Taste Fuyang Street Fireworks

Most people think that the name of food stalls originated from Hong Kong and Macao. After the reform and opening-up, it has become the collective name of open-air food stalls all over China. The word "big" not only publicized the scale of the booth, but also publicized the image of the general public. In Fuyang, food stalls are called "stalls" or "night markets". Eating in food stalls is called "practicing food stalls", which makes people feel impulsive. Of course, this is also in line with honest and frank straightforward personality.

Up to now, there is not a tall food street in Fuyang. Almost all food stalls are hidden in the streets and alleys of the old city, and most of them are relatively simple. Different from the front shops and back shops in many cities in the south of the Yangtze River, the small shop is divided into two parts, the stove is in front and the dining room is in the back. There is usually a kitchen near the gate, which is filled with ingredients such as chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. Closer to the stove, there are condiments such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. A pot of bone soup or old hen soup is always open, and almost all dishes are seasoned with this pot of broth.

Most food stalls in Fuyang are husband-and-wife shops. What you do depends on the couple, but the role is clear. Generally, the husband plays the chef, the wife plays the waiter, pays the bill, and cleans the dishes. Don't look at these two people, no matter how many guests there are, they won't be confused at all, serving, cooking and delivering vegetables. Everything seems to be in perfect order, and they won't treat you badly at all.

In Fuyang, all the delicious food stalls are crowded with people. This kind of shop is not big, it is only a shop of more than ten square meters. The roof was blackened by soot, most of the dining tables and chairs were pitted, and the walls were covered with liquor advertisements. In summer, air conditioning is like a decoration, and there is no air conditioning at all. The shopkeeper had to turn on all the ceiling fans, but it was still very hot and the diners were sweating. But this kind of gear has the most authentic taste of this city and even a region.

Most of the food stalls in Fuyang night market are operated in the open air. Therefore, summer is the most prosperous period of food stall business, and the most food stalls are at night, which is the time to burst. Therefore, these food stalls constitute an important part of urban nightlife. The stall owner started at five or six in the afternoon the day before and closed the stall at three or four in the morning the next day. At this time, the town is still asleep. The stall owners looked at the darkening East, and with a night's harvest, they brought the tables, chairs and cookers home, expecting another cycle of the new day.

Like food stalls all over the country, the dishes operated by Fuyang food stalls are all local flavors, and most of them are semi-processed dishes, which can be served without complicated cooking techniques. Braised vegetables are one of them. There are many kinds of ingredients for fried braised dishes in Fuyang, including chicken, fish, beef and mutton, and even eggplant, beans and bitter gourd. Change the knife into thin slices, add seasoning and marinate it simply, then fry it in a pan until both sides are golden. When guests order, they just need to take it out and stew it in the broth for a while, which tastes salty and fragrant. This cooking technique is "stew", which is also a typical embodiment of the cooking technique in the Central Plains.

Fuyang food stalls are rich in cold dishes, almost to the point where strangers are stunned. Of course, this is also because diners like it to be cold in summer. In the cold salad family, let's not talk about common cold dishes such as salted peanuts, salted edamame and cold lotus root slices. Let's talk about the most distinctive cold dishes in Fuyang, except the cold Schizonepeta, which are seasonal wild vegetables such as elm, Broussonetia papyrifera, Sophora japonica and broom seedlings. The method of making these wild vegetables into cold dishes is extremely simple. After washing, mix in a proper amount of flour, and then steam it in a cage until it is just right. After cooling, soak them in garlic paste and vinegar.

At the food stalls in Fuyang, the cold dishes you see are now mixed and sold. Cold dishes are a must for summer diners. "Boss, a cold dish!" This is a sentence you often hear in Fuyang food stalls. Then, the stall owner will bring a small basin; "Why?" At this time, the stall owner will follow the direction of the diners' fingers and quickly pick up a cold dish. In the blink of an eye, at least four or five cold dishes will meet in a small pot, and then various condiments such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar will fall into the cold dishes one after another. Stir and serve. This cold dish is twice as cold as wine in summer.

Nowadays, in order to enhance the image of the city, many open-air food stalls in the old city of Fuyang have been banned, and what can be preserved at present is even more precious. For example, the existing "Dongguan Hui Food Street" is like this.

"Dongguan Huicai Street" is located in the old street of Dongguan and belongs to the gathering place of Hui people's houses. Before 1980s and 1990s, there were only a few stalls selling cooked food, which was far from the "food street". But with the passage of time, the scale of food stalls in Dongguan is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more stalls and booths. Snacks full of ethnic flavor abound. Beef and mutton, chop suey, roast chicken, chicken soup and mutton skewers, accompanied by bright lights on street stalls, have become eternal delicacies in diners' hearts.

Summer night is the most intense moment of fireworks in Dongguan night market food stalls. As night falls, the food stalls in Dongguan night market become lively. Diners jostle each other. In a corner of the old street, they found a small table and sat down. They just yelled at the vendor. Soon, delicious chunks of beef, steaming haggis, tender and smooth chicken soup and spicy and greasy mutton kebabs appeared one after another. Looking around, hundreds of faces gathered on hundreds of dining tables, the same red face, the same sweating, are quite a bit of a legacy of the Song Dynasty night market in China's dream of Tokyo.

Someone once asked me what is the charm of food stalls, and I told him that the biggest charm of food stalls is not cheap and good quality, but the unrestrained dining environment. Because there is no ostentation and extravagance of big hotels here, and there is no mutual humility in positions, everything seems so arbitrary and reckless. In food stalls, men can drink in a big bowl, or they can wolf down and make a scene. Enjoy it. No one will ask if you have disturbed others, let alone say that you have eaten indecent food. When you push a cup for a change, you feel arrogant and your voice can't help raising a few degrees.

One side of the soil and water, one side of the customs. The food in city food stalls is the window to understand a city. Although the stool in Fuyang food stall is loose and the vegetable oil in hand is tired, the satisfaction on the tip of the tongue is real and enjoyable. Food stalls, full of sweet, sour, spicy and salty flavors, let people really know what is human fireworks.