The origin and history of Sichuan cuisine

Sichuan cuisine is also a cuisine with a long history, and its birthplace is ancient Bashu. According to the records of Huayang National Records, Pakistan's "native crops have six livestock", producing fish salt and tea honey; Shu is "the forest is full of fish, the garden is full of fruits and vegetables, and it is ripe for four generations, without ambiguity." At that time, Bashu's condiments included brine, rock salt, Sichuan pepper and "Yangpu ginger". Among the cultural relics of the Warring States period unearthed in the cemetery, there have been various bronzes and pottery utensils, and the germination of Sichuan cuisine can be seen. The formation of Sichuan cuisine was roughly between Qin Shihuang's unification of China and the tripartite confrontation between the three countries. At that time, the political, economic and cultural center of Sichuan gradually moved to Chengdu. At that time, both the raw materials for cooking, the use of condiments, the requirements of cutting cooking and the level of professional cooking had begun to take shape and had the embryonic form of dishes. Qin Wanghui and Qin Shihuang immigrated to Sichuan twice, which also brought the advanced production technology of the Central Plains and greatly promoted the development of production. The Qin Dynasty laid a good economic foundation for Shu, and became richer in the Han Dynasty. Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions and introduced zucchini, beans, walnuts, soybeans, garlic and other varieties, adding cooking materials and seasonings to Sichuan cuisine. During the Western Han Dynasty, the whole country was unified, and government and private businesses were relatively developed. There are five major commercial cities with Chang 'an as the center, including Chengdu. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu, Wu Dingli and Liu Bei took Sichuan as the "capital of Shu". Although it is divided in the whole country, it is relatively stable in central Sichuan, creating good conditions for the development of commerce, including catering industry. Therefore, Sichuan cuisine had a solid foundation at the early stage of its formation.

With the progress and development of the cooking industry, more professional food stores and restaurants have appeared in central Sichuan. "Wen Jun is like a washerwoman", which is evidence of progress and change. At this time, the number of professional chefs increased and cooking technology advanced by leaps and bounds. More importantly, dignitaries, businessmen and celebrities living in cities pay more and more attention to eating, drinking and having fun. They have higher requirements for the style and taste of dishes, which greatly promoted the formation and development of Sichuan cuisine. At that time, Sichuan cuisine paid special attention to the cooking of fish and meat. In "Four Seasons Food System", Cao Cao especially thought of "Yu Zi in Pixian County, with yellow scales and red tails, which can be used as sauce when it comes out of rice fields"; Yellow croaker "weighs hundreds of pounds, and its bones are soft and edible." It is out of Jiangyang and Qianwei. " Also mentioned "steamed catfish", it can be seen that there was a dish that was steamed catfish. Zuo Si, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, described the cooking skills and grand banquet of Sichuan cuisine more than 500 years ago as "if it is an old custom, wine will be served in the high hall from the end of winter to the auspicious day."

The appearance of Sichuan cuisine can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties. As early as 1000 years ago, there was a description of "sitting on the golden base, the dishes are separated by four years, and the wine is clear and purple." During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Sichuan cuisine became more popular. The poet Lu You once wrote a poem praising Sichuan cuisine: "Jade eats Emei fungus, goldfish eats Dong C". The Song Dynasty has formed a genre, and its influence at that time has reached the Central Plains. In the Song Dynasty, Meng Yuan-shen recorded in the fourth volume of Dream of China in Tokyo that in the Northern Song Dynasty (now Kaifeng), "although there were Sichuan restaurants, there were meat-and-fish noodles, large and small meat-and-fish noodles, barbecued pork, miscellaneous stir-fried incidents and cooked rice". After the capital of Beijing was established in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the increase of officials in Sichuan, a large number of Beijing chefs went to Chengdu to settle down and run the catering industry. Therefore, Sichuan cuisine has been further developed and gradually became the main local cuisine in China.