@秦楚刊号
Please pay attention to the next issue.
Core Tips:
The food culture of each dynasty has its own characteristics and development roots, which not only represents the economic development of the previous dynasties, but also reflects the social atmosphere of the time.
The food culture of each dynasty has its own characteristics and development roots, which not only represents the economic development of the previous dynasties, but also reflects the social atmosphere of the time.
For the Ming Dynasty, folk vernacular novels were prevalent, and the types of novels were also diverse.
After the opening of the new shipping route, the special foods of various countries poured into the Ming Dynasty, and many vernacular novels that recorded food appeared at that time, which were mentioned in "Water Margin" and "Han Qi Leisure Commentary".
The development of the commodity economy has increased the diversity of diets
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to serious economic damage and the whole society was in ruins, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty advocated "frugality" in order to save money and consolidate his rule.
This kind of "frugality" appears not only in political activities and construction, but also in daily life, the most prominent of which is reflected in food.
Zhu Yuanzhang not only clearly stipulates the size of eating utensils for all social strata, but also eats very simply, and "every morning and evening, there must be a dish of tofu to show that he does not dare to be extravagant." ”
However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with the prosperity of the commodity economy, people's diet was not as "simple" as before, and their requirements for it began to rise.
With the discovery of the new continent of America and the opening of new shipping routes, ingredients such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes were transported to the continent one after another.
The variety of ingredients expands the diversity of the diet, and not only that, but also condiments such as cloves and pepper also enrich the flavor of the food.
At that time, among the people, the special food of ethnic minorities was also very popular for a time.
There have been many descriptions of the diet of ethnic minorities in the book "The Pearl of Things" during the Wanli period of the dynasty, and most of the books call this kind of food "Jurchen food" and "Huihui food".
With the development of social economy, people's quality of life is also improving. When the material needs of the people are satisfied, they begin to pursue spiritual pleasure, and many people take the taste of food as a joy of life.
In addition, under the influence of the Enlightenment ideology, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty combined the pursuit of a better life with a diversified food culture, and wrote a large number of poems and songs related to it.
Among the scholars and doctors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai was the one who loved to study food the most. Zhang Dai not only likes to taste food everywhere, but also often makes his own.
In his work "Dream Memories of Tao'an", he once described his love of food as "chasing each other, and the day is for the sake of the mouth." ”
It can be seen that in the context of the diversified diet at that time, many literati chose to record and organize this into their books.
Not only that, but the scholar group is also very fond of "food friendship". In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were more than 200 such groups, and they worked together to study food and literature, increasing the cohesion of scholars and scholars and promoting the development of food culture.
In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, the relationship between literati merchants and citizens became increasingly close. As the literati continued to become secularized, many of the vernacular novels they wrote became more in line with the reality of life and had more charm.
The content of the novel is no longer just obscure life principles and history and culture, but more about some daily trivial things in life.
In many novels that depicted daily life at the time, it can be seen that people's staple food has become rice and noodles, and people have been able to make all kinds of staple foods.
In "Han Qi Leisure Commentary", Yinyue's maid made a good "fragrant white rice porridge", and whenever she felt tired, she would drink a bowl.
When vernacular fiction meets food culture
"Dressing and eating is human physics. At that time, this kind of childlike theory was prevalent in society. Gourmets in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty were fond of emphasizing the rationality of material comforts and promoting such ideas in society.
At that time, the wine culture of the mainland had developed to a relatively prosperous stage, and the wine culture had penetrated into all classes.
"Drinking" has become an important part of the description of food in various vernacular novels, and "wine" has become an indispensable thing in birthdays, parties, practices, and worship scenes.
In "Warning to the World", Zhang Erguan prepared good wine for his father-in-law during cookies, and also:
"Set up a box of sheep wine, and Juan Ji will get married".
Among them, "sheep wine" is similar to the current engagement ceremony, and it can be seen that alcohol has played an important role at that time.
In "Water Margin", in order to get closer to Li Yuanwai, Song Jiang specially feasted him with his brothers. Before asking Li Yuanwai, he specially said to show his sincerity:
"Tell me to take a pair of satin sheep wine, choose one to ride a horse and saddle it in, and go to the door to ask for an meeting."
It can be seen that there were various brewing methods of sake at the beginning, and the quality has been differentiated. Although science and technology are not developed, people's brewing technology has been re-advanced.
And drinking is not only for one's own pleasure, but also adds a color of "human sophistication", and represents a "bold" and "rough" cultural color at that time.
In "Water Margin", Liang Shanbo's 108 soldiers are almost inseparable from wine, and they will definitely "drink wine and eat meat" to boost morale before they are about to go on the expedition, and they will inevitably celebrate with wine and food after the fact.
Wine is not only seen in the lavish banquet in the novel, but also often appears in the farewell with silent rhyme.
In the vernacular novel "Han Qi Leisure Commentary", there are many scenes of parting and drinking.
One of the most touching is that Wei Zhongxian said goodbye to Li Yongzhen, and the two chose the last meal before leaving in the tavern, which further exaggerated the parting feelings, and Wei Zhongxian burst into tears on the spot.
The high prosperity of wine culture also promoted the development of wine utensils, and during the Wanli period, many people would buy gorgeous wine utensils to celebrate after they ascended to the official career, which was very luxurious.
The luxury of the sake vessel has gradually become a status symbol.
In the "Miscellaneous Notes of the Garden", it was written that some people wanted beautiful wine vessels, but because the economic level was not enough, they thought of the method of gilding copper with gold. But when he took out his utensils and went out to party, he was killed.
When someone saw his beautiful drinking vessel, they had evil thoughts and killed him, and then "took all his wine vessel."
At this time, it was not only the aristocratic class that participated in the pleasure, but also the ordinary people in the market who participated in this "carnival".
And at that time, there was also a kind of food on the table of the people of the Ming Dynasty, that is, fruits, dried fruits and other foods with health care effects. The dried fruits here do not require any tedious processing, and most of them are made by drying the fruits.
These foods are often not eaten with meals, but are brought to the table during casual conversation or tea and poetry. The people of the Ming Dynasty firmly believed that it could nourish the body and supplement nutrition, and it was the favorite diet of many dignitaries and dignitaries.
The diversification and refinement of eating utensils reflect the increase and change of people's needs. In the daily food activities, it also reflects people's pursuit of "true happiness" in life under the impact of enlightenment thoughts.
The way of health preservation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty
With the increasing variety of diets, people are gradually realizing that diet is not only to fill the stomach, but also to consider the role of diet.
Mingren Gao Kao once said: "Diet is the foundation of a living person." It is in the middle of the body, yin and yang run, the five elements are born together, all because of the diet, so the diet is full of perseverance, perseverance is full of blood, and the blood is strong. ”
It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, people already had a basic understanding of "health preservation". Since ancient times, the mainland has advocated the "homology of medicine and food", and the Ming Dynasty took this idea to the extreme.
The books of the Ming Dynasty also appear in many examples of promoting health preservation.
In "Siyou Zhai Cong Shuo", it was written: "Don't eat raw and cold, don't eat hard, don't eat strongly, eat first when you're hungry, don't eat too much, drink when you're thirsty, don't drink too much." ”
During the period of Ming Xiaozong, the concept of "health preservation" became more prevalent. There are also works such as "Four Essentials of Health" and "Life-Saving Song" and so on.
This kind of thinking has been continued with the dynasties, and in the Qing Dynasty, some families preferred a light diet. In "Dream of Red Mansions", it was written that all kinds of porridge and porridge became the main diet in dietary therapy.
He Liangjun also once said that "food" is praised in miscellaneous books, and the food in his mouth does not refer to those delicacies from the mountains and seas, but believes that people should abide by the rules in their daily eating, and cannot be greedy for more and more curiosity, so that the body can get a good rest.
In addition, Taoism prevailed in the late Ming Dynasty, and people had more understanding of traditional food and health care, and they paid more and more attention to eating.
The diversity of food culture in the Ming Dynasty not only changed the social atmosphere, but also promoted the changes in various social industries to a certain extent, and commerce and handicrafts were developed.
It had a big impact on the "self-sufficient" smallholder economy and laid the foundation for its future disintegration.
Chinese food culture reached its peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the citizenization of novels also greatly narrowed the relationship between literati and market people.
When food is combined with distinctive vernacular novels, we can understand in more detail the cultural and social changes of the time. Through these novels, we also see the people's ethics and traditional culture of that era.
Compared with the Ming Dynasty, most of today's novels pay more attention to the food itself, which shows that "food" became one of the more important entertainment activities in the society at that time in the Ming Dynasty.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, scholars and doctors had been influenced by Confucian traditions, and they did not know how to deal with the rapid tide of commodity economy.
The development of food and vernacular fiction shows that they tried to do some "resistance", but they were biased because they could not find the right direction, and could only carry out some superficial changes in social customs.