Last month, the average per capita of 2,000 "Chinese food daily work" was scolded on the hot search. Netizens have a fierce debate about "value or not".
In fact, the value of this store is secondary. What really matters is that it may herald another wave of Blindly Following Chinese chefs in the "Omakase".
The popularity of Japanese cuisine in China began with the rotary sushi in the 1990s. Beef rice, ramen, yakiniku, izakaya, sukiyaki, kaiseki cuisine... Whether it was originally a civilian or a high-class person in Japan, it became a temporary darling after it was introduced to China.
And Omakase is the latest darling, and in Japanese, the word (おまかせ) means "please". It is also extended to the form of catering that "gives the chef full authority to decide what dishes to serve".
Up close and personal with the chef is also one of Omakase's characteristics
The Omakase of Japanese food has blossomed all over the country's major cities, which has also spoiled many catering peers, and for a time various forms of Omakase have appeared. Among them, it is necessary to hard-pack the content of Chinese food into the mold of Japanese food, and the "Chinese Japanese" restaurant that was born from this is the most outrageous.
There are a large number of chefs in these shops who are not strong enough, so they patted their heads and thought: "The difference between Chinese food and Japanese food is not a shared meal and a shared meal!" So I chose to change the dishes that were originally on large plates to several beautiful plates, showing the so-called "sense of high-grade".
It must be said that the Chinese shared meal system is indeed unique in the global gastronomic culture. Not only Japanese food, but also European and American eating habits are also divided meal system, which makes many culturally unconfident people feel that "sharing meals is advanced and progressive".
In fact, in the earliest days, Chinese was very advocating the meal sharing system. As far back as the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Li and the Spring and Autumn Ram Biography formulated various detailed rules and regulations for the nobility. Among them, regarding the use of meals, it is required that the nobles must "bell ring and eat". Different identities use different types of utensils, and they also have to listen to music and eat.
Ancient lacquer for food
The Nine Dings of the Heavenly Son, the Seven Dings of the King, the Five Dings of the Princes, the Three Dings of the Doctor, and even the kneeling mats all have requirements, and the Heavenly Son must lay five folds, the princes three times, and the Doctor two times. Naturally, people can't share a meal, they must be divided.
After that, until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chinese maintained the habit of sharing meals. It is the kind of short cases that we often see in film and television dramas. In the great integration of nationalities, the various "chairs" brought by the nomadic people also made Chinese change from the habit of kneeling to sitting.
Han Xizai's night feast
Therefore, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was a coexistence of divided meals and shared meals, and the famous "Han Xizai Night Feast Map" reflected this coexistence. The "male chopsticks and female spoons" were also born at this time, with straight chopsticks representing men and curved spoons representing women.
Until the Northern Song Dynasty, with the advancement of metallurgical technology, the "iron pot" as the soul of Chinese kitchen utensils appeared. The "stir-fry" full of wok gas has greatly enriched Chinese cuisine, and there are many dishes that cannot be divided, and they need to be eaten while hot, and the meal is much more reasonable than the meal.
At the same time, the people of the Northern Song Dynasty were rich in food and clothing, and the folk feasting culture flourished. There is no distinction between the ranks of the nobility among the people, and the shared meal is also lively, and the folk are naturally more popular.
Do you have any white mat people in your family who persuade wine?
The "Tokyo Dream Record" even records that there were also "white seaters" at that time, that is, people who were specifically responsible for inviting letters, arranging seats, and persuading wine and dishes. This culture still exists in some areas such as Henan and Shandong.
At this point, the shared meal system officially replaced the meal sharing system as the mainstream of Chinese eating, and influenced the upper class from the people. However, the upper class also maintained a partial tradition of meal sharing, and it was not until the Manchu Qing government was overthrown that the meal sharing system was negligible in China.
Interestingly, Europe has gone the other way around. Originally influenced by Central Asian culture, Europe generally chose the shared meal system. Until the end of the European Renaissance, also in order to reflect the "special" of the nobility, the nobility first began to divide meals and use a variety of high-end tableware. This is almost exactly the same as in China in the Zhou Dynasty.
At the same time, Europe experienced the terrible "Black Death", and the meal sharing system helped to stop the spread of the disease. Coupled with the worship of aristocratic life, the European folk also gradually began to accept the meal sharing system.
Typical Japanese dining
In Japan, after the Tang Dynasty learned the meal sharing system, this kind of diet system with hierarchical color is very in line with the national conditions of ancient Japan. The combination of many seafood, fasting livestock, and lack of iron resources in the catering made Japan finally not choose the shared meal system and insisted on the meal sharing system.
Therefore, sharing meals or sharing meals is just the choice made by each country and region according to their own people's feelings and history, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and there is no distinction between high and low. At the beginning of the epidemic, in order to reduce the infection, the state advocated a meal sharing system, which is reasonable. And to make the meal sharing as a senior representative is purely a "crooked road".
Before the Ming Dynasty, many people could not get off the chopsticks
Click to see one of the most important objects, the pufferfish
In addition to meal sharing, there is an important concept in Japanese cuisine, Omakase or Kaiseki cuisine, namely, Tengoku. The so-called Ten-year-old, that is, the "Ten-year-old Thing", emphasizes the "early taste" of the corresponding seasonal ingredients.
Due to Japan's mountainous terrain surrounded by the sea on all sides, climate change is rapid. Many ingredients are sometimes not described as "seasonal", and may only exist for about ten days, that is, "one decade". The Japanese have a saying about the newly marketed items, that is, "first things": "Eat the first things, and prolong life for 75 days." ”
In front of the mountain, behind is the sea, the weather changes several times a day
It is not difficult to find that this is the same as the "not eating from time to time" that Chinese pursues, and Chinese will also eat "stubble" food. And further, different festivals, festivals, Chinese will eat the corresponding food. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics read: "Si Nian bei bei. "In the Chinese view of health, it is very good for the body to conform to the heavens and not eat anti-seasonal foods.
Spring "bite spring", summer "eat new wheat", autumn "nibble autumn", winter "make up for winter", Chinese all year round pay attention to seasonal ingredients to nourish the body and relieve hunger. Delicacies such as spring pears (click to review), youth groups (click to review), summer rice (click to review), autumn melon, etc., are not only symbolic, but also to taste in the corresponding seasons.
Meandering water
Image source: TV series "Do you know if it should be green fat red skinny"
As for the "sense of ceremony", there is no shortage of Chinese food. Whether it is the bell ringing or the meandering water flowing, it fills the sense of ceremony. The technique of carving a carrot dragon and watermelon flower with a knife is also unique. The worst thing is to take some dry ice to make a fairy misty atmosphere.
Even the food itself should be as beautiful as possible. A piece of stewed meat, sliced into extremely thin and continuous long slices, made into a pagoda meat; Su-style dim sum made by Jiangsu people, pastries made by Zhejiang people, flower buns made by Shanxi people, the raw material is the simplest rice noodles, but the shape is as beautiful as falling into the sea of flowers.
Big thousand chickens
Further investigated, the model of giving full authority to the chef is actually very similar to the concept of "private dishes" in Chinese food. The predecessor of private cuisine is guanfu cuisine, which has a long history in Chinese cuisine, such as the famous Confucius cuisine, Tanjia cuisine, and Gale cuisine (click to review) and so on.
In fact, there have always been various "chefs' hair" in China's food culture. It's just that Chinese cares more about the taste, so I didn't take this form out separately to amplify it. For example, in various classical novels, there are often heroes who come to the tavern and let Xiao Er "cool and hot casually order"; when participating in the banquet, the order is all decided by the inviter; all kinds of old fly restaurants that are regarded as "canteens" by the locals, often the boss also casually cooks according to the ingredients purchased on the day... This is actually all done by the chef of Chinese food.
Peking duck is one of the careful Chinese dishes
As a result, the sharing of meals, the ten things (from time to time do not eat), the sense of ceremony, the chef's handling, these Chinese food is not lacking, but not integrated. Therefore, a good Chinese food has nothing to do with whether it is "made in a day". Treating every dish with care is key.
Su Shi once wrote a "Ode and Quotation of Dongpo Soup", which detailed the self-created Dongpo soup method: "With pineapple, if manjing, if reed, if it is rubbed, if it is hard juice, first coat the kettle edge and porcelain bowl with a little raw oil, in the soup, into the raw rice as grits and less ginger, cover it with oil bowls, do not touch, touch the oil and gas, until it is cooked." "Even the mistakes that may be made are recorded, not patiently repeated, how can there be such a detailed record."
The core of Chinese food has always been the attitude of "not tired of eating, not tired of fine". Whether it is Pactrian tofu that shows the ultimate knife workmanship like a hair Chinese the highest realm of eating tofu! , or the heat is finely controlled to the second of the gel stew ribs so burned, smooth and tender and fragrant "gel" call! , are representatives of good Chinese food.
Xin Rongji, which has the most Michelin stars in China, insists on using the freshest ingredients, from service to dish dissatisfaction can be refunded; Huishijia, Guangzhou Restaurant, China Hotel and other old Guangzhou restaurants, spend energy and time to resurrect the "old taste" and make retro dishes; Stop Guan Xiaoguan, with the name of "rough" Northeast cuisine, picked the Michelin that "evaluates Chinese food with foreigners' standards" among the population... These are also representatives of good Chinese food.
The core of Chinese food is really ready, whether it is covered with Chinese food, Japanese food or Western food shell, it is a good Chinese food.
Resources:
1.Zhu Deyi. The historical origin of the meal sharing system culture and its practical significance
2. Zhou Mingzhu, etc. The historical origin and practical considerations of the implementation of the national meal sharing system
3. Jiang Xiaoli. The origins of the individualistic culture of the Western meal sharing system and the AA system and the comparison with the collectivist food culture associated with the East
4. Zhang Zhenduo. From meal sharing to meal sharing – an examination with tableware and etiquette at its core
5.This knowledge is so cold. Why do many countries use the meal sharing system, while China has changed to a shared meal system?
6. Bowl pills, thirteen o'clock in the afternoon. "Don't Say You'll Eat Japanese Food"
Wen | taro
Picture | Zhong Heng
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