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In addition to immersing himself in poetry research and literary criticism, scholar Xie Mian has his own unique taste experience and additional search experience for food.
The book "Foraging" includes nearly thirty of Mr. Xie Mian's gastronomic texts, from the desirable "Eight Notes on Pasta" to "A Bowl of Miscellaneous Soup Waiting for Three Generations"; from the "Four Notes on Snacks" traveling through the mountains and rivers to "a restaurant near the Summer Palace that witnesses the changes of the times"; from the delicious "Red Spicy Boy" to the "On Tedium" in the food society, Mr. Xie Mian's food text, which notes the people and things encountered because of the food, while being readable, there are more tastes of life, light but not lacking in fullness. You can also read the image of a funny and cute "forager".
To a certain extent, Mr. Xie Mian's interest and love for food reflect his concept of life and attitude towards life, which can truly infect future generations of readers.
Text / Xie Mian
Since eating the casserole lion's head at the Jiangdu People's Hotel that year, I don't feel that more than ten years have passed. I've been obsessed with it for over a decade. This time I came to Yangzhou and happened to be arranged to live in Jiangdu. I will never forget the "old good" and tell my friends in Jiangdu that I will look for the restaurant I ate more than ten years ago, and eat the casserole stewed lion's head of that restaurant. I said, I don't want pufferfish there, I just want lion's head. Friends listened and laughed, is the hotel still there? Is it still called the People's Hotel? Do you still make your favorite lion's head? Besides, Yangzhou makes lion heads everywhere, is it good for the one you are talking about? You're "nostalgic"! I'm speechless. My friend comforted me that you would eat a good lion's head, better than you did more than you did more than a decade ago.
From the moment I arrived in Jiangdu, my friends always ordered lion's head every time they ordered food, and they comforted me and tried to convince me. I also accepted their kindness calmly, perhaps my ignorance, perhaps my insistence and prejudice, and I secretly admonished myself. However, along the way, the banquet in the hotel, the banquet outside, and the whole fish banquet that was specially made by the Hanjiang District Literary Association in the Lion Building in Guazhou Town that day, the traditional, more improved, clear soup, soup with soy sauce, dry roast, fried, shrimp, cushion hearts, and so on. I tasted it carefully, compared it carefully, and felt that the taste had changed completely, and I had completely lost the taste of the old days. I expressed my disappointment to my friends, who still laughed at me, thinking that this nostalgia was very stubborn and understandable, old man, all like this!
The hotel we stayed in is located in Jiangdu New District, and the People's Hotel is the old downtown area, which is a long way away. Although I wanted to, I couldn't "micro-serve private visits" on my own. But my heart is firm, more than ten years later, this time again, I must find this hotel that I will never forget. Coincidentally, the opportunity arrived, and there was an event that day in the old city. As the car drove through the street, I saw the restaurant on the side of the road, which was still the old sign: The People's Hotel! The face of the door has not changed, that is, there is an extra colored light box, which still reads "People's Hotel" in large letters. When are you still calling this outdated name, not afraid of affecting the business?
This is the owner's confidence, not trending, not following the customs, not chasing the fashion, still me: old brand, old tradition, old craftsmanship, old customer. We may wish to change our position and think about how many workers' and peasants' restaurants, Red Flag Restaurants, Long March Restaurants, and People's Hotels have changed their new and popular names from the liberation to the present, and how much determination and pressure should be endured by those who have persisted for decades like the Jiangdu People's Hotel? If you don't have full confidence, if you don't have the real ability to eat the old, can you persist to this day? Without going far, the last time I visited, it has been at least ten years! In the past ten years, everyone has been constantly "keeping pace with the times", and it has adhered to the same way.
When I found the People's Hotel, I was like an old friend reunited, and I couldn't help but be happy. So I suggested to the host that we should dine at the People's Hotel at noon today. The master looked at this door face, and his face looked at each other, and his face was ugly. This time they no longer said that I was "nostalgic for the old", they said euphemistically and loudly, no, please, this is a bit chilly, not high-grade, besides, you look at this environment, the superiors want to criticize us. I feel helpless again, after all, I am a guest, and the guest is at the mercy of the Lord!
Professor Ye Qiu, who was with me, saw that I was frustrated, felt my affection, and quickly comforted me, and promised to personally accompany me to Gaoyou, and he would let me eat the best lion's head. Mr. Ye Qiu lived in Gaoyou for many years when he was young, Gaoyou is his second hometown, he is familiar with Gaoyou, and he is also very confident in the food there, I believe in him. As he walked around Gaoyou, I also visited Mr. Wang Zengqi's hometown, so as to taste the Gaoyou cuisine that Mr. Wang was proud of, and I followed Ye Qiu's advice. As for whether the lion's head there is "the best", I dare not say.
Forage all the way to Gaoyou. Thanks to Mr. Ye's meticulous planning, I was able to eat a table of excellent food. The name of that restaurant was Suiyuan, which can be known to be pretentious. The owner is a middle-aged man who has studied Huaiyang cuisine, and he personally spooned it that day: braised river eel, snowflake tofu, soft long fish, white juice vegetarian chicken, ten kinds of dishes, all in place. I also made a stewed lion's head, which was over-oiled, but I couldn't eat the flavor I had eaten back then. The host was gracious and could not sweep away everyone's interest, so I had to be silent.
I stayed in Yangzhou for a week, the People's Hotel was through the door and did not enter, leaving regrets in the air, and people misunderstood my "nostalgia". With this feeling of pity, I returned to Beijing. When I arrived home, I received a phone call from the poet Cao Limin from Jiangdu. She said that the day before yesterday in the office of the organ, she talked about the lion's head of the People's Hotel that Teacher Xie remembered, and colleagues said that this one was the best done in Yangzhou.
No wonder it insists on not changing the name of the store, the People's Hotel is its brand, but also its brand.
(This article is an excerpt from Xie Mian's book "Foraging", published with permission from Peiwen Peking University Press.) ）
| of Humanities and Social Sciences Chinese original | Essay essay
Foraging
Xie Mian wrote
Peiwen Peking University Press
January 2022
Xie Mian, born in Fuzhou in 1932, is a literary critic, poet and writer. Professor of the Department of Chinese, Peking University, currently the Honorary Dean of the Institute of Chinese Poetry at Peking University and the Director of the Institute of Chinese New Poetry at Peking University. He is the chairman of the Beijing Literary and Art Critics Association, the honorary chairman of the Beijing Writers Association, an honorary member of the National Committee of the Chinese Writers Association, and the editor-in-chief of poetry theory journals "Poetry Exploration" and "New Poetry Review". He is the author of "Outline of the History of New Chinese Poetry", "Commentary on Lakeside Poetry", "Starlight of the Republic", "The Green Revolution of Literature", "On Chinese Literature in the Twentieth Century", "Message of the Century", "Eternal Campus", "Water Flowing to distant places", "Red Chamber Bells Yanyuan Willow" and so on.
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