Southerners in the North (1): Soy sauce for southerners, vinegar for northerners

What is a Southerner?

According to geographical boundaries, those south of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River are called southerners, and those north of the Huaihe River are called northerners. Or those south of the Yangtze River are called southerners, and those north of the Yangtze River are called northerners.

The Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River line is an important geographical dividing line. It not only divides precipitation, cooling, and crops between the north and the south, but also directly divides China into two. Those in the north can be collectively called northerners, and those in the south can be collectively called southerners. .

The most praiseworthy thing in the south is the land of plenty in the south of the Yangtze River, where "people live in small bridges and flowing water, and smoke and cold water surround the moon and sand."

This is the south for people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the southwest. Not so. I happen to be from the southwest.

There are mountains and water there. The mountains are high and the water is long. According to northerners, the scenery there is beautiful.

My home is located in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the southwest. The sky is never clear for three days, the ground is not three miles flat, and the people are not even three cents of silver. This has always been a common name for our place.

Of course, "No one has three cents of silver" is said less and less, because people have more or less money. But "the sky is never clear for three days, and the earth is never three miles flat" accurately describes the climate and topography of my home.

In our place, it’s really obvious when you open the door. There are mountains in circles, with no end in sight.

Since coming to Beijing, everything has been different.

People speak Mandarin, which is based on northern languages, and I am just a southerner with a southern accent.

As soon as you speak Mandarin, others will directly ask: Where are you from in the south? And they often make fun of my Mandarin, and I’m often teased, “Straighten your tongue before you speak.”

There is nothing you can do about being laughed at. It feels like the line in the Chinese partner: "I am the one who speaks Mandarin, and it is not me who listens. Whatever I am afraid of, just speak up."

In addition to communication, food It's also a world of difference.

My friend said: When he first came to Beijing to study, he was shocked when he ate for the first time.

As soon as it was served: there were people eating steamed buns, noodles, and pot stickers.

However, we don’t eat these. We eat rice. Noodles and steamed buns are only available for breakfast. Other times, I only eat noodles and steamed buns when life is bad.

We never eat these for dinner. Yes, we mainly eat rice. Northerners mainly eat pasta, and eat a variety of foods made from wheat and flour.

The first time I saw it, I felt it was novel. They actually all eat these things and don’t even eat rice?

They also eat rice, but they eat less of it. They usually eat various kinds of pasta.

When I often go to restaurants to eat, the arrangements on their tables are also strange: vinegar, chili cans, and garlic.

Only no soy sauce, no soy sauce, no soy sauce.

I am not jealous. I don’t care if I go to a restaurant to eat dumplings, noodles or ramen.

When the food was put on the table, I didn’t prepare to eat it, but asked: Boss, please give me some soy sauce.

So the boss searched for a long time and gave me soy sauce in the busy restaurant.

So I poured a lot of soy sauce, added some chili, and ate it deliciously.

Sometimes the boss will say: You poured so much soy sauce and it is all black, can you still eat it?

I said it was delicious, but I still had a question in my mind: Your table is full of vinegar and there is no soy sauce. Don’t you all eat soy sauce?

Every time I go to a restaurant, as long as I eat noodles, there will be a battle with soy sauce.

"Boss, I want soy sauce, Boss, I want soy sauce, Boss, I want soy sauce..."

In the northern restaurant, in the eyes of others , I seem to be a strange existence.

I don’t eat noodles like them because I am still stuck in the southern eating habits.

Eat soy sauce, eat chili, and eat rice.

The chili peppers I eat often scare people from the north. They would say, “You can eat spicy food so well?” Is it spicy?

I usually say: This is not too spicy, I would like to eat something spicier.

One time when I went to Zhengzhou, my friends invited me to dinner, and we had Malatang.

When I was making ingredients, I couldn’t find soy sauce for a long time. I was anxious, so I went to the waiter and asked: Where is your soy sauce?

He said: We don’t have soy sauce here.

I said: How is it possible? There will be no soy sauce in the restaurant.

He said: We really don’t have one here.

After reasoning for a while, I randomly made some ingredients, added some raw chili peppers, and mixed it up.

At this time, my friend was eating mahjong. So I asked with incomprehensible eyes: Is this still edible? Is it delicious?

My friend said: It’s quite delicious.

I had a meal not long ago with a friend from Shanxi. She ate mahjong and I ate chili with a lot of soy sauce

I gradually got used to it and got used to watching others eat mahjong. , jealous, ate some chili peppers that were not spicy at all and shouted how spicy they were, and ate various kinds of pasta.

I often eat rice alone, with soy sauce and a lot of chili. When I walk into a noodle shop, I get used to asking the boss for soy sauce again and again.

For a while, I used to go to a noodle shop to eat. As time went by, the boss knew what I wanted.

When the noodles come, there will be a sentence: The soy sauce has been added for you. Look, it is all black.

Usually I would say: Thank you, aunt.

And you will feel that soy sauce is lonely. In fact, what is lonely is the person himself, your eating habits, way of thinking, and way of communication.

You are in a time when your living habits, communication, and eating habits are different from your original living environment.

It was really hard at first, but gradually I got used to it and accepted the differences in diet and communication.

It will get better once you get used to it, but when I walk into a restaurant to eat noodles, I always say the same thing: Boss, I want soy sauce...

Do southerners feel this way? There is no soy sauce on northern tables, there are all kinds of different kinds. Welcome to leave a message for discussion. The differences between the north and the south are not limited to food~~

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