Dowager Cixi had to eat more than a hundred dishes in a meal, although other concubines and emperors were not as large as Empress Dowager Cixi, but there were still regulations on the number of meals per meal.
Moreover, the concubines of the harem are different according to their positions, and their daily portions are also different, such as the queen has 16 pounds of pork per day, a plate of mutton, and two small livestock, so many things, not to mention the queen alone, it is enough for a palace person to eat.
In ancient times, there was no electric light, people slept early at night, and got up early in the morning, generally two meals were before nine o'clock, the second meal was before four o'clock in the afternoon, in the middle of the time period, the concubines would have a steady stream of fruits, pastries and soup supplements, and each palace had its own small kitchen, if you are really hungry, you will let the small kitchen to make something to eat, so whether it is the emperor or the harem concubines are not hungry at all, there is no need to add another meal.
In fact, the habit of eating two meals a day is still being continued, personal life habits are different, may be used to not be so hungry, the ancients are the most concerned about health, this is also for the sake of the body.
To put it bluntly, although the concubines in the palace ate twice a day, they kept snacking, and naturally they did not feel hungry.
However, for ordinary concubines, there is no problem, but for slaves or some unfavored concubines, it is really a more painful thing, they may only eat these two meals a day, there is no additional meal in the middle, and these two meals may not be enough, if it is a slave, you still need to do a lot of work every day, so you will still be hungry when you eat.
So whether it is concubines or many slaves to compete to climb up, this is not only for their own glory, because in the weak and strong palace, if you can't get favored, then the treatment you get is different, the status is low, others want to bully how to bully, and even give you some bad food, this feeling of being casually despised will also arouse people's fighting spirit.