When watching some remakes of ancient TV series, modern people will find that some exquisite pastries and even some extremely exquisite dishes will often appear in the camera. But historically, has this been the case with people eating in their daily lives? If not, then what is the staple meal of the ancients? A bowl of noodles from 4,000 years ago was unearthed at the Lajia site in Minhe County, Qinghai Province.
Dumplings also appear in the ancient tombs of Astana in Xinjiang, which were excavated in 1959. Bone broth from 2400 years ago was unearthed in the twilight snow of the Qin Dynasty in Shaanxi. Although these tombs are not universal, they can also reflect the diversity of Chinese food culture structures. However, compared with these princes and nobles who have long been buried underground, the food of ordinary people seems to be much more monotonous.
In the three generations of antiquity, even if the Son of Heaven wanted to eat meat, it would take a lot of trouble. And if you want to eat beef, you also need to hold a grand ceremony. Because productivity was limited in ancient times, cultivating cattle was a particularly scarce agricultural resource. After slaughtering a cultivated cow, it is likely to have a great impact on the economy of smallholder farmers who cultivate intensively. And it is worth mentioning that until the Song Dynasty, cultivating cattle were also the object of legal protection.
And before Su Dongpo made Dongpo meat that has been passed down through the ages, the broad masses of the people did not like to use pork. Later, with the advancement of cooking methods and cooking techniques, pork dishes became more popular. Except for the occasional opportunity to be able to eat meat. Ordinary people's daily diet is still dominated by rice and vegetables.
Ancestors have a long history of growing rice and eating rice, and the mainland is also one of the countries with the oldest rice history in the world. The Jade Toad Rock site in Hunan has unearthed a large number of rice objects. Archaeologists discovered the site in 1988, followed by two large-scale expeditions and investigations in 1993 and 1995.
And to the surprise of experts, in addition to those rice, there are many early pottery that are also very interesting to study. However, it is worth mentioning that before the Qin Dynasty, due to the limited technology of rice dehulling, the rice that people ate at that time was not as fine as what people eat today. In other words, the Qin Dynasty people did not have any concept of food at all, as long as the stomach was filled, it was already a blessing.
After the Han Dynasty, this situation was fundamentally changed. The most important reason is that because productivity has been greatly developed and improved, people have the ability and conditions to grow richer crops. Moreover, in addition, Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions has opened up cultural and economic exchanges with various countries, so many foreign vegetables, melons and fruits have also been introduced.
By the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the development of wheat grinding technology, people were already able to eat the noodles. But even so, the texture of these noodles is very rough. Therefore, the dishes in the TV series that are full of Han chinese and exquisite dishes can basically only appear on the table of the top nobility.