Yuan Yuexing: Vegetable root incense

"Vegetable root fragrance" is really a nice name. Not only do many restaurants in Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China like to use it as a name, but some delicacies are also named "vegetable root fragrance", and many literati and inkers use it to make their own Beautiful Chinese titles. In fact, "vegetable root fragrance" is a proverb of life.

The phrase "vegetable root fragrant", I first came to know it in the Ming Dynasty writer Hong Yingming's "Cai Gen Tan", which said: "If you bite the root of the vegetable, you can do Pepsi." This is obviously an inspirational proverb that has the indoctrinating effect of "hardship and hardship yuru yucheng". There is also an anecdote about "Cai Gen Tan", which seems to have a more legendary meaning. After the Ming Dynasty's "Cai Gen Tan" was recorded and written into a book, it unfortunately ended up with the fate of "ruining the scriptures" and obliterating the unknown, and even, "The author of the book is Hong Yingming, and I don't know why he is also a person." It was only on February 2, 59, qianlong, that the master of Suichu Hall "found a record of Cai Gen Tan in the broken paper" when he was "passing through the ancient temple", and then it gradually became known to the world. I think that "Cai Gen Tan" is like the homely delicacy of "Cai Gen Xiang", and its beauty also has a process of discovery.

Reading the Wisdom of Cai Gen Tan by Master Shengyin, I liked his explanation of the meaning of "Cai Gen Tan": "Why is the title of the book called Cai Gen Tan? Song Ru Wang Min once said: 'You have to bite the root of the vegetable often, that is, do everything to achieve success.' Hu Kanghou listened to this and sighed. The root of the vegetable, that is, the root of the green vegetable, such as radish, sweet potato, taro and other coarse food, bites the root of the vegetable, that is, can endure hardships and hardships, and will achieve a great cause. Mr. Hong took the Si language as the title of the book, and its meaning is that there is an infinite true taste in the dull and boring vegetable roots, so this book is an indispensable spiritual food for self-cultivation in the world. Deducing the meaning of 'vegetable root', 'vegetable' is the so-called vegetable leaves of green vegetables, 'vegetable roots' such as radish, large roots, burdock, etc., is a vulgar and indifferent food, in the book "Crane Forest Yulu" said: "Scholars can not leave the vegetable root for a day, and the people cannot leave the colorless water for a day." This is the warning that was pasted on the door frame of the temple at that time, teaching people to bite the taste of the root of the vegetable, and its meaning is that if the people have no vegetables to eat, and sniff the roots of the vegetables to quench their hunger and thirst, then it is not the politicians. Therefore, looking at the faces of ordinary people, we know how the achievements of those in power at that time were. Therefore, the word 'vegetable root' was very popular at that time. Use these two words to warn the world to hone the body and mind with perseverance and hard work, cultivate irrigation, and enrich themselves. This is the crystallization of the author Hong Zicheng (洪應明, literally" who personally experienced it. Therefore, this book is quite understanding of the human condition, and the bread contains sweet, sour, bitter, astringent and other human tastes..." In addition, I still remember the Buddhist Sanskrit saying that is similar to this meaning - "the heart is at peace and the hut is stable, and the sex is fixed on the root of the dish", and the meaning and role of the "vegetable root incense" on self-cultivation and moral cultivation are explained thoroughly and thoroughly. Indeed, in the face of the rolling red dust, only with the pure heart and perseverance that bites the root of the vegetable can we always have a peaceful state of mind. There are also people who often say that "the cloth is warm, the vegetables are fragrant, and the reading taste is long." And so on, these are the portrayal of the traditional way of life and the ideal of civilian life, the way of poverty and happiness, not the glory and wealth, and the pursuit of spiritual life as the greatest happiness in life. Therefore, in a sense, "vegetable root fragrance" already has a certain moral and cultural metaphor. The late essayist Sun Li summed it up this way: "The ancients often chewed vegetable roots and educated future generations, thinking that vegetable roots are not only fundamental, but also a kind of learning. There is a slight bitter taste in the sweetness, and its magic is infinite, and it can be written in a 'taste root record'. Its role is somewhat similar to that of bittersweet, but it is not exactly the same. "The aroma of vegetable roots" can make people realize the great realm of life philosophy, and it is also a manifestation of the profundity of Chinese food culture.

Whether ancient or modern, the reason why "Cai Gen Xiang" has become a symbol of food culture with rich metaphors lies in its position and role in traditional food culture, as well as its relationship with literati and celebrities.

In fact, the original meaning of "vegetable root fragrance" only refers to the home cooking of the people. In my childhood, my mother often made noodle soup and noodle soup, which always put some green spinach, and I always left spinach root at the bottom of the bowl after eating, and my mother advised me, "Spinach root has nutrition, don't waste it." "As for what nutrition is, I am ignorant, but according to my mother's words, I ate the spinach root, so that a faint sweetness was left on the tongue bud... Later, it was learned that spinach root is rich in nutrients, containing fiber, vitamins and minerals, but does not contain fat, and has high nutritional and therapeutic value. The ancients said that vegetables are indispensable for daily use, and they are also flavorful. "Whoever grows vegetables must thicken its roots, and its taste is thick." This is where the value of the root lies. The root of the dish is a dish, the staple food, once a common, saying that "vegetable root fragrance" is the people's home cooking, its meaning lies in this. For example, kohlrabi, the root of mustard greens, is pickled into pickles. A bowl of fragrant rice porridge, a white noodle or multigrain steamed bun, accompanied by a few mustard knots, I am afraid that in the past it was the breakfast of many people. Chinese cabbage, which is the main dish of the northern people in winter, the fresh roots of Chinese cabbage, sliced decoction, and hot drinks can cure colds.

Compared with ordinary people who like the aroma of vegetable roots, the degree of literati and inkers seems to be deeper. Zheng Banqiao once cooked vegetable roots to eat, as evidenced by poetry: "Draw water from the river to cook new tea, and buy all the green mountains as drawing paper." Sweep the bamboo leaves to cook the tea leaves, chop the pine root to cook the vegetable root. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong, a strange master, not only served as the governor of Liangguang, but also became famous in the academic community with a "Bibliography and Answers questions". He once built a vegetable garden in his backyard and built a Mao Pavilion, and next to the Mao Pavilion he inscribed a couplet: "Jia Yu is difficult to teach a gentleman, and the flavor of vegetable roots is known to the old man." As a courtier, he could appreciate the hardships of life from ordinary small dishes and vegetable roots, from tasteless to divine taste, which was not easy; Zhou Zuoren said in the food and drinking text "Biting Vegetable Roots": "... The roots of these dishes can be eaten, especially if they are pickled for a long time, and their use is really great. I can't get tired of pickling radish, which naturally has the condition to make my teeth fine. Nanjing has radish carp in addition to the head of the radish, I especially like it, although I bit it in the school for five or six years in the former Qing Dynasty, but the feelings are still not evil. Later, I saw the loess radish in Fuzhou, so it was excellent, but unfortunately it was not common in south China. Sun Li has always been unforgettable about the food "sweet knots" in his hometown - sweet knots are the roots of rapeseed, yellow and white, thicker than fingers, the flesh is soft, cut, put in porridge and boiled, there is sweet taste, there is also a little bitter taste, northern farmers like to eat it. And the root of the vine is also a kind of "sweet knot", which can be used as a grain, which is the common eating experience of people living in the north; Wang Zengqi, who is good at writing food and beverage, has the "vegetable root fragrance" in his hometown that he loves the most, "Mixed cabbage is always popular, eat a fresh, wild vegetable, there is a kind of garden vegetables lack of fragrance." "There is an article in the writer Deng Yunxiang's "Yunxiang Dialect Food" called "Jinghua Cai Gen Talk"...

Why do literati inkers love the aroma of vegetable roots so much? Whether it is "bite the root of the vegetable, then Pepsi can do", or "the heart is stable, the sex is fixed on the root of the dish", or "the cloth is warm, the root of the dish is fragrant, and the reading taste is long", it can be said that it is the "body taste" of the literati's experience of preferring the root of the vegetable, and they have entered the great realm of life experience from the taste buds of the root of the biting vegetable. Some experts have analyzed it this way: "The taste experience condensed in aphorisms and proverbs is not only an affirmation of an everyday food, but also a way of life constructed as a 'social psychological space', and the memory of an individual's life can only be incorporated into this space to gain meaning and explanation." In another sense, especially the penchant for abnormal tastes, of course, the insistence on a certain cultural value can be most highlighted. "The aroma of vegetable roots" has become a food art with rich cultural implications.

"Vegetable Root Tan" Yun: "Thick fat spicy sweet is not the real taste, the real taste is just light." Vegetable roots are often regarded as tasteless things, and some people even think that "vegetable roots, discarded things also." However, the artists of life, the wise men and philosophers of life have realized that "the fragrance of the vegetable root is incomprehensible to the non-sexual definite", and in the comfort of the spirit and the safety of the soul, they can taste the "true taste" of the vegetable root. Lao Tzu's way of eating is "tasteless". What is tastelessness? It is to taste its taste and deliciousness from a tasteless diet. "Biting the root of the vegetable" is quite close to this state of diet. "We eat vegetarian dishes, bite the root of the vegetable, but we must taste the beauty from the roots of coarse tea and light food, taste the quietness of diet, the stability of life, so as to extract the tranquility and happiness of life." What kind of wisdom is this? Lao Tzu's "tasteless taste" can be said to be the most primitive and perfect interpretation of the "aroma of vegetable roots".

Source: Xi'an Evening News