Sichuan food culture

From the end of the Warring States to the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Sichuan experienced three large-scale migrations. The first migration was after Qin destroyed Shu, Qin moved to Bashu area, and after Qin Shihuang unified China, six nobles moved to Sichuan. The second migration was in the turmoil at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. First Ada, then Liu Bei led the clans of the Central Plains into Sichuan. The third migration was the Central Plains clan who took refuge in Sichuan during the turmoil in the late Tang Dynasty. All three immigrants have the same characteristics. The high cultural level of immigrants brought the advanced culture of the Central Plains into Sichuan, which promoted the progress and prosperity of Sichuan culture, and diet, as an important aspect of culture, was also reflected.

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.

1 During the Qin and Western Han Dynasties, Sichuan's food culture had no regional characteristics;

For more than 300 years from the Qin Dynasty to the end of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the development of Bashu economy after the first immigration, the prosperity of Chengdu promoted the richness of products and the prosperity of catering industry. This is what Yang Xiong said in Shu Du Fu: "Mix five flavors and sweetness, peony soup, squid in Jiangdong, cattle and sheep in Longxi" and "five meats and seven dishes" with rare wild animals. It can be inferred from these short sentences that classical Sichuan cuisine had begun to take shape at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and the spirit of Central Plains cooking culture-"harmony of five flavors" has become the keynote of Sichuan, at least for the upper class. Then there is "mackerel in Jiangdong, cattle and sheep in Longxi", which shows that the ingredients of Sichuan cuisine are not simply selected locally, but obtained from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the west of Qinling Mountains by land and water transportation. However, we should note that the above description implies that at least the upper-class diet in this period had no regional characteristics, and if it did, it was also the unhealthy and uncivilized habit of "Yizhou Deer (Bad Committee)" inherited by the lower class before the Warring States Period. Before this, it can be inferred from the record of "Wen Jun as a servant" in Historical Records that the catering industry in Sichuan has also appeared. Generally speaking, like Sichuan, which rarely shows the ancient cultural heritage of Bashu after Qin and Han Dynasties, Sichuan food culture in this period was basically completely assimilated by the advanced culture of Qin and Han Dynasties, and has not yet formed its own regional characteristics.

2. The distinction between classical Bashu cooking and Central Plains and Jiangnan cooking appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasties:

After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sichuan's economy and culture continued to develop, and the food culture began to show its own characteristics. The second section introduces the "kitchen figurines" in the tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Zhongxian County, which shows the mature scene of Bashu cooking, especially the appearance of jiaozi, which should attract our attention. Jiaozi should be understood as a variant of wonton. In the Han Dynasty, wonton was called "drunken wonton", which was a kind of cake or soup cake. "Steamed cake, soup cake, scorpion cake, pith cake, golden cake and soaked cake" have been mentioned in the famous explanation of Liu Xi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but we can't accurately understand the meaning of soup cake. We only know that wonton or jiaozi should be made of wheat bran-removed flour, which requires high-quality flour processing. Therefore, we can speculate that in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest, the agricultural processing technology in Sichuan was the same as that in the Central Plains. Steamed bread, or "steamed bread", as a kind of instant noodle food, should be one of the so-called "steamed cakes" in the above sentence of "Interpretation of Names". It appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but why should it be attributed to Zhuge Liang's invention in Shu Han? In addition to the celebrity effect, it may also be because Sichuan Hanzi steamed bread pioneered the addition of meat stuffing, which is slightly like a human head in shape and different from Liu's steamed cake. Wei Wu's "Four Seasons Food System" written by a man named Cao Cao in the Wei and Jin Dynasties talked about the cooking of Bashu at that time, saying: "Pixian fish, with yellow scales and red tails, can be used as sauce when they come out of rice fields"; It is said that croaker "has a large number, with a foot of 100 Jin, and its bones are soft and edible." He also mentioned "steamed catfish", which shows that there was a dish of steamed catfish in Bashu at that time. In any case, it shows that the cooking level in Bashu area has been greatly improved in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was known as "taking honey as a pleasure" in the Central Plains, and later in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was determined by the "respecting taste and being spicy" in Changqu.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Chengdu, as the capital of the Three Kingdoms, entered the political stage of China. The second migration movement promoted the continued development of Bashu economy and culture. During this period, Liu Chan, the late ruler, made great efforts to "open his voice", which was correspondingly reflected in the high-level diet. At this time, Chengdu has become "both beautiful and worshipful", "external access, internal reflection, more accessible than houses." A prosperous national metropolis. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Zuo Sizan praised Shu Du Fu, which was written by Zhong Shuren in Luoyang according to literature records and inquiries. The so-called "konjac dogwood, melon and taro area, sugarcane and ginger, sunny and fragrant." Therefore, Chengdu has a "four dishes, four dishes, one vote clear" banquet. Zhang Zai, a poet in the Western Jin Dynasty, also talked about the rich diet in the capital of Shu in his poem "Deng Cheng Bai Tu Lou": "You can enter at any time. A hundred schools of thought are wonderful, and each is different. " It is worth noting that the cooking style of "respecting taste and being spicy" conflicts with the spirit of "adjusting husband and five flavors". From this, we can draw a conclusion that the classical Sichuan cuisine in Wei and Jin Dynasties has different characteristics from that in the Western Han Dynasty, so we think that the distinction between classical Bashu cuisine and other cuisines in China should be in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasties, not in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

3. The prosperity of Bashu food culture in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties;

The war in Bashu area at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty caused a large number of people in Bashu area to move eastward, which destroyed economy and culture to some extent. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the establishment of a unified empire resumed production and achieved unprecedented economic development. After the Sui Dynasty occupied Bashu area, it began a great economic recovery and cultural prosperity under the affluent life. Yang Xiu, the King of Yue who moved to seal Chengdu in the Sui Dynasty, built large-scale buildings in Chengdu and expanded the walls of Chengdu, indicating that the population of Bashu area increased when the Sui Dynasty unified China, and the scale of Chengdu was no longer enough to live in during the Shu and Han Dynasties. Yang Xiu's "progressive luxury" has played an exemplary role in Chengdu's catering and leisure culture. Since the Anshi Rebellion, Bashu became the backyard of the Tang Dynasty, and Chengdu was renamed "Nanjing" briefly. Later, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Chengdu expanded its city twice through Weigao and Gao Pian, and became a large-scale city. During the turmoil in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Sichuan has always been a place where aristocratic families and famous literati took refuge, which created conditions for cultural exchanges, including the improvement of food standards.

During this period, the diet level of Bashu reached a new height, which was reflected in the poems of the Tang Dynasty. For example, when Du Fu was in Kuifu, Sichuan, he wrote a poem "Cold Amoy of Sophora japonica Leaves": "Sophora japonica leaves are green and tall, and Chinese cooking is picked up. The new noodles are close to the market, and the juice is mixed with me. If it is overcooked, there will be no trouble with adding vegetables. Everything is fresh, and fragrant rice is also reed. " "Cold pottery" is a kind of cold noodles, which took shape as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties. As the seasonal diet of the palace banquet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Du Fu can eat cool pottery in Kuifu, which shows that the delicacies in the banquet in Beijing have spread to the people in Sichuan. Du Fu once appreciated the cooking technique of "Scorpion waving frost knife left and right, squid golden and snow high" in Mianzhou, Sichuan. The prosperity of Bashu economy and the exchange of commodities provide sufficient support for the food culture in Bashu area. In Chengdu Qu, it is described that "there are many restaurants near the bridge in Wan Li, and tourists are like weaving", while it is described that "making wine from Chengdu is more like Chang 'an". "Li Shangyin's sentence" Fine wine can be sent to Chengdu, but the stove is still Zhuo Wenjun "describes the rich diet in Sichuan at that time.

Especially in the Five Dynasties after the third migration, the economy and culture of Shu reached another climax. This is because the number of people who moved to Sichuan with higher cultural quality exceeded the previous two times, making Bashu one of the two areas where the people of the Central Plains took refuge at that time.

"Qing" contains: "I still eat, and I have given a hundred volumes of" Food Code "to fat sheep. Its method: use red yeast cook the meat, close to Rolling Stone Town, go deep into wine bones and cut it as thin as paper. " From the Book of Qi Yao Min, we can see that only steamed pigs are used to come to cook the meat directly with wine. The production method of fat sheep seems to carry forward this method, and modern Dongpo meat also inherits this method. Pork is treated with wine. From Mrs. Hua Rui's palace poems, we know that there were various ways of catering at that time, including "boat banquet" There are as many as 100 volumes in Shi Ji, which should be the most extensive recipe from Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Although it only reflects the cooking skills of the royal chef, it can spy out the colorful cooking culture of Bashu in the Five Dynasties. Today, we don't know the specific content of the lost Shu Meng Edible Classics. We can only spy on the novelty of banquet types and the exquisiteness and originality of eating style of senior people in Sichuan at that time from Mrs. Hua Rui's palace words.

4. In Song Dynasty, the classic Sichuan cuisine became an independent cuisine in China:

Sichuan continued to maintain economic and cultural prosperity in the Song Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty, banquets in Chengdu were very popular. During the reign of Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Qi learned about Chengdu, and there were more colorful banquets. Song Qi was the first person to introduce Sichuan's exotic local products and some cooking skills to the outside of Sichuan in detail. Later, Su Shi was the first to creatively carry forward Sichuan cuisine to the Central Plains, Jiangnan and Lingnan areas. We can learn about Su Shi's cooking practice from many poems and songs and notes of Song people.

Amateur cooking lover, Lu You, a native of Zhejiang, has been an official in Sichuan for a long time and has a strong interest in Sichuan cuisine. Tang 'an's glutinous rice, Xinjin's leek, Pengshan's roasted turtle, Chengdu's steamed chicken and Xindu's vegetables all left an unforgettable impression on him, and he still remembers it after leaving Shu for many years. In his later years, he sang an emotional poem "Returning the Taste of Wu" in the drama "Food" (Note 44). The poem "After-dinner Play" says: "Buy bones at the East Gate and add some orange sauce. Steamed chicken is the most famous, and beauty is not counted. " "Bo" means "pig" and "Bo Gu" means pork chop. The ribs are cooked or dipped in a sour sauce mixed with spices, such as orange sauce. In addition, the poem also praised Sichuan leeks, zongzi, turtle soup and other foods. There are more than 50 poems about Sichuan cuisine in Lu You's "Jian Nan Poetry Draft". His works let us observe the wonderful Sichuan folk food from another angle.

One of the great achievements of Sichuan cuisine in the Song Dynasty was that its cooking began to be delivered abroad, so that overseas Sichuanese and ordinary people who were not Sichuanese could eat local flavor food in special restaurants. This is the first time that Sichuan cuisine has become an independent cooking system. This is the so-called "Chuanmi" in the Northern Song Dynasty. These Sichuan restaurants mainly sell "noodles with meat, large noodles with meat, large and small dishes with meat, fried meat with meat, mixed fried events and rice." In the Southern Song Dynasty, "Sichuan rice divides tea". From the contents of the above two books, we can find that Sichuan cuisine is mainly aimed at the public diet, especially pasta, which is the main component of noodles, with some instant meat. Today's noodles in Shanghai and Hangzhou are probably the remains of Sichuan rice noodles, because we can't find the second place in Tokyo Dream, according to the capital Jisheng. In fact, the Southern Restaurant and Sichuan Rice Tea after Du Nan became synonymous with noodle restaurants, so the noodles of Kaifeng Sichuan Hotel in the Northern Song Dynasty are likely to become the fixed Jiangnan noodles after Du Nan 150 years. We know that modern noodles are very different from modern Sichuan noodles. We don't know the specific seasoning characteristics of these chefs now, and we haven't found their spicy characteristics. From the explanation of Meng Lianglu, we know that Sichuan rice appeared because in the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to take care of the tastes of the literati living in Bianjing, "it is said that it is inconvenient for them to eat in the north." One hundred and fifty years later in Du Nan, these Sichuan restaurants opened in Lin 'an with Du Nan have "no distinction between north and south", which shows that these Sichuan-style pasta dishes are quite different from those cooked in the Central Plains.

In other words, it was not until the Northern Song Dynasty that Sichuan cuisine became an influential cuisine in China. We can conclude that the classical Sichuan cuisine began at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty at the turn of Wei and Jin Dynasties and reached its peak in the Northern Song Dynasty. It took nearly a thousand years to finalize the draft.