Dietary Characteristics of Hakka Cuisine

The characteristics of Hakka diet can be summarized in four words, that is, the traditional eating method of vegetarian, wild, coarse and miscellaneous. Hakka people have two understandings of vegetarianism, one is that they don't eat meat, and the other is that they have no oil to eat. "Meat" that does not eat meat refers to meat or animal oil, and "oil" that does not eat oil refers to vegetable oil and animal oil. A few Hakkas are active, but most of them are passive, that is, hard living conditions force you to be vegetarian, but you have to eat if you don't want to be vegetarian. In the past, Hakka people rarely bought meat or slaughtered poultry and livestock except during the Chinese New Year holidays or when guests came to their homes. Only by killing pigs at home or buying meat in the market during the busy farming season can they have a mouth to eat. Killing pigs is only once or twice a year, and the market buys meat once or twice or three or four times a month, which is extremely limited. This is very difficult for housewives. They should leave some for the guests, and some fat to wipe the pot wall and cook. It's really not easy to let the rest of the meat grow old and small. What must be done to make the family happy? As a result, housewives often can only drink a few mouthfuls of soup themselves. The fat left for cooking can only be rubbed on the wall of the hot pot, so that the food will not stick to the pot. In this way, it seems that eating meat is actually a vegetarian. Or ask: Why not use vegetable oil? This is because vegetable oil wells are not cheaper than fat. In the past, the vegetable oils used by Hakka people were mainly tea seed oil and rapeseed oil. Main uses: first, it is usually used to light lamps and worship ancestors and gods; Second, the temple fair used fried rice to worship the gods; The third is to entertain guests (including "returning"); I'm usually reluctant to eat. In the absence of meat, the Hakka people's favorite vegetarian food is probably tofu, which only needs a little vegetable oil, which may be an important reason for the popularity of tofu in Hakka areas. Fortunately, eating tofu is respected by the revolutionary ancestors. Dr. Sun Yat-sen said, "Vegetarians in China must eat tofu. Who is tofu, who is the meat in real plants. This thing has the power of meat, but it is not poisonous. Therefore, China is a vegetarian country and is used to it. It does not need scholars to advocate. " Of course, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's tofu is not oil-free or oil-free, but "well-seasoned" tofu.

Vegetarianism is a cultural tradition in China. Lu You, a patriotic poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, is a representative figure who advocates vegetarianism. His vegetarianism is a completely active behavior. He seldom eats meat or even vegetable oil. Not that he can't afford it. His poem "Wild Rice" said that he ate rice, bitter bamboo shoots, taro and mountain vegetables with little salt and oil in the mountains, but he regarded them as delicious and felt very satisfied. Lu You wrote dozens of poems praising vegetarianism. He not only thinks that "fermented mustard, miliang" and other foods are delicious ("the soup cooked by fermented mustard is sweeter than honey, and the rice cooked by miliang is as smooth as pearls"), but also thinks that vegetarianism can strengthen the body and prolong life. In his later years, Lu You ate almost no meat at all and became a vegetarian elder with a life span of 85%. In addition, Li Yu, a famous playwright and drama theorist in the early Qing Dynasty, also advocated that food should come first, followed by meat. "Carnivores are despised", and he looks down on incompetent bureaucrats who often eat meat but are not good at planning. Hakka vegetarianism coincides with scientific truth. Modern people write: Scientific research shows that meat food is related to six diseases (heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, arteriosclerosis and cirrhosis) among the top ten causes of death. In some western countries, meat and eggs have always been neglected, and the vegetables and fibers rich in potatoes, especially those that can prevent cancer and avoid arterial blockage, have become popular items. It seems that Hakka people's passive vegetarian behavior caused by poor living conditions is that "there is a silver lining behind every dark cloud". Hakka people have a cultural tradition of eating coarse grains and omnivores. As far as grain is concerned, rice is the staple food, and others, including sweet potatoes and taro, are classified as miscellaneous grains. Sorghum millet, dog-tailed millet, fist millet, corn (corn), buckwheat, cereal wheat (barley, also known as hairy wheat) and so on. , is the main miscellaneous grains except potatoes and taro. The production of rice is very rough. Before, there was no electricity, no rice mill, and shelling could only be done by shelling. It takes time and energy to make polished rice, so eating brown rice is very common. There is also a kind of rice called cooked rice, which is cooked and dried, and then shelled and broken. The skin of this rice is not worn, and it is the most typical brown rice. Only in this way can it retain almost all the nutrients of rice. As far as dishes are concerned, the general characteristics are as follows: First, attach importance to delicacies and ignore seafood. This is neither coarse nor miscellaneous. This is determined by the natural environment of the Hakka people, because most of the Hakka people's homes are mountainous areas, with only delicacies and no seafood (with a few exceptions). Second, emphasize content, light form. This is related to the fact that most Hakkas like truth and don't pursue fancy roles. Thirdly, Hakkas attach importance to the original flavor, ignoring the turbidity, which can be said to be the inheritance of China's traditional food culture. For example, Yuan Mei advocates the original flavor of dishes, and opposes the co-burning of shark fin and sea cucumber, and the interaction between chicken and pork, so that each dish has its own flavor. Li Yu also advocates keeping the natural color and flavor of the main ingredients when cooking, and thinks that most of the most delicious Rong materials are suitable for cooking alone. Fourth, cook again and stir fry lightly. This is because most Hakkas are more accustomed to warm and light diets than to hot ones. Therefore, Hakka food is not coarse; If it is a little rough, it seems to be reflected in the following aspects: the name of the dish is not literary enough, the shape of the dish is not artistic enough, the ingredients are not noble enough, and the dishes are not complicated enough. "Not enough" doesn't mean nothing, just "a little coquettish". As far as the names of dishes are concerned, some of them are very literary, for example, Kongming borrows arrows, Eight Cuis Drunk Immortals, Kirin Born Out, Shuang Yan welcomes the Spring, Four Seasons Hibiscus, Jade Face Gui and so on. Wait, but I haven't figured it out yet. Are these dish names historical or contemporary? Looking at the dishes, there are also some with a strong aristocratic color. Take Changting's "Kirin was born" as an example. "Kirin" is a suckling dog and "fetus" is a pig's belly. The suckling dog is wrapped in a pig's stomach. Cut open the pig's belly when eating, and "Kirin" will be "born". The preparation method is as follows: firstly, ginseng is stuffed into the abdomen of sparrow, then the sparrow is stuffed into the abdomen of pigeon, then the pigeon is stuffed into the abdomen of chick, then the chick is stuffed into the abdomen of suckling dog, and finally the suckling dog is stuffed into the abdomen of pig and stitched with thread; Add chicken soup, salt, onion, cooking wine, soy sauce and brown sugar, and steam the pot in a steamer for 4-6 hours. The material and processing method of this vegetable are quite amazing! However, in Hakka dialect, such dishes are only a few. Hakka people especially like to eat internal organs, that is, the internal organs of livestock, even the internal organs of cattle full of fishy smell and shame, and people are no exception. Moreover, due to proper cooking, they can even make all kinds of delicious food and participate in famous national recipes, such as Liancheng's "Rinsing Nine Doors" and Yongding's "Eight Crisps and Drunk Immortals". There is also a long cultural tradition of eating internal impurities. For example, the "dried moon", which was listed as one of the "eight treasures" in the pre-Qin period, was made of dog liver; The so-called "spleen analysis" is made of tripe. Eating coarse and miscellaneous, not picky eaters, not partial eclipse, is conducive to balanced nutrition and good health. In Huangdi Neijing, it is very reasonable to put forward the dietary principle of "five grains are the supplement, five fruits are the help, five benefits, five dishes are the filling, the smell is consistent, and the essence is supplemented". "Five" is a virtual reference, not a practical measure. It tells people not to eat only one kind of food, only one kind of fruit, only one kind of meat, only one or two kinds of vegetables, and eat as much as possible. This dietary theory of "homology of medicine and food" has long been practiced by Hakka people intentionally or unintentionally.