Some time ago, an article of "South Korean netizens calling for the application for snail powder" was published on the Internet, and Chinese netizens exclaimed, "Isn't the hometown of snail powder China's Liuzhou?" Netizens from the two countries have their own opinions, and many cooking enthusiasts have joined the discussion to argue for the attribution of snail powder. Sushi is actually the same, take a look.
South Korean netizens called for the application for snail powder
As we all know, in China, where food is the sky, culinary culture has almost the longest history, and it is said that it has long been eligible for inclusion in the intangible cultural heritage of the United Nations, but even Korean pickled cabbage has applied for the World Intangible Cultural Heritage, but none of the Chinese dishes can be recognized by the United Nations.
French cuisine (selected in 2010) Mexican cuisine (2011) Turkish cuisine (2011)
Mediterranean cuisine (selected in 2013) Japanese Japanese food (2013) Korean kimchi (2013)
In addition to snail powder, shouldn't we also apply for intangible cultural heritage for foods such as ketchup and sushi? You might be curious why? Didn't they come from abroad? The editor is here to tell you three little stories.
This sauce is inseparable from the American table,
Chinese invented it?
As early as the early 1990s, ketchup entered the Chinese public eye with foreign fast food, and ketchup, a thick sauce with a sweet and sour taste, was increasingly widely used.
Classic pairing: burgers, fries, tomato sauce
Today, it's not just used to pair fries burgers, it's been developed by witty Chinese chefs and housewives into a variety of cuisines. For example, pot-wrapped meat with tomato sauce, sweet and sour tenderloin, fried rice with tomato sauce, roasted tofu in tomato sauce, and even used to make pasta, meatballs, or fish stew.
Sweet and sour meatballs, prawns in tomato sauce, Neapolitan pasta
But did you know that this iconic American export, even those British rum, Japanese sushi, Southeast Asian fish sauce... they are actually born out of the ingredients created by Chinese "rotten fish and rotten shrimp"?
You know, three centuries ago, Chinese cuisine has become the pillar of major cities in the United States, and most of the Chinese who settled down at that time came from the south coast of China, where the navigation industry was developed, such as Guangdong Province, Fujian Province and other regions.
Traditional fishermen
Many of these early immigrants from the coastal areas were engaged in fishing, food processing, and as the immigrants traveled to various places (such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc.), many local flavors were brought along, including soy sauce, red soda, etc., and of course , pickled fish sauce.
Locally caught anchovies are usually fermented and marinated
How did Fujian merchants and seafarers at that time call this pickled fish sauce? In Hokkien, its pronunciation is similar to "ke-tchup", "catsup", if you have usually paid attention to the bottle of ketchup, have you found this spelling déjà vu?
These clever merchants and fishermen, in the form of small family businesses, gradually set up Chinese sauce factories in the new country, mainly making soy sauce and fish sauce. These seasonings have not only gradually become one of the characteristic flavor condiments of Southeast Asia, that is, fish sauce. In the 18th century, the british bought the recipe at a high price and brought it back to Britain, which was the first time the word "ketchup" was included in the English language, and it became one of the luxury ingredients they mainly purchased.
Modern complex process to produce barrel aged fish sauce, about 240 yuan a bottle
The flavor of the "rotten fish and rotten shrimp" has become very expensive on another continent
A traditional fish sauce making workshop that has survived to modern times
After the 19th century, European chefs reduced the use of this expensive imported ingredient in order to reduce costs. They started experimenting with "copycat" fish sauce, and in the process they added shallots to marinate raw fish, and even walnuts and mushrooms, as well as spices taken from local or Indian spices.
Ketchup manufacturers are still trying to innovate
It was also after the 19th century that tomatoes were put into the pickling process for the first time, and with the beginning of the American Civil War in the 1850s, manufacturers completely abandoned the expensive anchovy marinade method in order to increase production, with the needs of local chefs, diners, and soldiers, and instead added a large number of cheap tomatoes, thickeners, and sugar and vinegar to extend the shelf life, which formed the tomato sauce that we are now familiar with.
Although the universe is Korean,
But sushi really comes from China
After talking about ketchup, I have to talk about how another, more ancient fermented "stinky fish rotten shrimp" product, spread from southern China to Japan and gradually became today's sushi.
Guess what this is? Tip: narezushi
In B.C., the southern part of China was inhabited by both the Mon, Khmer, and Taiwanese-speaking peoples, and the protein they needed for life was mainly taken from freshwater fish in the Mekong River Basin. Even thousands of years ago, summers there (in today's Fujian and Guangdong) were unusually hot, with frequent droughts and floods. The astute locals used very complex methods to preserve the fish they caught— laying cooked rice, salt and fish on top of each other in jars, and finally covering them with bamboo leaves to facilitate the circulation of some of the gas and store them for fermentation for several months.
Mackerel in fermentation
The starch in the rice is converted into lactic acid by the enzymes in the fish protein, and the lactic acid further affects the fish, and finally, this lactic acid fermentation method effectively prevents the rot of the fish, and the rice residue can be scraped off to eat the fish.
According to records, after tasting it, King Wu of the Han Dynasty thought that this food was "amazing". This method of production, in the 2nd century AD, was officially recorded in the book by the Chinese Han Dynasty and was named "鮓" [zhà] - "鮓滓也以塩醸之加葅 cooked and eaten", that is, fish marinated with salt and red koji (during the same period, Chinese began to pickle fish sauce and fish sauce, which is the ancestor of later tomato sauce).
"Catfish" in bamboo leaves
With the unification of the Han Dynasty's southward expansion, this method of pickling was widely spread in the islands of central and southern Pacific, that is, in 300 AD, rice and "catfish" were brought to Japan. Two other Chinese characters have also been taken with them, namely "bass" [yì] (generally referring to the slightly sour surimi marinated in table salt) and "hǎi" (generally referring to food marinated with table salt and pork minced meat).
It is now a fermentation and pickling technique that is one of Japan's specialties
The word "bass" is familiar to many cooks who have opened Japanese or sushi restaurants, and it has now been given a new meaning – "rice and fish paired together and seasoned with vinegar and salt", which is what we now know as sushi.
In Japan, sushi restaurant curtains can be seen everywhere
However, this way of eating did not appear until the Edo period of Japan in the 19th century, when people had just decided not to pickle and eat it directly with rice, which is rumored to be due to the development of food preservation technology and the change in people's tastes, but the traditional "catfish" has been handed down as an ancient "ripe sushi", and people still have a good bite to this day.
Traditional craftsmanship, modern packaging
Mature fish with abundant roe
Rum is not made by pirates,
It is Fujian fishermen.
China's once pickled "rotten fish and rotten shrimp" did not only lead to the birth of American tomato sauce and Japanese sushi. I don't know how many friends have used red lees or red rice wine? As a seasoning for a classic pot dish "Fujian Red Rotten Chicken", red lees is the residue of the lees after the Chinese brewed red rice wine at that time, and this red rice wine entered the Mediterranean, Arabia and other regions with Chinese immigrants, and became Yali wine by adding molasses and palm wine. Finally, the British met Alejanta and turned it into what we now know as rum.
An English rum that was born from Fujian red rice wine
This is the last story to be told today, and it is also the chinese fishermen, merchants, chefs, diners and other things that have influenced the world together; it is also a reminder of where the ketchup we use today, the expensive sushi in Japanese food, and the rum that pirates love most come from.
Fishermen who work in the traditional way
No matter when Chinese food can apply for heritage, and no matter how different culinary cultures penetrate each other, as a food lover, I sincerely hope that my colleagues who read this article can gradually spread our good things and good culture to other people, other provinces and cities, and even other countries.
When a dish, a certain taste, or even a certain school of cuisine can be spread and accepted, then its significance may be greater than that of becoming an "intangible cultural heritage", what do you think?
Some sources:
“When China invented ketchup 300bc.”
【Beauty】Ren Shaotang, Food Linguistics. Ketchup, cocktails and pirates.
“Mui-ne day 2-fairy springs.” https://twochicksinvietnam.wordpress.com/
Photos credit to https://unsplash.com/
Lee, Cherl-Ho; Steinkraus, Keith H.; Reilly, P. J. Alan. Fish Fermentation Technology.
Hsin-I Feng, C. (2012), The Tale of Sushi: History and Regulations. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety.
Mpritzen, Ole G. (2009). Sushi: Food for the Eye, the Body and the Soul. Springer Science-Business Media.
【Sunday】 Kawakami, Kōzō (2006). The Origin of Japanese Culinary Things.
【Sun】Ōkawa, Tomohiko (2008). Modern Sushi Studies.
【美】Springer, Kate (2018). Narezushi: A taste of ancient sushi in Japan.
【日】Hiroto Takamiya (2001). Introductory Routes of Rice to Japan: An Examination of the Southern Route Hypothesis. Asian Perspectives.
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