Here, the crispy braised pig's trotters are shiny and shiny, and the crisp and tender braised prawns are stirring. A few dumplings are introduced, and the new year flavors come from all directions.
At the end Chinese New Year's Eve of the year, Chinese New Year's Eve meal as a grand festival ceremony in the Han cultural circle, carrying the prayers and expectations of retiring the old and welcoming the new, family reunion, and highlighting the character of Chinese civilization.
On the night of January 30, 2014, Chinese New Year's Eve night, the citizens of Huludao, Liaoning Province, enjoyed a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve meal at home with their families. China News Service reporter Yu Haiyang photographed
Is "Chinese New Year's Eve rice" the exclusive imprint of the Han cultural circle?
The dietary structure, dietary concepts and cultural connotations of different countries and regions have their own advantages, but using food as the medium and placing wishes on them is a common cultural gene between China and the West.
Chinese Chinese New Year's Eve rice pays attention to the collocation and balance of grain, meat, vegetables and fruits, especially pays attention to cooking techniques, and the folk have "28 methods of the house" such as explosion, burning, stir-frying, slipping and boiling.
China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, and since the beginning of the pre-Qin Dynasty, it has taken grain and plants as its main diet, accompanied by meat. Chinese New Year's Eve Whether it is the red bean glutinous rice mentioned in Feng Zikai's "New Year", or the Laba porridge in Lao She's "Spring Festival in Beijing", or the "five beans" eaten on the fifth day of the first month of the first month in Chen Zhongzhong's hometown of Bahe, it is like a "small agricultural exhibition", and the folk customs and civilization are hidden in it.
A Chinese New Year's Eve meal, the choice and naming of dishes is profound. For example, dumplings take "more years of intercourse", fish take "more than every year", lettuce means "wealth", Chinese New Year's Eve rice conveys Chinese's celebration of the past harvest, and the good wishes of looking forward to a smooth sailing in the coming year.
Some studies on the history of Chinese food culture believe that chinese Chinese New Year's Eve rice originated from the year-end harvest festival in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Subsequently, this custom continued to develop in a small-scale peasant society with intensive cultivation, and activities such as Spring Festival New Year worship, sending stove gods, and ancestor worship came into being. Pantheism and secularity have become important features of the Spring Festival.
Western Christmas dinners are dominated by meat dishes such as sausages, steaks, turkeys, roast geese, etc., accompanied by small dishes and snacks. Famous dishes include English roast turkey, German roast goose, French foie gras, Austrian carp main dish and so on.
In December 2014, more than 50 foreigners living and working in Shanghai held a Christmas dinner, and the roasted turkey was welcomed. Photo by Shen Chunchen, China News Service
This is related to its cultural genes of nomadic and seafaring peoples. In the old days, Europe, the Americas and other places took aquaculture, fishing and hunting as the main production methods, forming a nutrient intake structure based on animal food. Compared with the complicated cooking process of Chinese food, Western food prefers cooking methods such as burning, frying, roasting, frying, and stewing, which matches the fast-paced life.
"If you cook small fresh food in a big country" and "fast food culture"
In China, "the people take food as the sky". "Food" has always been placed in the spotlight of the evolution of Chinese civilization, which is not only inextricably linked to health care, socialization, ancestor worship, etc., but also related to the prosperity of the clan and the stability of the country.
As small as verbal etiquette, the symbolism of food is cast in everyday vocabulary, such as "home-cooked meal", "a piece of cake", "drink the northwest wind"; As big as governing the country, food has become a metaphor for good governance and good power. The Book of Rites and Fortunes has a saying that "at the beginning of the rituals, the beginning of the diet", the Tao Te Ching "Governing a big country, if cooking small fresh" uses seasoning to cook and cook analogously with the art of governing the country, and the Book of Han "Hong Fan Eight Politics, Food as the Head of the Government" lists diet as an important matter for governing the country. The spirit of food runs through the program and details of the development of Chinese civilization, providing a vivid commentary on the concept of China's "people-oriented".
In the West, although its cultural significance is not as all-encompassing as in China, it is also permeated with ancient wisdom. Western Christmas originated from the ancient Romans' Feast of Saturnalia, which was incorporated into the Christian system after the mid-5th century to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Therefore, many dishes on Western Christmas Eve have a religious background. Legend has it that smoked ham originated when Santa Claus entered the house from the chimney and gave the ham a smoky smell. Western customs also reflect people's vision of the future. For example, in Spain, the New Year begins with ingenious ceremonies, and as the New Year's bell rings, people eat twelve grapes in a row to wish the coming year a smooth month.
There is no shortage of pragmatic interpretations of "food" in the contemporary Western world. Maslow's hierarchy of needs places "food" at the lowest level of human needs, and diet is nothing more than the basic physiological needs of individual function functioning. In this context, the functional attributes of food replace their cultural attributes and become the meaning of the actor under the linear way of thinking. Born in the United States, Western-style fast food is a representative of food as a "tool". The "color, flavor" and symbolic value of food give way to a fast, convenient, standardized experience. Concepts such as "fast food culture" and "fast food doctrine" have also been derived. This trend collided with traditional Chinese food, giving birth to modern Chinese fast food.
Cultural misreadings caused by dietary differences have gripped most foreigners. British food writer Fuxia Dunlop mentioned in the book "Shark Fin and Pepper" that in the past, Westerners were always "frightened" about Chinese food because there were shark fins, sea cucumbers and other foods that looked like "rubber". But Dunlop used his own experience to show that although the ingredients and condiments between Chinese and Western ingredients are different, they should not be labeled as "other" for each other. Tasting exotic foods not only damages one's own cultural affiliation and identity, but also breaks stereotypes and dispels cultural misreading.
In 2021, Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Shark Fin and Pepper, said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency that in traditional Chinese culture, the appreciation of food is respected by people, and can even be compared with the ability to taste music, painting and poetry. Pictured here is a profile picture of Fuxia Dunlop. Courtesy of CITIC Publishing Group
When it comes to food, dumpling dumplings are justified, and bread coffee also has its own flavor. Although the Chinese New Year's Eve feast and the Christmas feast are at opposite ends and have different forms, the spiritual core has no lack of resonance, showing a sincere and warm civilization temperament. The fusion and mutual learning of various colors and aromas of the East and the West not only enriches the global food culture, but also becomes the "appetizer" for different civilizations to learn and communicate.
Source: China Overseas Chinese Network