Chapter 17 Picturesque food by Zhang Daqian

Zhang Daqian is a painting genius and a master of Danqing. He and Qi Baishi are called "Southern Zhang Beiqi" in the world.Xu Beihong admired him even more: "Zhang Daqian, the first person in five hundred years." In the 1950s, Zhang Daqian traveled the world and gained a huge international reputation. He was praised as "Oriental Brush" by Western art circles, and he was as famous as Picasso, the master of Western painting. , called "East Zhang Xibi". What few people know is that Zhang Daqian, a master of painting, is also a well-known gourmet master, and a master in the culinary world.As a gourmand, Zhang Daqian lived to be eighty-five years old, which is considered to be the longest life in this series, and there is another one with a similar life expectancy, Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty, who also lived to be eighty years old.This is probably related to the cheerful and happy nature.

Zhang Daqian both loves and knows how to eat.These two are important criteria for judging gourmets. It is easy to love food, but it is not easy to know how to eat.What is "knowledge to eat"?Not only must you know the origin of a dish, but you must also have a deep understanding of the ingredients of this dish, and know which vegetable market you can buy, and you must be able to cook it—this can be regarded as a general quality. Of course, as a gourmet, it is best to be able to make achievements in theory, and Zhang Daqian is worthy of his name.He once said: "China is so big, and the customs and geographical conditions of different places are different, so each has its own flavor. Therefore, three schools of cuisine are roughly formed in the Sanjiang River Valley: Beijing cuisine is formed in the Yellow River Valley, mainly Lu cuisine, and the flavor is derived from Lu cuisine. The Pearl River Basin includes Guangdong and Fujian provinces, forming Cantonese and Fujian cuisines, whose flavors are derived from the sea; while the Yangtze River Basin extends from Chengdu, Chongqing to Jiangnan, forming Sichuan, Yangzhou, and Suzhou cuisines, with flavors derived from land and water.”

Zhang Daqian's theory had profoundly influenced Lu Yaodong, a famous Taiwanese gourmet. Inspired by this, Lu Yaodong also divided China's food system according to geography, but he divided it into four schools. Whether it is Zhang Daqian or Lu Yaodong, I am very supportive of their idea of ​​dividing cuisines by geography.I wrote an article "Feng Shui on the Plate", which mentioned the influence of mountains and water systems on the eight major Chinese cuisines.In particular, in order to taste the true taste of various genres of cuisines, one must go to the local area. Only by immersing in the local humanities and landscapes can one be able to taste the true taste of a dish.

Zhang Daqian traveled all over the world, eating all over the world with one mouth.He traveled around the world and got a cooking experience - soliciting widely and making his own decisions.That is to say, because there are hundreds of people and families, each has its own preferences, so you have to choose freely according to your personal preferences. He is from Neijiang, Sichuan, and the food culture of Sichuan has a particularly profound influence on him.Zhang Daqian's mother is a person who is very good at cooking, and his father is also very good at eating. Being in this environment has been influenced by his ears and eyes, which laid the foundation for him to become a gourmet later.

Zhang Daqian pays attention to cooking with a lot of oil, and there is no oil slick.This is estimated to be the result of food education in Sichuan.I have heard adults say since I was a child that if a dish is to be fried fragrantly, it needs to be "a lot of oil, a lot of fire and a lot of seasoning".Zhang Daqian doesn't like to use gorgon powder for cooking. He believes that if the heat is well controlled, the dishes will naturally be fresh and tender.He also doesn't like to add MSG, thinking that the taste added artificially is not as good as the taste of the ingredients themselves.

Zhang Daqian's proposition is reasonable. If the meat is selected from a good part, it is true that there is no need to add gorgon powder, because it is naturally more tender.But I don’t agree with not adding gorgon powder at all, because you still need a little thin gorgon powder to have a smooth and tender taste. Under high oil temperature, gorgon powder will cover the meat, and the meat will not be old. Speaking of monosodium glutamate, in the 1960s to 1980s, the pigs raised were relatively natural, and there were no additives in the feed.At that time, pigs generally took a year to be slaughtered, and the meat itself was rich in amino acids, which actually contained monosodium glutamate.Now the pigs are out of the market in a few months, and the umami taste of the pork must be greatly reduced, so we can only use monosodium glutamate.But whether it is now or in the past, if the ingredients are fresh, alive, and original, there is no need to add MSG.

In the history of Chinese painting, there are only two painters who really know how to eat and do. Apart from Zhang Daqian, the other is Ni Zan in the Yuan Dynasty.Ni Zan is the head of the "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty".There are about fifty kinds of dishes and noodle making methods included in the book.This book reflects the food style in the south of the Yangtze River at that time.The most famous delicacy introduced in it is called roast goose. It is made in a unique way and is called "Yunlin goose". Zhang Daqian is quite confident in his food attainments. He once said: "In terms of art, I am good at cooking, and I am even better at painting."

Zhang Daqian's love for food has naturally been transmitted to his paintings. He has painted many mushrooms, radishes, bamboo shoots, vegetables and fruits, cabbage, etc., which is undoubtedly related to his preference for ingredients.In a painting of radishes and cabbage, Zhang Daqian wrote a poem of Shi Tao’s Qijue: “I live in a cold life as a Confucianist, and my family is poor and hungry and have no fish. Don’t cook the roots in too much oil, and leave some clear lamps to teach children.” The crisp cabbage and fresh mushrooms inside have become the yearning of poor people.And every time I see the picture of cabbage painted by Zhang Daqian, I want to take it out of the painting and eat it, because he draws it so vividly.

It can be said that Zhang Daqian provided a platform for displaying food feelings through his paintings, and in turn, his aesthetics in food added a lot of interest to his painting art.