What is the diet of ancient emperors equivalent to today's level?

As far as the Qing Dynasty is concerned, imperial meals have strict requirements on the variety, origin, season, freshness, and even picking and slaughtering methods of ingredients. There are more than ten kinds of blended oils used daily.

Some emperors were also very picky about ingredients. Kangxi once said that what he ate "must be eaten when it is ripe." Qianlong was even more particular. In the spring, when the elm trees sprouted, he asked to eat elm money cake. In early summer, when new wheat is filling and heading, he will eat new wheat "twist" (long strip food). In midsummer, he likes to eat eggplant and lentils. He also eats duck all year round. Its yin nature can reduce the anxiety of dealing with government affairs. Qianlong liked to eat duck, so the imperial chef deboned the duck completely, leaving a complete "watertight" skin with meat, and then filled it with eight kinds of ingredients. After cooking for five hours, it was still a complete duck without losing its shape. It became Qianlong's favorite "Eight Treasure Duck".

Sometimes a humanistic touch is needed, such as the "crepe wontons" made by the Qing Dynasty. The square skin symbolizes the earth, and the dough-shaped filling symbolizes the sky. Wrapped together, it is a chaotic world where heaven and earth are not divided, and the crepe refers to translucency. The wonton wrappers are cooked in one pot, as if the entire universe is contained in it.

Sometimes a little creativity is needed. Su cuisine master Zhang Dongguan's specialty "cherry meat" is to cut the pork into small unseparated pieces and cook them for seven or eight hours, and then add red yeast to the top. If cherry.

The Ming Dynasty emphasized the ancestral system. In the first year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty designated cherries, plums, apricots, anchovies, and pheasants as the "recommended new ritual objects" to be offered to the Ancestral Temple in April. This foreshadowed the future generations. of a nightmare. During the Yongle period, after Ming Dynasty Emperor Chengzu moved his capital to Beijing, he continued to use various sacrifices.

Other things can be said that anchovies are only found in the Yangtze River. The imperial court set up a "shad factory" in Nanjing to take charge of the fishing and transportation of anchovies. They worshiped Ming Taizu and Empress Ma on May 15th every year. It is offered to the Ancestral Temple on the first day of the month, and then the emperor must eat it. This process is complicated and complicated, and the anchovy that the emperor eats has been tossing for nearly a month, and there is no refrigerator to keep it fresh. I am afraid only the emperor can understand the taste at this time...

< p>In accordance with the Manchu custom in the Qing court, the emperor had two meals a day, morning and evening. Emperors of the Qing Dynasty generally got up early around four o'clock according to the ancestral tradition. Breakfast was arranged at six or seven o'clock in the morning, and dinner was at one or two o'clock in the afternoon. There were snacks before breakfast and after dinner. The emperor could have snacks at any time. summons.