How can we Shanxi people be jealous?

We Shanxi people are notoriously jealous. There is a joke that says, "Shanxi fellow villagers are jealous, but they don't pay vinegar gourd if they pay their guns." Mr. Wang Zengqi also told such a story that several Shanxi people went to a restaurant in Beijing for dinner and didn't order yet. First, they brought vinegar bottles, and each of them drank three spoonfuls of vinegar. This seems a bit exaggerated, but maybe there are people who really love vinegar, telling us that Shanxi people can't live without vinegar!

Here we sit at the table (eating) and a circle of people sit down. In front of everyone, besides bowls and chopsticks, there is also a small plate. We call it "vinegar plate". When eating, people pick up vinegar bottles one by one and pour vinegar into plates. How to eat? Look! Eat cold dishes dipped in vinegar; Eat beef, ham and peanut beans dipped in vinegar; Eat scrambled eggs and dip them in vinegar; Eat copper hot pot dipped in vinegar; Eat shredded pork, dip in vinegar ... if that's all you want, I'll give you a special one, eat braised eggplant, and some people dip in vinegar.

You may have said, "Everything is dipped in vinegar. Didn't you turn the original flavor of the dish into vinegar? What else do you eat? " After listening to your question, we Shanxi people can't say anything, but scratch our heads, "hey hey" smile and continue to immerse ourselves in vinegar.

On weekdays, we eat noodles, take noodles from the bowl, pour the seeds of shame, and then pour vinegar. Scrambled egg cake with chopped green onion in it. When it's almost cooked, take the old vinegar along the pot and turn it upside down. Eggs are the main characters, but without that little bit of balsamic vinegar, they are not delicious.

There is a kind of rice in Shanxi called "broken board", which is steamed with noodles and shredded potatoes. After steaming, you can also stir fry with oil. I used to pour red and green peppers and chopped green onion on it, bright red and oily, and some ... hehe! Yes! Vinegar! Many people don't need to fry or pepper to eat rotten seeds, just a few spoonfuls of vinegar, which is not necessarily the way for the elderly to eat. My sister's son, from snacks to rotten melon seeds and rice, never needs to water melon seeds and vegetables, but eats them with vinegar. This is serious, our descendants from Shanxi!

It was after I was thirty that I realized that not all places needed vinegar like us. I thought vinegar was basically used in cooking. No vinegar! How come? Now we also have vendors driving tricycles to sell vinegar in the street. People who love to drink can taste the quality of wine. We Shanxi people, when drinking vinegar, know with our mouths whether this vinegar is from Shanxi or not. Not authentic. When I was in Beijing, I ate steamed buns in the morning and asked for a plate of vinegar. What a boy, can this be called vinegar?

People say that Shanxi people like to drink vinegar, but in fact we don't drink it as water. It's just that sometimes people feel that there is no taste in their mouths, so some people just take a sip and smack the taste in their mouths. When I was a child, I sat at the table, and before I could open the table, I dipped my chopsticks in vinegar and sent them to my mouth to suck. It's delicious.

Why are Shanxi people jealous? Some people say that because the water in Shanxi is alkaline, jealousy can neutralize acid and alkali; Others say it's because Shanxi people burn coal to warm up and cook more in winter, and jealousy can kill them. I'm not sure if I'm right, because jealousy has been our Shanxi people's eating habit for generations, and no one has ever explored this truth.

It is said in the jingle of Eight eccentrics in Shanxi that "old vinegar is also a dish". Do you find it strange?