The origin of Laba porridge

China has been drinking Laba porridge for more than 1000 years. It first started in the Song Dynasty. On the day of Laba, whether it is the imperial court, the government, temples, or the people's homes, Laba porridge will be cooked. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became more popular. At court, emperors, queens and princes give laba porridge to civil and military ministers and attendants, and distribute rice and fruit to monasteries for monks to eat. In the folk, every household should also make Laba porridge to worship their ancestors. At the same time, family members get together for dinner and give gifts to relatives and friends.

The origin of Laba porridge

Laba began in Buddhism and is a Buddhist festival, and the dietary custom of eating Laba porridge has gradually spread from Buddhism to the people.

Laba Festival is one of the grand festivals in Buddhism. Buddhism records that Sakyamuni practiced asceticism for many years before becoming a monk, and found that asceticism was not the way out, so he decided to give up asceticism. At this time, I met a herder who offered chyle. After eating, I recovered my strength and sat down under the bodhi tree to meditate.1February 8, I went home as a Taoist. To commemorate this event, Buddhists held a ceremony on this day to cook porridge for the Buddha with rice and fruit.

Since Buddhism was introduced to China, temples have made porridge out of fragrant grains and fruits and given it to disciples and believers. On the day of Laba, various monasteries held ceremonies to imitate the story of shepherdess offering chyle before the Buddha became a monk, and cooked porridge for the Buddha with fragrant grains and fruits, named Laba porridge. Legend has it that drinking this porridge can get the blessing of the Buddha. So Laba porridge is also called "Fushou porridge", "Fude porridge" and "Buddha porridge". "Laba" was originally a Buddhist festival. After several generations of evolution, it gradually became a household name.

The story of Laba porridge

According to legend, when Zhu Yuanzhang was young, he grazed for the landlord's family and lived a life of insufficient food and clothing. Once, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he spent a day herding sheep in the wild and didn't eat a decent meal at night. So he searched everywhere in the wild to satisfy his hunger. Suddenly, he found a big, fat mouse on the edge of the field and hurried into a mouse hole. Zhu Yuanzhang approached the mouth of the cave and dug it out with branches. He found some kinds of food in the mouse hole. Obviously, this is the winter storage food for mice. Zhu Yuanzhang took out a handful of whole grains, including millet, corn, peanuts and red beans. He washed these miscellaneous grains and cooked them into porridge, which was delicious. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he still remembered the "miscellaneous grains porridge" made by himself when he was young. He stipulated that this kind of cereal porridge must be made in the imperial dining hall and named it "Laba porridge". The chef added Gordon Euryale seed, lotus seed, osmanthus fragrans, peach kernel and jujube to the porridge, which was especially sweet and delicious. Later, this kind of porridge spread to the people and has continued to this day.

Laba porridge is everywhere;

Because of regional differences, people in different places have the custom of eating Laba porridge on Laba Festival, but the ingredients inside are quite different. Let's talk about the difference between Laba porridge in different places.

1, Beijing Laba porridge

It is recorded in Yanjing Nianzhi Laba Porridge: "Laba Porridge is made of yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut, red Jiang Dou, peeled jujube paste, etc. in boiling water. And dyed red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar, zozo grapes and the like. . The ancient Yanjing is now Beijing. Now, Laba porridge has become simple. The main ingredients are red dates, black rice, fragrant rice, walnuts, raisins, millet, red beans, corn and brown sugar.

2. Tianjin Laba porridge

Tianjin and Beijing are not far away, so the ingredients of Laba porridge in the two places are almost the same, but some pay more attention to adding lotus seeds, coix seed, sticky yellow rice, longan, mung bean, kidney bean, sweet-scented osmanthus in syrup, ginkgo, lily, pearl rice, coix seed, sticky glutinous rice and so on.

3. Qinghai Laba porridge

Laba porridge in Qinghai is not the same as Laba porridge that people often eat. What they eat is rice and wheat grains, which are cooked with freshly ground wheat grains and beef and mutton, and they have to cook with slow fire all night. When cooking, they should add seasonings, mainly green salt, pepper, tsaoko, ginger peel, Miao Xiang and so on. You can eat it when it is cooked.

4. Sichuan Laba porridge

Sichuan Laba porridge is salty, so not all Laba porridge is sweet, and some places are cooked salty. Sichuan is of course a big province, so the tastes of different regions will still be different, not just salty, sweet, spicy and hemp. Salted Laba porridge generally contains peanuts, white radish, diced meat, soybeans and other ingredients.

5. Gansu Laba porridge

Traditional Laba porridge in Gansu is made of whole grains and vegetables, but now cooking Laba porridge in the city will enlarge the ingredients, such as rice, diced meat, beans, lotus seeds, ginkgo, red wine, raisins, walnuts, dried apricots, moss, dried wax gourd, sugar and so on.

6. Shaanxi Laba porridge

Shaanxi Laba porridge is similar to the well-known Laba porridge, also called Babao porridge. The main ingredients are adzuki bean, mung bean, cowpea, jujube, rice and glutinous rice.

Nowadays, "Laba porridge" has lost its charitable and Buddhist significance, and has already become a part of China's food culture and a frequent visitor at the family table.