#我来唠家常#
▲ Anshun, Guizhou, cold eggplant at the dragon boat banquet. Photo by Feng Sifang
-The Legend of the Gentleman of Things-
Cakes, cakes, buns, circles, circles
Cake cake ball ball
Spring planting, summer brewing, autumn harvest, winter storage, the types of ingredients change with the seasons; sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the east, spicy in the west, taste preferences vary according to the direction; Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, Hunan, Suzhou, Hui, Zhejiang, Fujian, the cuisine genre is divided according to geography.
▲ The dining table of people from all over China. From top to bottom, they are from Shanghai, Pingliang, Gansu, Guangzhou, Guangdong, and Inner Mongolia. Picture / Picture Worm Creativity, Zhang Lutang, Zhang Zhuojun, Picture Worm Creativity
Even so, Chinese food families can still find a common form and god - circle.
When we continue to enlarge our field of vision, we will find that moon cakes are just a drop in the bucket of the round food family.
Map of Chinese cuisine
In fact, it is a wonderful "eating round map"
All kinds of starches can be shaped into round shapes: steamed bread for wheat noodles, baba for rice, hemp balls for glutinous rice, pancakes for multigrains.
▲ Steamed buns, oil cakes, baba, hemp balls. Photo/Visual China
All kinds of cooking methods can interpret the legend of Yuan: baked baked cakes, baked flatbreads, steamed buns, boiled rice balls;
▲ Baked cakes, steamed buns, glutinous rice balls. Photo/Visual China
The north and south of the river can be round rivers and lakes: roasted naan in Xinjiang, noodles in Yanbei, meat sandwich buns in Guanzhong, and dumplings in Jiangnan;
▲ Naan, Wowo, and Meat Sandwich Bun are from the Western Regions, Saibei and Guanzhong respectively. Photo/Visual China
Each city can find its own round pride: Jiaoquaner in Beijing, fried dumplings in Shanghai, steamed buns in Tianjin, fried dumplings in Guangzhou, Youxuan in Jinan, tangyuan in Ningbo, donkey fire in Baoding......
▲ Steamed buns, fried dumplings (hemp balls), raw fried. Photo/Visual China
Chinese, why are they crazy about "eating round"?
Natural Creation
Eating round is the creation of nature.
An explorer once said, "Why climb a mountain?" because the mountain is there. We can also say:
Why "eat the circle"? Because, the circle is there.
Most of the cosmic bodies are round, and our planetary home is round. In the days when we didn't know how to make pancakes, naan, and mooncakes, nature has created natural round delicacies for humans.
The most representative are a variety of round, near-round or oval melons and fruits:
▲ The persimmons in Pingliangjingchuan County, Gansu Province are red, as if they are round lanterns. Photo by Zuo Xuelan
Watermelon, pumpkin, cantaloupe, apple, persimmon, peach, lychee, longan, tomato, citrus, orange, orange, pomelo, cherry, blueberry, grape, date......
If you take a cross-sectional perspective,
Almost all fruits can be reduced to a round shape
Although most of the fruits we eat today are domesticated varieties, their originators and mothers come from the natural wilderness. When our ancestors were not able to make fire artificially, wild fruits were necessary for them to sustain life and reproduce.
▲ Jiangnan bayberry in Chinese textbooks: "The bayberry is round, the same size as longan, and there are small thorns all over it. Photo/Visual China
The world's four most consumed fruits – apples, grapes, citrus and bananas – are all members of the round family.
Fruits, and so many fruits, why did you choose a round shape?
round, which is most conducive to the preservation of nutrients. Three-dimensional objects with equal volume, the smallest spherical surface area, choose to become a round shape, and the water evaporation on the surface of the fruit is the smallest, which is conducive to its better development;
▲ Cherry, luster like ruby. Photo by Huang Binbin
Round, which is most conducive to self-protection. The spherical surface area is the smallest, the pest has less ground on the fruit skin, and the same is true that the spherical water is also the least stressed area when the wind and rain are blowing.
▲ Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, like blue agate. Photo/Visual China
In addition to fruits, among the ancient traditional "five grains" rice, millet, millet, wheat and soybean, the seeds of millet (rhubarb rice), millet (millet) and soybean (beans) are round or nearly round grains.
▲ Whole grains, ensemble circular symphony. Photo/Visual China
The Creator is always the best teacher of mankind. With the wisdom of natural fruits, human beings can make the most cost-effective choice by simply "copying homework".
For a long time, steamed buns, flatbreads, and baked naan were mostly used as dry food for merchants and travelers. Circles provide the greatest weight with the least circumference compared to equilateral trilateral, quadrilateral, and pentagonal shapes...... N-sided, rounded shape minimizes water loss from food.
Litian's work
Eating round is a dialogue between heaven and man.
For geometricians, the circle is a perfect figure with countless axes of symmetry, and for the ancient Chinese philosophers, the circle symbolizes the nature of heaven, which is the so-called "heaven and earth".
The ancient Chinese used round ritual vessels (such as jade) and round altars to express a high degree of courtesy to the heavens. This sense of pious ritual is not only reflected in large-scale sacrificial activities, but also materialized in the details of clothing, food, housing and transportation.
▲ The round gold plate and jade dragon all imply worship to the heavens. Photography/Arterial Shadow
When dining, never forget to be grateful to the sky. Making food in a round shape is the highest respect for the way of heaven.
Steamed "Circle"
Steamed buns, the leading handle of the staple food industry in the north.
The in-depth exchanges between various parts of China have enriched the food structure. However, in the vast North China Plain, especially in Shandong, the status of big steamed buns that are round at the top and flat at the bottom is still unshakable.
▲ The round steaming drawer and the round big steamed buns. Photo/Visual China
The round big bun is a variant of the steamed bun, and the people of Northwest Lu are used to calling the bun "vegetable steamed bun" and "meat steamed bun". From Guanzhong to the Jiaodong Peninsula, a type of pasta called Hua Bao or Hua Bao is a luxurious Plus version of white flour steamed buns.
▲ The flower bun on the Loess Plateau is a satisfying food and a work of art. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
The staple food steamed buns in the north have been introduced to the rich Jiangnan, and they have become exquisite snacks: round and lovely fried buns and xiaolongbao, in the mouths of the people in the Yangtze River Delta, the more authentic names are fried steamed buns and xiaolong steamed buns.
▲ Shanghai fried steamed buns, no, fried steamed buns! originality
The wheat produced in the border area of Shanxi, Hebei and Inner Mongolia is difficult to be highly bonded when ground into flour, but the locals still stubbornly express their yearning for the circle - the canopy on the steaming drawer is like a small cylinder.
▲ 莜面wowo, Shanxi people call it 莜面栲栳栳, do you know how to read it?
Rice is rarely ground like wheat, and it can still form a circle - the eight treasure rice and black rice that are loved by the people in the south are not only a food that warms the stomach and fills the stomach, but also a work of art composed of circular lines and different color blocks.
▲ Above: Five-color flower rice in Luoping, Yunnan. Photo by Yuan Cuihua. Below: Eight treasure rice, meaning reunion. Photo/Visual China
Grilled "Round"
In the Luzhong Mountains of Shandong, the green onions rolled must be pancakes that are "round in the moon and as big as copper" rolled out with a large iron pan; the Zhuang buns with fillings, the baked cakes baked in the fire, and the cooking cakes steamed in the pot all have round figures.
The naan of the great northwest, regardless of the size and meat and vegetable, is roasted out of a golden circle, like a small sun; the steamed bun of the northwest people is also the embodiment of the circle, the white Ji bun with meat and the steamed bun nicknamed "pot helmet" are stacked up to be a small and large concentric circle.
▲ The pot helmet of Jingning, Gansu Province is more like a full moon than moon cakes. Photo by Zhang Lutang
There are two factions in the world, among which the Baoding faction with its iconic round body is in stark contrast to the long fire of the Hejian faction.
The obsession of eating round has continued to the Yangtze River and Pearl River basins, and the Huangqiao baked cake in Jiangsu, the Jinyun baked cake in Zhejiang, the crab shell yellow sesame baked cake in the Yangtze River Delta, the wife cake in Chaoshan, the egg waffle in Hong Kong, the egg tart in Macau, and the navel cake in Taiwan have extended the territory of Chinese eating round.
▲ Brown sugar navel cake in Chaoshan, Guangdong. Picture/etc
The "circle" of fried (zhá)
People's obsession with frying is deeply rooted in the bone marrow and implanted in genes.
In the round fried family, the noodles are represented by fried sugar cakes, dried croquettes, and Sixi meatballs (fried first and then burned) in the north, and rice dishes are represented by the lantern cakes in the south and southeast coasts, and scallion oil baba in Hunan.
▲ Fried beef balls, lantern cake. Photo/Visual China
Reunion Pill Circle Spin| It sounds "ruthless"
How round is Chinese food?
Sometimes just by looking at the name you can get the answer: group, circle, pill, circle, spin. This "round heavenly group" is named after the synonyms of circle or circle - for example, tangyuan, qingtuan, lotus root round in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, meatballs in Chaoshan, fish balls in Fuzhou, Jiaoquaner in Beijing, and oil swirl in Jinan.
▲ Qingtuanzi can also be called Qingyuanzi. Photography / Lu Xingxing
Meatballs (except fried), balls, and dumplings are actually different names for a large category of snacks, such as tangyuan, also called dumplings, soup balls, and meatballs, also called meatballs.
▲ Chaoshan beef balls. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
Mooncakes| Eating round conference "salt man"
Mooncakes are the culmination of Chinese eating round.
▲ Typical Cantonese moon cakes. Photo by Wu Xuewen
This confectionery, which is named after the full moon, has gone through the history from the steaming era to the baking era, from the local area to the whole country, and from the daily snack to the festival.
▲ Upper left: Suzhou-style mooncakes. Photo by Yan Chenyu. Yunnan-style moon cakes, Cantonese moon cakes. Photo/Huitu.com, Visual China
Due to regional changes, many schools of moon cakes have been formed: Cantonese style, Chao style, Beijing style, Jin style, Qin style, Hong Kong style, Hui style, Yunnan style, Ning style, Fujian style, and various fillings have been added according to taste preferences: five kernels, bean paste, jujube paste, lotus paste, egg yolk, ham, fresh meat, sausage, barbecued pork, matsutake mushroom, abalone...... Everything that should be, everything that is there.
▲ Black truffle-filled mooncakes that have been rising in popularity in recent years. Photo by Wu Xuewen
"The small cake is like chewing the moon, and there is crisp and syrup. ”
Eating a moon cake is like eating a full moon in the sky - this is probably the highest level of eating round.
A gastronomic vessel
Eating round is the shaping of utensils.
Those delicacies that don't have a round body can't escape the round palm. Picking, processing, cooking, all kinds of ingredients must be baptized again and again in all kinds of round utensils—baskets, baskets, baskets, tubes, jars, cellars, bottles, pots, stoves, and cages.
▲ The spicy hot pot of Sichuan and Chongqing. Photo/Visual China
With these gastronomic vessels, the ingredients created by man and nature can be fried, fried, boiled, fried, cooked, fried, roasted, burned, stewed, steamed, boiled, boiled, stewed, boiled, boiled, stirred, pickled, roasted, marinated, smoked, slippery, baked...... to complete a gorgeous turn.
▲ Shandong Zhangqiu Iron Pot became popular because of "Tip of the Tongue 3". The picture shows the inheritor Niu Qisheng building an iron pot. Photo/Visual China
Before touching the tip of the tongue, almost all food should be served in round pots, bowls, basins, boxes, plates, and saucers. Although the main dishes are impermanent, they can still be turned into round "hard dishes" through large round pots, discs, and round pots: Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot, Northeast Wild Stew, Guangdong Poon Choi, Gansu Zhuanglang warm pot, Hubei Shiyan steaming pot, and southern Anhui "family portrait......
▲ The pig killing dish in the Northeast, the pot choi in Lingnan, the three steamed dishes in Chuyang, and the warm pot in Zhuanglang are all indispensable "hard dishes" at the reunion banquet. Picture / Picture Worm Creative (Picture 1, Picture 2), Huitu.com (Picture 3), Scenery Journey (Picture 4)
The Ultimate Circle
Eating round is the ultimate sustenance.
Circle is not only about shape, but also about the soul. Regarding the original meaning of the circle, "Shuowen Jie Zi" says:
"Round, round and complete. From the mouthman's voice. ”
The major traditional festivals are almost connected by "eating rounds": the tangyuan of the Lantern Festival, the spring cake of the second dragon of February, the boiled egg of March 3, the Qingtuan of the Qingming Festival, the fried pile (hemp ball) of the Dragon Boat Festival, the moon cake of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the chrysanthemum cake of the Double Ninth Festival.
Behind each round bun, cake, cake and group there is a deep cultural meaning: unity, reunion, perfection and perfection.
▲ Cantonese fish balls, Jingning pot helmets, Zhuang Langhua buns. Photography by Wang Yutong, Zhang Lutang
Compared with the popularity of the split meal system in the West, Chinese prefer to choose group meals based on round tables. On the basis of a little cake, a dish and a dish, each small circle is constantly combined, and the people of a family and a family sit around, creating countless round table feasts.
▲ Fujian round earth building and reunion banquet, as if "big beads and small beads fall on the jade plate". Photo/Visual China
The Mid-Autumn Festival meets the National Day, which is the reunion of the family and the reunion of the country.