No kind of love is more real than the love of food. —George Bernard Shaw
For a foodie, nothing is a meal that can't be fixed, a meal is not enough to solve another meal, anyway, once the food is out, it is absolutely more effective.
In people's minds, people in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces are the best at eating and the best at studying food. In these two provinces, only stools and tables with four feet do not eat, and only aircraft missiles flying in the sky do not eat, in short, all kinds of animals and plants will face the fate of being eaten in the two broad areas.
There is a reason for everything, and the main reason why people in the two Guangdong areas can eat so much is that the previous environment was too poor and the food was too little, and they were really hungry and afraid.
Liangguang area, also known as Lingnan region, is dominated by mountains, rough roads, a lot of insects are scary, dengue fever and other diseases are even more shadowy, which is a wild land in the Central Plains. Although most of the tropical rainforests in these two provinces and cities are poor, the quality of land in the two provinces is poor, and the amount of surface water is seriously lacking, which is completely unsuitable for the growth of crops. In this environment, agriculture and livestock have developed extremely slowly.
The people of Liangguang are good at finding everything they can eat, but they have no way to get rid of the oppression of the government, so the living standards have not been improved.
A careful review of the materials will reveal that the ancient people could not afford to eat rice, and in order to fill their stomachs, they could only go to the mountains to find all the food that could be put into their stomachs. In this context, a variety of special foods of the two people have emerged.
In the eyes of modern man, are rats the dirtiest and most disgusting animals under the heavens? This animal also hides a large number of harmful bacteria, as long as you drill into any place, which place is full of fleas, and the partners in the countryside are deeply affected.
In addition, the ancients were most afraid of the occurrence of plague, in the period of backward medical conditions, as long as a person infected with plague, almost to a village or even a province and city of people to bring disaster, so rats in ancient times are not popular.
However, in the eyes of the ancient two people, this unassuming animal was a proper delicacy. According to the data, people in some parts of Guangxi are very fond of using honey to brew small mice, and Su Shi once tasted the taste of honey rats when he was relegated to the Lingnan region. People here also like to use newborn mice to make wine, believing that this rat wine has high nutritional value.
Speaking of which, there are many Cantonese people in modern times who like to use small mice that have not yet opened their eyes to make wine, which is said to remove the confinement wind.
Two Cantonese people eat mice, naturally it is impossible to eat only small mice, in the era of not being able to eat pork, rat meat is also a hard dish that everyone likes to eat.
The so-called patron eats the mountain, the rat is delicious and cannot be eaten every day, in addition to the mouse, snake meat is also the favorite of the locals. There is never a shortage of snakes in the mountains, and many snakes will actively enter the house in search of food. Although the meaning of snake entering the house in ancient times is not good, symbolizing that bad things will happen in the family, but at present, people are not so particular about food, and they hurry to catch and eat it.
In ancient times, catching snakes was not illegal, and people liked to eat snake meat, and the market naturally bred a business such as selling snake meat and snake soup. Today's Cantonese people still like to eat snake meat, especially like snake stew chicken.
However, in order not to make snakes extinct animals, the state has long ordered that snakes cannot be caught, and people can only choose to raise snake meat even if they want to eat snake meat. Specially raised snakes do not taste as sweet as wild snakes, and the price is more expensive than before, so that many people who like to eat snake meat can only turn to other delicacies.
The toads that modern people call toads are the toads in the ancient population, which specifically include frogs and toads, which are also popular in Lingnan. As a Cantonese, the author is extremely disgusted with the toads that can be seen everywhere, although it does not bite people, and it also eats mosquitoes to escort human health, but the appearance of this animal is too ugly. As a cold-blooded animal, the toad is cold and soft, and if it accidentally touches its body, it will immediately get goosebumps.
Every summer, when the toads are at their most rampant, they especially like to hide in the corners of the black lights and blind fires, and if they accidentally step on them, they will immediately jump up in fright. Compared with toads, frogs are more receptive, and when they were young, they would catch and play with seedlings, of course, whether it was a toad or a frog, the author could not swallow.
However, for the ancient people of Liangguang, as long as they can fill their stomachs, they are all food. For the habit of the two Cantonese people who love to eat toads, the northerners cannot accept it. The Song Dynasty poet Guo Yin had been abused by toads, and he was a guest in the Lingnan region, and in order to express his welcome, his friends invited him to eat toads. In the face of his friend's warm invitation, Guo Yin said that he had a bitter word, and finally refused his friend's toad feast.
It is said that during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, frogs also had a more perverted way of eating. Under normal circumstances, after the frog is caught, it must be disposed of before cooking, but the ancients directly threw the living frog into the pot to boil the soup, even the excrement was not spared, and said that it was a unique food in Lingnan. Looking back, it is no wonder that northerners cannot accept the cuisine of the Liangguang region, and presumably even the modern and authentic Liangguang people cannot accept it.
People in the Lingnan area also like to eat all kinds of bugs, grasshoppers and the like are pediatric. It is a pity that lingnan people have eaten so many insects, only the locusts have been missed, otherwise there would be any insect plague.
However, from the state in which they ate everything, we can know how poor the living standards of ancient Lingnan really were.
But all food is inseparable from oil and salt, take grasshoppers, the most common of this kind of bug is fried to eat, if you do not put any spices directly boiled water, and then throw the grasshopper into the pot, just think about it and feel unappetizing. But if there is a blessing of spices, it is different, and the grasshopper after frying can be said to be a crispy and delicious dish, of course, provided that you are not afraid of eating bugs.
As for the rumor that Lingnan people do not eat salt, it is definitely a rumor. It is not that Lingnan people do not like to eat, but they cannot afford to eat at all, the salt at that time was more expensive than rice, and it was all in the hands of the government, so naturally it was not affordable for ordinary people.
Lingnan people are also particularly able to endure hardships, whether it is mustard greens, bitter shoots or bitter melons, etc., they have been eaten by the two people. People here can not only endure hardships, but also learn the quality of hard-working.
After reading the diet structure of the two Cantonese people, everyone should understand why the appetite of the two Cantonese people is so good, right? In fact, in the end, it is still forced by life, if Lingnan is a region with abundant products, perhaps the modern people of liangguang will not be so fierce and dare to eat everything they can eat.