Text/Editor丨Qingtian Imperial History
●—《Preface》—●
As the deepest, most extensive and most inherited food country, food has been constantly evolving with our history, with color, aroma and taste as the core, assisted by knife work, fineness, heat and other skills, our cooking techniques are endless. Therefore, for Chinese, eating is not only to fill the stomach, but also to Chinese the experience of culture and a way to enjoy life.
However, there is no perfect thing in the world, and in the history of the development of food, we also have some "forbidden dishes" that have been invented but not accepted by the world, and then slowly banned completely. Their preparation methods are too cruel, and they are forbidden dishes developed by some people in ancient times in order to pursue taste buds experience.
Monkey brain
The process of making this dish is terrifying, and its cruelty is probably the first. A few people gather around a table with a round hole in the middle of the table, just big enough for a monkey head to stick out, and then pull up a monkey specially bred for food and fix it in the middle.
They hold the monkey's head firmly in place with an iron hoop, and then hit it with a small hammer until the skull is knocked off, after which the monkey's brain is exposed to the diners, some of whom are eager to eat it with a spoon.
Some are more cruel, preparing a bowl of hot oil and pouring it on it, and the dying monkeys will scream violently, while diners will slowly savor their favorite monkey brains in this atmosphere.
Charcoal Milked Sheep
Everyone knows about roast suckling sheep, but charcoal-roasted suckling sheep is not ordinary, this is another anti-human dish, and the maker must not be good at stubble. Roast mutton has probably been eaten, this is just the natural law of the weak and the strong, and it is necessary to do it in order to satisfy the stomach, but we will not forget the minimum morality.
In the past, when fishing, we happen to catch a big fish full of roe, and we will not be tempted by its size, but will choose to release it, which is not only a respect for nature, but also a constraint on ourselves, and the mother of any creature deserves to be respected.
But this dish uses the ewes that are about to give birth, and they do not choose to take the sheep directly by disembowelment, but choose to directly put the ewes into the charcoal fire to roast until it is cooked, and then break open its belly and take out the roasted suckling sheep. It is said that the suckling sheep's skin is crispy and tender, and the taste is also very delicious. But it is cruel enough to be pointed out by thousands of people and tolerated by the world.
Three squeaks
The main ingredient of this dish is mouse cubs, which were first recorded in the Tang Dynasty's "Chaoye Zai", which was also called honey chirp at that time. At that time, the Lingnan fangs liked to eat a food called "honey", that is, young rats that had not opened their eyes, fed honey, let them squirm and crawl on the feast, and when they bit with chopsticks, the rat cubs would make a sound.
The newborn rat pups are placed on a plate without any processing, just a separate plate of sauce and ready to eat. It squeaks when the diner first clamps it, squeaks again when it is put into the sauce plate, and finally squeaks again, hence the name squeak. It's also a bit cruel, and you have to hold back your disgust for rats, and it's hard to understand the mentality of a eater.
浇驴肉
Eating this dish is simply the living king of Hades, donkey meat is rare, and there are few dishes with donkey meat as the staple food, but the reputation is indeed very great, since ancient times, there is a saying that the dragon meat in the sky and the donkey meat in the ground, and now the most done is the donkey meat is burned.
But at that time, each was a living Hades. The person who makes the dish of donkey meat seems to have a deep hatred for the donkey. Generally, some diners choose to eat donkey meat, which is to pull a live donkey first, and then choose the part they want to eat.
After the guests have chosen, they directly remove that part of the donkey skin and then water it with the old soup. Boil a pot of old soup and then use a spoon to repeatedly water this part of the donkey meat until the meat is cooked.
The donkey meat is then cut off separately and served on a plate for its guests to taste. During this time, the donkey was still alive, feeling the pain, but it could not break free. According to rumors, the people who ate this dish were all about witnessing the state of the donkey and watching the production process, and they didn't have much feeling for the food itself.
Teppanyaki turtle soup
Iron plate turtle soup is also among the best among these dishes, and in the movie "The Last Emperor", Cixi also ate this dish, commonly known as longevity soup. The method of making it is extremely cruel and can easily cause discomfort.
The forbidden practice is very simple, prepare an iron pot, then adjust the flavor of the soup in the pot, boil it and let it cool. Then select a soft-shelled turtle, starve it for three or four days, wash it and don't kill it. Put the live soft-shelled turtle into the pot, then add the cold and seasoned soup, slowly add the heat, and slowly boil from low heat.
The soft-shelled turtle in the iron pot will slowly drink the soup in the pot because of the heat, and finally drink most of the soup, and then the soft-shelled turtle will be cooked. I think that the soup must be delicious at this time, but the process is too cruel, and the original intention of his production should not be to eat, but to enjoy the pleasure of the soft-shelled turtle being slowly tortured.
If you want to taste it, you can starve for a few days first, and then feed the ingredients you want, feed them for a few more days, and give a good time when cooking, which can be regarded as respecting life, and slowly torturing is too cruel.
Crispy goose intestines
The cruelty of this dish is comparable to that of donkey meat. Goose intestines are a common food when everyone eats hot pot and barbecue, but compared with this crispy goose intestine, it is not at the same level at all. Common geese are taken out of dead geese, but this one is taken out of the living geese.
The same is carefully cared for first, and no food is allowed, so that this step of washing is also omitted. Of course, before preparing to eat, the goose will be washed again until it is sure that there is nothing dirty. Then make a small incision in the anus of the goose, and pull the goose intestines directly out from this position.
Diners begin to taste the freshest goose intestines, while the goose slowly dies in the pain of being hollowed out. It's a psychological and physical whammy, and it can't die right away as it sees its intestines being eaten.
Air-dried chicken
Non-professionals can't cook this dish well, it tests the speed of the chef. This requires the chef to clean the chicken as quickly as possible, then pluck the feathers, take the internal organs, fill the condiments, sew up the wound, hang it in a ventilated place, and wait for it to dry slowly.
During this period, the chicken was not bled to death, it was still alive, but its body was stuffed with condiments, and then slowly waited for death in a ventilated place, the scene was very permeable.
The air-dried chicken made in this way, which is easy to preserve and fresh and tender, is very popular in its birthplace, but cruel methods are still not accepted, and in the end it is the consequence of being banned.
Dragon's beard and phoenix's claws
This is a very particular dish, among the two ingredients, the dragon whisker is the fish whisker of the catfish, and the phoenix claw is the middle piece of meat of the chicken palm. The method of preparation is unknown, but the restaurant that made this dish must have had many lame chickens in his backyard, and a school of catfish without whiskers.
The cruel thing is that this fish whisker and phoenix claw are very small pieces, and every time a dragon whisker and phoenix claw is made, hundreds of fish will lose their taste organs, and dozens of chickens will lose their palm meat, and they will be mutilated from then on.
Now the production method has been lost, and the practices that have been circulated in the world are very different.
Roast duck paws
It is also a famous dish for ducks, and it is necessary to prepare an iron plate to make this dish, put the live duck only on the iron plate, and then slowly heat the iron plate, the duck is affected by the heat, and will keep running on the iron plate, and the straight duck paw is completely roasted.
However, although the duck's paws are cooked, the duck is still alive, and the duck whose paws have been removed will be taken back and used for other purposes. The cut duck paws are served on a plate. Hopefully, this is the last hurdle in their lives.
Drunken shrimp
This is relatively easy to accept compared with the above, probably because the shrimp is at the bottom of the food chain, so it is unbearable to only eat live animals, and there is not much feeling.
Drunken shrimp is a raw food, which is a group of fresh shrimp poured into a homemade bowl. The main ingredient is sake, so the shrimp will faint after a while, and then diners can enjoy the fresh aroma of the shrimp and the aroma of the sake. But there is still a risk, live shrimp are prone to parasites.
●—"The Last"—●
Gastronomy is a vivid expression of cultural memory. Behind every traditional dish, there is a history, a story or a custom. Food is not only a taste enjoyment, but also a kind of inheritance and memory of the past culture. They allow us to taste the food while also feeling the weight of history and the charm of culture.
Under the tide of the times, the awakened Chinese youth chose to reject these cruel dishes, which is the progress of the times and the respect for the natural world.