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Text: Yanyan
Edited by Yeon-yeon
Preface
The locust plague was raging, and the crops in the fields were destroyed, but the ancient people preferred to go hungry rather than eat the locusts that were readily available.
What is the reason behind this seemingly incomprehensible choice? Historically, the Qin State suffered huge losses due to locust plagues, but how did this tragic lesson happen?
Is the people's fear of locusts due to cultural beliefs, dietary habits, or deeper social factors?
Locust plague: a nightmare for ancient peasants
In the age of farming, agricultural technology was not yet developed, and the livelihood of farmers depended entirely on the bounty of the weather. However, nature often does not always favor humans, and various natural disasters often threaten the survival of farmers. Among the many disasters, the locust plague is undoubtedly one of the most frightening.
Imagine that you are a peasant in the Qin State who lived in 243 BC. You've been working hard all year and you've been looking for a good harvest, and suddenly one day the sky is clouded by locusts.
Like a well-trained army, they landed densely in the fields and began to gnaw wildly. In just a few days, your crops are eaten up, leaving only bare land and a hopeless future.
This is not the plot of science fiction, but a large-scale locust plague that really happened in the Qin State. According to historical records, the scale of this locust plague is unprecedented.
Wherever the locusts went, there was no grass and crops were eaten away. It dealt a devastating blow to the agricultural production of the Qin State, the grain production was seriously reduced, and the peasants' lives were in trouble.
However, this is not an isolated incident. Throughout China's nearly 2,000-year history, there have been more than 800 large-scale locust plagues, with an average of one every three years. This frequency is high enough to make any ancient peasant despair.
Dilemma: Why didn't the ancients eat locusts?
In the face of such a severe locust plague, modern people may wonder why the ancients didn't catch these locusts for food. After all, in today's society, locusts are regarded as a high-protein, high-nutrient delicacy. However, it's not that simple.
First of all, we need to understand the technological level of ancient societies. In those days when there were no modern insect trapping equipment, large-scale capture of locusts was an extremely difficult task.
Ancient peasants relied mainly on catching by hand or using simple tools to drive away. They have tried a variety of methods, such as fire, flooding, and the introduction of natural enemies, but the results are very limited.
Imagine you're a hungry ancient farmer with only a pair of hands and a few rudimentary tools in the face of thousands of fast-flying locusts.
How many can you catch? I'm afraid it's not enough to stuff your teeth. What's more, in that era when there was not enough to eat, people simply did not have the spare physical strength to catch locusts on a large scale.
Secondly, even if some locusts were barely caught, how did the ancients store them? In the days without modern refrigeration technology, the captured locusts quickly rotted and deteriorated. This means that even if the locusts are caught at great risk, they cannot be stored for a long time for the famine that may follow.
In addition, the ancient people also faced great challenges in cooking locusts. The reason why modern people find locusts delicious is largely due to advanced cooking techniques and abundant condiments. Deep-fried locusts with a variety of spices can indeed make a delicacy.
But in ancient times, oil and salt were scarce resources, and it was difficult for people to even season their daily diets, let alone spice locusts. Imagine having to eat boiled locusts one by one without seasoning, and the experience is probably more unbearable than starvation.
Superstition and Fear: Locusts and "Divine Punishment"
In addition to the limitations of technology and resources, the attitude of the ancients towards locusts was also deeply influenced by the superstitious ideas that were prevalent in society at the time. In ancient times, when science was not yet developed, people often attributed unexplained natural phenomena to the will of the gods.
The locust plague is a case in point. The ancients generally believed that locusts were "divine worms", messengers sent by heaven to punish the world. This notion was so deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of ancient societies that people preferred to endure hunger rather than offend these "sacred" creatures.
Imagine that you are an ordinary farmer living in ancient times. You grew up listening to your elders tell you that locusts are God's punishment, and eating them will lead to greater disasters.
Even if you are so hungry that you put your chest on your back, you will still hesitate in the face of locusts flying in the sky, for fear of angering the gods and bringing greater misfortune to yourself and your family.
The influence of this superstitious thinking was so profound that even the emperor had to intervene to break it himself. Tang Taizong Li Shimin is a good example.
Tang Taizong's attempt: the emperor also came to eat locusts
During the Tang Dynasty, in the face of a serious locust plague, Tang Taizong Li Shimin put forward a bold proposal: let the people catch and eat locusts to survive the difficulties. However, even the emperor's proposal could not easily break the deep-seated superstitious notions of the people.
Faced with the hesitation and fear of the people, Li Shimin decided to lead by example. He himself went to the field and caught locusts. What is even more surprising is that in front of the ministers and the people, he stuffed the locusts into his mouth and ate them.
Li Shimin's move was undoubtedly shocking. Imagine that you were a farmer at the time and witnessed this scene with your own eyes. You saw that the king of a country, the Son of Heaven, actually went down to the field to hunt locusts and ate these "divine insects" without hesitation. This was undoubtedly a huge shock to the people at that time.
Li Shimin also said that if he incurs God's punishment for eating locusts, he is willing to bear it for the people. This attitude of sharing weal and woe with the people, as well as the courage to break through superstition, undoubtedly gave the people great encouragement.
Gradually, more and more farmers began to try to catch and eat locusts. While this does not solve the root cause of the locust plague, it has at least eased the pressure of food shortages to some extent and has led to a new understanding of these once-feared insects.
A Modern Perspective: The Shift from Disaster to Gastronomy
With the passage of time and the modern society, our attitude towards locusts has changed dramatically. What was once a feared locust is now a rare delicacy on the table. Behind this huge change, there is not only the impetus of scientific and technological progress, but also the change of people's concepts.
First of all, the development of modern technology has completely changed the ability of mankind to fight locust plagues. In 1950, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, professional locust control institutions and monitoring systems were established.
With the advancement of pesticide technology, large-scale locust plagues have rarely occurred in China. In recent years, China has established a comprehensive locust monitoring and early warning system.
This system comprehensively uses advanced means such as remote sensing technology, meteorological monitoring, and ecological environment monitoring, and is able to grasp the occurrence and development trend of locust plagues in real time. This allows us to take timely prevention and control measures to effectively reduce the impact of locust infestations on agricultural production.
Second, advances in modern food processing and preservation technologies have turned locusts from a disaster into a delicacy. Modern people eat locusts largely out of the pursuit of novel experiences.
Delicate cooking techniques and abundant condiments allow locusts to be made into a variety of delicious dishes. Deep-fried locusts sprinkled with cumin powder have become a sought-after specialty snack for many people.
More interestingly, in some places, locust plagues have instead become an opportunity for farmers to increase their incomes. For example, when there was a locust plague in Shandong in recent years, local farmers were very happy and went to the fields to catch locusts.
Some farmers even feel that selling locusts is more profitable than growing corn. When outsiders heard the news of the locust plague, the locusts had already been captured by the locals.
This change in attitude not only reflects the progress of modern society, but also reflects the change of people's concepts. From fear to acceptance, from avoidance to active capture, the status of locusts in modern society has changed dramatically.
However, we must also note that even in modern society, locusts are still a staple food. Although locusts are high in protein, the human body needs much more nutrients than just protein.
Locusts are the staple food for a long time, which is difficult to meet the comprehensive nutritional needs of the human body. In addition, from an ecological point of view, feeding on locusts is less energy-efficient than eating plants directly, which can be a waste of resources when applied on a large scale.
epilogue
From ancient disasters to modern cuisine, the transformation of locusts' identities reflects the tremendous progress of human society. The development of technology and the change of mindset have allowed us to look at these once fearsome creatures in a new light.
However, while rejoicing in the convenience brought by modern technology, we should not forget the helplessness and wisdom of the ancients in the face of natural disasters. History has given us not only knowledge, but also the dimension of thinking.
In the future, how can we make better use of natural resources and how to find a balance between development and conservation, these are all questions worth pondering.