One side of the water and soil to nourish the other side, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, "Su Qing • Different Methods and Fang Yi Theory" has a special discussion on the health care and conditioning methods of the people of the five parties. Among them, "The southern one, the heavens and the earth are nurtured, the yang is flourishing, its underground, the water and soil are weak, and the fog and dew are gathered." "In the southern region, especially in the hilly area of Lingnan, the terrain is low and the water and soil are humid. In summer, the temperature is high, the rain is heavy, and the winter is cold and wet, resulting in wet and evil offenders, feeling sticky skin, sweating, poor appetite, fatigue and other discomfort. In this natural environment, the unique local diet and health customs of Hakka have been bred.
Meng Xia, who has just arrived in Meizhou, Guangdong, will be a little uncomfortable with the hot flashes here. Hospitable locals would first order a pot of soup to entertain us – a five-fingered peach chicken bone stew. Shaped like a tree root, it is a five-fingered peach, chicken bones, keel, barley, eyebrow beans, poria and so on are simmered for an hour and a half, and the wet and delicious soup is cooked. In addition to the five-fingered peach, bundles of "grass" can often be seen in the streets of Meizhou and restaurants. Ask your boss and they'll tell you what herbs these are and what their effects are. Herbs are a common thing in their homes, and the homology of medicine and food is also an important part of the daily diet of hakka.
Hakka food is as old as Hakka and at the same time very inclusive. In the process of migration over the years, it constantly adapts to and absorbs local water and local customs and local diets, accumulates the essence of food in various historical periods, and always retains the dietary genes of the Central Plains, thus creating its own colorful food culture. Hakka food maps are mainly distributed in Huizhou, Heyuan, Meizhou, Shaoguan and Shenzhen in Guangdong, Ganzhou in Jiangxi, Longyan and Sanming in Fujian, Hezhou, Yulin and Fangchenggang in Guangxi, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taoyuan in Taiwan.
The well-known Cantonese cuisine can be subdivided into three branches: Cantonese cuisine, Teochew cuisine and Hakka cuisine. Among them, the most well-known of Hakka cuisine is the salt-baked chicken. Because Meizhou is mountainous, humid and miasma-heavy, the preservation of food is particularly important. Wise Hakka found a way to bake the salt to preserve the original taste of the food.
The ancient salt baked chicken should be selected from the small native chicken, washed and dried and salted, and the marinated chicken is wrapped in oil paper and buried in the stir-fried salt. When eating, you can disassemble and plate, the taste is salty and fragrant, and the taste is tender. The Hakka salt baked chicken making technique was included in the list of representative projects of provincial intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province.
Hakka food culture retains a large number of zhongzhou ancient rhymes, and is also a "living fossil" of ancient food culture. Among them, the word "pickling" is an example, in ancient Chinese, pickling has two meanings, one is the meaning of pickling that has been used today, and the other is the meaning of warm mixing. Leaving the Hakka in the Central Plains, the "stirring" function of the pickled characters has been retained to this day. The "pickling" used by the Hakka people for cooking refers to the warm mixing method that after the food is cooked, it is fully stirred with the help of the rest of the mild and various condiments to make it taste good. In Hakka recipes, the names of dishes related to pickling are pickled noodles, pickled beef, pickled leaves, pickled bitter herbs, and so on.
"粄" is pronounced bǎn, and both the word and the food culture it represents are unfamiliar to most people in non-Hakka-speaking areas. In the Hakka region, there is a type of food made with rice milk that is collectively called "粄", although the word "粄" is not a Hakka invention, but now it has become a characteristic word in Hakka. There are many names related to the Hakka diet: Fa Ling, Dumpling, Bundle, Red Peach Dumpling, Rice Sieve, Yeast Rice Dumpling, Rice Dumpling, Oil Hemp Dumpling, Radish Basket (CaiTou Basket), Ai Ling, Mu Ling, Mu Leaf Dumpling, Rice Stick, Rice Sieve, Enzyme Rice Dumpling, Flavor Dumpling, Oil Hemp Dumpling, Shu Ling, Radish Basket, Bowl Dumpling (Bowl Boy Dumpling), etc.
In the large family of the "rat" is remembered because of its strange name. Rats originated from the Tai Po area of Meizhou, Guangdong Province, and have a history of more than 100 years. It is named because of its cylindrical shape, about two inches long, two pointed ends, and resembles a mouse.
The traditional production method of rat dumplings requires that after soaking rice, grinding pulp, boiling dumplings and other processes, the special rubbing board is placed on a large pot, and the hand is rubbed hard, and the rat dumplings fall from the small holes in the rubbing plate into the boiling water. Cooked rat dumplings can be fried and mixed, generally with meat oil, fish sauce, minced meat and then accompanied by chives and pepper. Rat dumplings have a smooth, easy to digest, and are suitable for all ages. This production method is the same as the practice of dumplings in the Central Plains, Jinji, Luyu and Shaanxi regions, and is also the brand of the Central Plains in the genes of the Hakka people after moving south.
No matter where the cuisine is, it is intertwined with family affection, hometown and customs in memory. The taste and production of food embodies the life and wisdom of this ethnic group, and in the food recipes, it seems to see the excellent character of the Hakka ancestors who are hard-working, pragmatic, industrious, frugal and conform to nature.
【Perceiving heaven and earth in nature, harvesting surprises in daily life】
Author: Yan Feng
Editor: Huang Jin
Qiu Wenjie
Signed by: Lu Guang
Producer: Wang Xin
Producer: Hong Lin
New Media, Chinese Global Program Center, China Central Radio and Television Corporation
END
The world is all under control
Passing on the food culture!