There is a saying in Tianjin that "eating noodles from the summer solstice shortens the day". It is said that after the summer solstice, the position where the sun shines directly on the ground gradually moves southward, and the daytime in the northern hemisphere is getting shorter every day. However, this also illustrates the widespread folk custom of eating noodles from summer solstice to Sunday from another angle. Especially in the north of China, many places have the saying "jiaozi in winter and noodles in summer".

According to legend, the custom of eating noodles on the solstice in summer has a long history. Since the Zhou Dynasty, new wheat has been sacrificed as a tribute in the summer solstice ritual. After the ceremony, folks eat noodles made from new wheat, which not only means tasting new ones, but also describes a long day from summer to solstice with long noodle shapes.

Step 2 eat wonton

You won't get prickly heat when you eat wonton. In the summer solstice in Jiangnan, we pay attention to eating wonton, saying that eating wonton can ensure that summer is not bitter and can be spent healthily. Wonton, because its shape is "like an egg, much like a chaotic world", and its sound is homophonic with "chaos", there is a folk saying that eating wonton on the solstice of summer helps children to be smart.

According to legend, in the court of the Song Dynasty, every summer solstice, the royal chefs would wrap the summer solstice wonton for the empresses, and even the court of the Song Dynasty had a famous pastry called "Mangzhong Wonton".

3, eat bitter gourd

Summer solstice diet recuperation, should be more bitter, salty, cold food. In summer, when heart fire is in season, excessive heart fire will block lung gold. According to the relationship between five elements (summer is fire), 50% (summer is long), five internal organs (heart) and five flavors (bitter), bitter things can also help the heart and control lung qi. Therefore, bitter gourd is the best vegetable from summer to the sun.

Step 4 eat garlic and green onions

There is a lot of rain in summer, and mosquitoes also enter a period of high incidence, which is easy to cause various infectious diseases, especially intestinal diseases such as dysentery. In Compendium of Materia Medica, garlic and scallion have the effects of "dredging five internal organs, dredging orifices, eliminating cold and dampness, eliminating pathogenic factors, relieving swelling and pain, and eliminating food stagnation". Therefore, people are used to eating green onions and garlic in their diet during the summer solstice to reduce the occurrence of infectious diseases.

Step 5 eat dog meat

Eating dog meat can strengthen the body. According to historical records, "Qin people used dogs to resist evil. It is said that dog meat is suitable for summer solstice." It shows that there are many epidemic diseases in summer, so it is suitable to eat dog meat in summer to strengthen resistance. Therefore, the custom of eating dog meat from summer to day has been followed to eating dog meat and litchi from summer to day, which is the "patent" for people in Lingnan area to eat dog meat. Cantonese in Guangzhou, Qinzhou and Yulin in Guangxi also like to eat dog meat and lychee on the solstice in summer. It is said that dog meat and lychee are not hot together from summer to day, and there is a saying that "fish from winter to day, dogs from summer to day". Therefore, the habit of eating dog meat and litchi from summer to Sunday continued to the custom of eating dog meat from summer to Sunday in the 1970s. There is a saying among the people that "dogs in summer have no way to go" and "dogs in summer have no way to escape", which means that many dogs are killed and have no way to escape in summer. On the solstice of summer, dogs are killed to make up for themselves, so that the dogs on that day have nowhere to hide, but they can't be slaughtered at home and can only be treated in the wild.