Throughout the dynasties, food was related to the national economy and people's livelihood. In the past, the country was also called "Guo", and the word "Su" in the country represented the king of the hundred valleys in the old saying. China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, with fertile land and abundant food. The south is rich in rice and the north is rich in wheat. "Materia Medica" said: "Rice can tonify the spleen, wheat can tonify the heart, and each has its own strengths, which is also beneficial to people."
The agricultural production of planting rice in the south and wheat in the north has promoted the eating habits of southerners who love rice and northerners who love pasta. This kind of eating habit is related to the humanistic hobby of "being in harmony with time, place and people", which did not appear in modern times, but has existed since ancient times. This is a "food culture" with historical complex.
The North-South "Food Culture" of "Eating Rice in the South and Wheat in the North"
In the early days of human civilization, "eating" was just to fill the stomach. With the development of human civilization, we have developed from the simplest way of filling our stomachs to the study of dietary methods, and gradually become a "dietary culture". What is "culture"? There is a cloud in the Book of Changes: "Combining rigidity with softness is astronomical; Civilization stops, human nature also; Look at astronomy, observe the changes of time, look at humanity and turn it into the world. "
Combining rigidity with softness, culture is the crystallization of the spirit and wisdom accumulated by a group over the years, and "eating culture" is no exception. "Eating culture" is not only material culture, but also spiritual cultivation of different people, and it is the representative of regional culture. Rice in the south and wheat in the north have become the standards for distinguishing regions.
During the Northern Expedition, there were rumors that some warlords planned to boil this war down to "the dispute between northerners who eat wheat and southerners who eat rice", which is enough to show how deeply-rooted the "food culture" between the north and the south is.
Walking into a restaurant in the north, there are many delicious pasta such as "sticky bean buns, yellow wheat and kidney beans". When you go to restaurants in the south, there are different kinds of "fried rice, rice noodles and Sichuan pork". This is not only a cry to attract customers, but also a food culture full of regional colors.
"Culture" is a kind of cohesion and the key to open people's hometown complex. "Food culture" is no exception. When you are alone in a foreign land and walk into a restaurant with hometown characteristics, you can feel the warmth of your hometown in an instant. The significance of the difference between north and south food culture is not to clearly distinguish the north and south, on the contrary, it is an important link connecting the two places to promote cultural exchanges.
"The right time, the right place and the right people"-determines a variety of "food culture".
In the south, "water, rain and heat are in the same period", and rice is brewed and settled.
First, China is located in the east of Asia and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Summer is usually affected by the warm and humid air flow from the ocean, which makes many areas in southeast China get abundant rain in summer due to the influence of monsoon. Moreover, there are many water systems in southern China, which are very conducive to the storage of rainwater, and most of the terrain in the south tends to be flat. When you need water, you can immediately dig ditches for irrigation. For example, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Pearl River Delta and coastal areas, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River region are flat, which is conducive to the large-scale planting of rice and improving the harvest of crops;
Secondly, the direct sunlight time in the south is shorter than that in the north in summer. The higher the latitude, the greater the change of the length of day and night, and the shorter the day in the south in summer. The length of light determines the growth period of crops. Although the sunshine time is short, the heat received by the ground is higher than that in the north, which is the fundamental principle of double cropping rice in the south.
Thirdly, there is a rumor that the roots of rice are in the south. Most of the land in the south is too salty to grow crops. If crops must be planted in saline-alkali land, they must be soaked and diluted before sowing. Coincidentally, rice cultivation also needs a lot of irrigation. It is better to directly plant crops that can be covered by water than to directly drain water, so rice miraculously stepped onto the stage of crops in the south.
Warm and rainy in winter and hot and dry in summer are the best "choices" for wheat.
Wheat takes root in the north just as rice takes root in the south.
First, as far as the physique of wheat is concerned, it is suitable for planting in areas with deep soil layer, excellent structure and deep tillage layer. This soil structure is conducive to water storage and fertilizer conservation, and promotes the growth and development of wheat roots, which is exactly the case in the black soil in the north. It seems that it is predestined to grow wheat in the north. For the growth of wheat, the north is not only good in soil quality, but also superior in soil structure. For wheat, the ratio of water, air and temperature in black soil is.
Secondly, wheat likes cold climate and has strong cold tolerance. Vernalization is the key link of wheat growth. Wheat needs to go through extremely low temperature environment to make flower buds and organs develop into ears of wheat. Most parts of northern China are close to the birthplace of winter monsoon, and affected by the cold high pressure in Mongolia and Siberia, there is a cold wave caused by cold air going south. Good low temperature environment can promote wheat to survive vernalization stage.
Due to the high latitude, insufficient direct sunlight time, low radiant heat and large temperature difference between day and night in northern winter, it is very beneficial for wheat to accumulate protein at night, which can improve the quality of wheat. Soil conditions and climate are important factors for wheat to become the staple food on the table of northern people. Wheat, like rice, is an indispensable part of people's lives in the north and south.
"Humanistic Hobbies and Historical Conditions" —— Their respective "food cultures"
"South Rice North" is the choice of the people of the two places.
When rice and wheat were not dominant, there were other food crops: millet and barley. People's preference for ingredients mostly comes from their subjective feelings of eating and chewing in their mouths, which is the most basic judgment in making choices. If they think it is delicious, they should buy more kinds. Perhaps, southerners just like the graininess of rice in their mouths, so rice has become the staple food on the table, while the reason why northerners take wheat as the staple food may also be the satiety brought by pasta.
From a biological point of view, eating is an essential protein that cannot be synthesized independently in the body. Protein, which keeps the human body moving, is an objective factor to induce people to eat, which is also the reason why millet and barley can't be the ingredients of people in the north and south. Some biological components in millet and barley are not suitable for daily life, so away from the table, high-quality rice and wheat constitute the "food culture" of people in the north and south.
The food culture of "Nanfanbei" comes from the most common daily life. "Qinhuai Eight Colors" Dong Xiaowan loves soup and rice, and Qinhuai Dong Xiaowan is the epitome of southerners' diet. Xiaowan has a light diet and likes to taste the original flavor of food. A pot of green tea, a plate of rice and some side dishes are a meal for southerners. Soup is indispensable, and rice is indispensable. It is both a habit and a feeling to have rice for every meal.
Northerners' love for pasta also has a hometown complex. Northerners say that "jiaozi got up and the noodles fell down", which is enough to show the position of pasta culture in the hearts of northerners. No matter big or small, they all love pasta. Taizong Li Shimin and Shanxi Daoxiao Noodles are representatives of pasta culture. At that time, Taizong was still a son and had guests at home. His wife didn't have time to prepare meals, so she used her quick wits to cut the dough with scissors.
This coincidence led to the scissors noodles, and northerners love to eat noodles, so the scissors noodles became a legend. Wheat is rich in gluten, which can make dough more tough, easier to be processed into different shapes and more varied in taste, which is why northerners love pasta. There are historical factors that southerners eat rice and noodles while northerners eat noodles. The development of food culture depends more on the simple love of the people of the two places for food.
"Southern Rice and Northern Wheat" cannot be separated from government support.
The mode of agricultural production is ultimately decided by the government. The planting mode of "southern rice and northern wheat" is not only the choice of the people of the two places, but also the government's recognition of its production. With the support of the government, the production of "southern rice and northern wheat" can last for thousands of years and eventually become a distinctive food culture. According to "Historical Records-Xia Benji": "Good common rice can be planted with low wet rice. Hou Ji was ordered to eat ordinary delicacies. " Eat less and adjust more to balance the princes. "
It means that the government distributes rice seedlings to the people, presides over the annual spring planting and autumn harvest, and if the harvest is insufficient, the government distributes food. Therefore, as early as ancient times, the early government attached great importance to agricultural production. At the end of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu, the minister, said, "I would like to go to the place in person to explain the technique of planting wheat for the people." The Han government also promised that if the harvest was reduced due to natural disasters, the affected farmers would be exempted from taxes. According to the Records of the Later Han Dynasty, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty issued more than ten imperial edicts on grain production, which is enough to show that the governments of past dynasties attached great importance to crop production.
label
China's food culture has a long history. With the development of 5,000 years' history, the "eating culture" presents the diversity of food, which is the treasure of China culture, and "eating" is also an important carrier of cultural exchanges between North and South. China people talk about eating, not only to satisfy their hunger and thirst, but also contains the philosophy of looking at things. Exquisite and delicious southern snacks reveal the exquisiteness of southerners' life, and all-encompassing and magnificent northern pasta shows the boldness and roughness of northerners. "Southerners eat rice and northerners love noodles" is a cultural collision from history.
References:
Agricultural map of China
history
book of later han