Who was the first person from China to eat western food?

Who was the first person to eat western food in China? | The Prequel of Western Food Drifting North (1)

Wang pu, official account of WeChat: Zen Ren Office.

After five years of Tongzhi (1866), the Qing government's mighty Westernization Movement finally achieved its first achievement in the sixth year after its implementation-the first batch of students from Shi Jing Wentong Library, the first official foreign language school in China, graduated. Although there are only 10 people, their significance is extraordinary, because they were awarded the rank of Bapin as soon as they left school and became the first generation of official professional diplomats trained in China. 10 people, there is a northeast guy, and his luck has been very good. This guy's name is Zhang Deyi. He is 19 years old this year. He was lucky because he was "lucky" to become high flyers, which was highly valued by the state. In the past 1867, the Qing government organized the first tour group in China's history, and Zhang Deyi was among the members, so he was "lucky" to be selected by the state, which naturally became unprecedented.

The tour group first set off from Tianjin to Shanghai on the British ship "Walking Like Flying". Everything on the boat is fresh to Zhang Deyi, such as the toilet, such as 24-hour hot water or tap water ... However, what really makes him unforgettable is probably the daily meals: First, the "three snacks and two big meals a day" on the British boat ... The first one is nothing more than roast cattle, sheep, chicken and fish, and then bread and sugar cakes. There are butter, spinal cord, yellow potato, white rice and so on. "

Later, in Shanghai, I boarded the French ocean liner "La Buena" and went to Europe. I eat more abundantly and pay more attention to it: "Everyone has a knife, a spoon, a fork, a plate and a piece of white cloth." "The dishes are served in big silver plates, sitting next to each other. Knives, forks and plates make every meal easy. For dinner, there is only one plate of beef soup or shredded mutton soup. ! Beef and mutton are cut into large pieces, cooked black and burnt, raw fishy and hard, chickens and ducks are roasted rather than boiled, fish and shrimp are spicy and sour, and the wine tastes terrible, not only sour but also astringent, so it must be swallowed with some water. This directly led to his gastrointestinal reaction "vomiting at the first smell", and even he could vomit-not-stop when he heard the bell for dinner. ...

All the above are from Zhang Deyi's Nautical Stories. After returning home, he compiled his Vomiting Diary into a book. Although he ate rather unappetizing, what he didn't expect was that it was his trivial and even rambling records that actually shaped himself into a glorious historical figure after many years-he, Zhang Deyi, became the first person in China to record western food in words.

Some people may have noticed that the word "Jia Fei" appeared in Xiao Zhang's tucao diary, and there was a "speculation" in his words. I can't understand it at first sight, but how can I know it after reading it twice ... Yes, at the age of 19, Xiao Zhang completed the earliest and most primitive transliteration of coffee and chocolate in the history of China.

In Zhang Deyi's sailing stories, please pay attention to the evaluation of red wine in addition to "adding Africa" and "speculation" ...

Not only that, Zhang Deyi does not stop there. However, this is beside the point. If you are interested, I highly recommend Zhang Deyi to read Zhang Deyi's series of books. He is not only the first person in China to record western food in words, but also the first person to translate coffee and chocolate into English. This man is "lucky" to have countless firsts in his life-in addition to the above, he was the first person to introduce western punctuation marks in China, record western condoms, get into the Egyptian pyramids, and translate the official residence of the President of the United States into the White House ... By the way, he also witnessed the uprising of the Paris Commune. His name is Tieling, a famous big city in northern China, and he has been a legend of Li and Qi all his life.

Zhang Deyi went abroad eight times in his life and spent 27 years abroad. Every time he went abroad, he wrote a detailed diary and compiled a series of nautical stories, restatements, three stories, four stories and eight stories, with about 2 million words, which recorded the legendary life of this "Tieling Wonder". ...

Zhang Deyi is recognized as "the first person in China who recorded western food in words". The reason why "recognition" is emphasized is that before him, there was indeed a Luo Yong from Guangzhou who recorded in detail a western-style dinner he personally attended in a letter to his relatives in Beijing183/kloc-0.

In the letter, he made his attitude clear from the beginning: "I have to express surprise that they have made no progress in cooking." They are still primitive in this respect. " He told his friends that they were sitting at the table and eating a liquid, which they called "plain soup". Eat the fish raw and the other meat half cooked, and then cut the meat piece by piece with a sword-like tool. From this, the Guangzhou native surnamed Luo came to the conclusion that "these' ghosts' are cruel because they eat such crude and primitive food" and sighed with deep affection: "How miserable their situation is, and they pretend not to like our food!" Then Teacher Luo introduced two kinds of food we often eat today to our friends: "Then there is a green and white substance with a strong smell." They told me that it was a mixture of sour water and milk, which was exposed to the sun until it was full of bugs; The greener the color, the stronger the taste and the more nutritious it is. This thing is called cheese, which is used with a turbid red liquid. This liquid will bubble out of the cup and stain people's clothes. Its name is beer. "Yes, in his pen, these two kinds of food are simply-too! Ah! Heart! Yes! !

As one of the hosts of the dinner party, william hunter, an American, came across this letter and couldn't help laughing after reading it. Then he copied it down, translated it into English and included it in his Miscellanies of Old China. As for why Luo Yong is not recognized as the "first person to record western food", the reason is simple: it was American william hunter who really completed the record, and the original of Teacher Luo's letter is long gone. Moreover, there are many historical mistakes before and after Old China Miscellanies. Who knows if this seemingly interesting "history" is a joke made up by Hunter himself? ...

Caption: William C. Willian C. Hunt, American author of Miscellanies of Old China and Ghost Stories of Guangzhou, arrived in Guangzhou in 1825, and later became a partner of American merchant ship Flag Changyang Company. He lived in Guangzhou for decades and was one of the few foreigners in China who knew Chinese at that time.

Besides Luo Yong, there is another person who was expected to be the first person to record western food in China, but I believe most people will be surprised to hear his name appear here: Yuan Mei, a famous foodie in China history.

That's right, the one who wrote the menu with the garden. The "western food" he recorded is also included in his masterpiece of eating goods. If you happen to have one at hand, you can turn to the Dim Sum List, including one, Yang Zhongcheng's cake, which reads "Make strong water with egg white and flying water and put it in a bowl. Create a copper clip scissors with a cake-shaped head, such as a butterfly, on the upper and lower sides. There are less than a little copper joints. Bake a copper clip on high fire, stir the thick water, paste a clip and make a cake instantly. White as snow, clear as tissue paper, slightly added with rock sugar pine nuts. "

In this regard, Mr. Wang Lang's evaluation in the article "The Spread of Yangmi to the East for Several Years" is: "This statement is somewhat reliable." This paper holds that Tang Ruowang, a German missionary, held a high position in the imperial court in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Now that Mr. Tang has infiltrated the officialdom, it is normal for adults to taste two "cakes" in order to improve their relationship with colleagues. It is not impossible that the method of making "western-style cakes" was later spread to a young adult and published by Yuan Mei who went to his house to eat rice.

/kloc-since the middle of the 0/7th century, western missionaries began to preach in China. In the process of missionary work, some missionaries often bring their own food, and some even bring their own chefs, or hire China chefs to make western food for them according to western methods. This is probably the beginning of the introduction of western food into China.

However, Mr. Wang's statement is "inference" after all. As for whether Yuan Dacai's diet records are of historical significance, I can only say that he himself will not care so much. ...