Chapter 9 Writing Foodism-7

The history of Cantonese snake eating can be found in several early Chinese classics: "The Yue people get anaconda as a delicacy, but the Chinese get it is useless." And "Huainanzi", "Gaigu's Witch Book", although the things mentioned in it are a bit unbelievable, but at least they are more credible and terrifying than "Cambridge Who's Who".What is "credible and scary"?For example, Su Dongpo's concubine ate snake soup as seafood by mistake when he was in Huizhou, Guangdong. Afterwards, he learned that what he ate was snake, and died a few months later.

It can be seen that the horror of "cup bow snake shadow" is sometimes more deadly than the truth eaten by oneself. Even today, for most of the "Chinese" living in "China", this Cantonese hobby is still a terrible custom.However, Shandong people occasionally eat snakes. There is a "Snake Addiction" in "Liao Zhai", which says: "Lu Fengning, the servant of Pu Ling, the king of Yuxiang, is addicted to snakes. Whenever he gets a small snake, he swallows it whole, like eating a green onion. The big ones are cut off inch by inch. Start to eat. Chewing, blood stains the chin. And good at smelling, taste the smell of snakes from the other side of the wall, rush to the outside of the wall, and get a snake full of feet. There is no knife at the time, and the head is bitten first, and the tail is still winding in the mouth. occasion."

Although Shandong people eat "scallions" enough to be included in the Cantonese version or "Huainanzi", Pu Songling may believe that Cantonese people eat snakes in much the same way as Lu Fengning.But in the eyes of the former, although this way of eating is vigorous, it is too wasteful, uneducated, and even wasteful. Cantonese people don't eat small snakes, snake heads, let alone raw.A Cantonese who can only smell the "snake fragrance" by nature, not only is good at making snake soup tirelessly, but also fried snake slices and stuffed snake preserved. Moreover, it tastes so civilized that there are not even fragments left.The restaurant chain "Huishijia" in Guangzhou advertises itself as "Salt and Pepper Snake Lu" and advertises it in full-page local high-end magazines.The ad, with a black background, is lined with a plate of golden "salt and pepper snake rolls", with a line of small characters: "founded in 1987".

However, this does not mean that eating snakes no longer amazes allies.A few years ago, the stock of the sun god was listed overseas, because it advertised that it contained the essence of snake and chicken. On the night of listing, two financial hosts of a TV station in the United States did not take the Greek concept of Apollo seriously at all, but took one bite at a time. Snake Stock" (snake stock) to talk about endlessly. A long time ago, some Chinese could not see this. Lin Yutang once warned foreigners: "No one can convince me that snake meat is as delicious as chicken. I have lived in China for forty years, and I have not had a single snake. I have eaten it, and I have never seen any of my relatives and friends eat it... Eating snake meat is a rare thing for Chinese people as well as for Westerners."

Either Lin Yutang forgot that Cantonese are also Chinese, or he stepped forward and did a stupid thing under a momentary impulse of justice. "Huainanzi" mentions that "Yue people" cannot include the residents of southern Fujian after they traveled to the south. Moreover, it is impossible to verify whether the people of Zhangzhou in ancient times ate snakes, but it is a fact that they were often eaten by snakes.Outside the south gate of Zhangzhou, a "Snake King Temple" was specially set up in the past. Its function is to relieve the pain of snake bites-the effective range is limited to being bitten by snakes in the city, and it is invalid for snakes in the countryside.

People who eat snakes are regarded as aliens because they are afraid of snakes.Simply eat the snake into the stomach like the Cantonese, not only can completely eliminate one's own fear, but also double the other party's fear. In traditional Chinese food culture, all delicious things are good medicines at first, and snakes are no exception.When the ancestors met, they should not greet "Have you eaten yet?", but "Is there any good medicine?" However, the snake's medicinal effect was a bit weird from the beginning, just like a snake.The chapter of "Hainei Nanjing" states: "Ba snake eats an elephant, and its bones come out at the age of three. A gentleman takes it, and there is no heart disease." Regarding this vague "heart disease", there are various academic opinions. .Of course, there are also people who believe that the so-called "gentleman's heart disease" is actually hunger.However, since it is a food for curing hunger, why call it "serving it"?

The "medicinal properties" are very prominent in Guangdong's snake dishes.According to the historical records of Nanhai County, it used to be the most classic and authoritative snake restaurant in Guangdong "Snake King Man" (note: it has closed down). Medicine merchants in Guangzhou and Guangzhou prospered by supplying snake gallbladder and raw snakes.The "Snake King Man" he opened in Guangzhou, in addition to selling snake gallbladder as a call, also "developed" drugs such as "Three Snake Gallbladder Tangerine Peel" and "Three Snake Gallbladder Oil". "Recipe, mainly because Wu Manzai "discovered that snake meat has a good curative effect on rheumatism" during his research.In essence, there is no difference between the century-old "Snake King Man" restaurant and another century-old restaurant "Baozhilin" in Foshan.

Chinese medicine believes that snake gallbladder and snake meat have the miraculous effects of promoting qi and blood circulation, expelling wind and dampness, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, improving eyesight and strengthening liver, snake oil can prevent hardening of blood vessels, and snake tongue can relieve pain... In short, snake Her whole body is full of treasures, just like a biting ginseng. But this is not enough, the Cantonese are still hopelessly convinced that snake meat is far more nourishing and aphrodisiac than delicious. Ten percentage points higher.However, with the shortness and sharpness of the snake whip, the aphrodisiacs may temporarily abandon the belief of "complementing the shape with the shape" and convert to the character of the snake.Think about it too, if "using form" can really "complement form", it's better to simply follow the Shandong native Lu Fengning in "Liao Zhai" and swallow it whole with a snake like a spring onion.

Although the custom of eating snakes has lasted for thousands of years, during this period, apart from changing raw food to cooked food, and eating snake whips from snake gall, the art of cooking snakes has been sluggish for a long time, until the early 1990s "Snake Nest" ( That is, the advent of snake meat hot pot). Before "Snake Nest", snake dishes always focused on "snake soup".Song Zhuwo's ​​"Pingzhou Ketan" has a record of "Guangnan eats snakes and sells snake soup in the city", and Mr. Jiang Kongyin's "Taishi Five Snake Soup" pushed it to the top.So far, snake dishes in Hong Kong are still dominated by snake soup, and they are still satisfied with the pitiful enjoyment of a bowl of sticky stuff full of chrysanthemums and a small bowl of moist sausage rice.

Of course, snake gallbladder is always the most essential part of snakes, and it is also the favorite of traditional snake eaters.Under the guidance of this erroneous idea that the word "bu" is at the top, the traditional way of eating is mainly based on snake gallbladder. In Hong Kong and Taipei, this ancient style of "getting one gallbladder and discarding the whole body" is still practiced.Since snake meat has become a pity to be discarded, if it must be eaten, the heavy hand in the kitchen will not spare the condiments-"Snake King Man" was the best at this way during his lifetime.

The "dragon, tiger and phoenix meeting" (actually a luxurious version of snake soup) in the traditional snake cuisine was once a masterpiece of Cantonese cuisine, and it is becoming a legend at the same time. In the autumn of 1988, when the newly renovated "Snake King Man" on Paddle Road—almost the only snake restaurant in the country at that time—opened again, the main snake dishes on the menu were still fried snake willow and fried snake preserved And snake soup and the like.What can be matched with the trendy decoration is nothing more than an extra snake skewer, which tastes like a mutton skewer that cut corners. What's more terrible is that it still advertises "how many patients with rheumatic diseases have been cured". "Snake King Man" once had a big banquet on the first day of opening after renovation, and I was one of the guests.Eleven years later, this century-old store, which is well-known throughout China, was finally closed down by the Liwan District People's Court of Guangzhou City on the eve of the National Day due to poor management and difficulties in cash flow and wage arrears to employees.In fact, this century-old store closed down sadly. Apart from being unwilling to make progress and focus on its own business, it was basically beaten to death by snake meat hot pot. The reason why snake meat hot pot can become the terminator of "Snake King Man" and the traditional snake food represented by it is technically because of the simple and almost self-help method of hot pot.Secondly, it also marks the victory of real sensibility over such a specious rationality, which is the victory of taste. Putting snakes in a hot pot, Cantonese people become a "snake-beating nest".There are many forms of Dabianlu. My favorite way to eat is to start with a hot pot, which is completely a homely way of Dabianlu. In the hot pot soup base prepared in advance by the store, Chuanxiong, wolfberry and red dates are added as usual. I am not used to the traditional Chinese medicinal materials commonly used by Cantonese people, so I only need clear soup (more exquisite restaurants will take out snake bones and boil them into soup base).Then, chop up one or half a chicken (non-local chickens are not allowed, foreign chickens and native snakes cannot communicate), a soft-shelled turtle weighing about one catty, and serve in pieces.When the soup in the pot starts to boil, you can stew the chicken first, and then put the soft-shelled turtle.The soft-shelled turtle and chicken are cooked in one furnace, sitting on the stove and simmering slowly.On the other side, a giant snake has been slaughtered, and now it is the turn of the protagonist to appear: it can be cut into a finger-length, crystal-clear snake (section), or it can be cut into a snake that is not thick and not thin piece.When the initial aroma of the soft-shelled turtle and chicken is overflowing, it is a great time to add the snake to the soup. The true taste of snake meat is very subtle, between chicken and fish, that is to say, under the rendering of chicken and soft-shelled turtle, the deliciousness of snake meat has been restored to the greatest extent, and its freshness and sweetness can only be interpreted to the fullest. An unprecedented and incisive realm. I estimate that the person who pioneered this eating method was probably also reading "Liao Zhai" with a heart.The similar way of eating and the similar taste can be found in "Huan Snake": There are visitors from Zhongzhou who live in the Snake Buddha Temple.The monks in the temple have dinner, the broth is very delicious, and the sections are round, like chicken necks.Asked the monastery monk: "Why do you get so many things by killing chickens?" The monk said: "This snake has segmented ears." In Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the old woman who pulled out the hair of the dead corpse also accused in her self-defense: "The woman I pulled out the hair just now (before she was alive) cut the snake into four inches long, dried it in the sun, and said it was dry. Fish, sold in the camp with knives. If there is no plague, I’m afraid I’ll sell it now. This person is also the same. The dried fish sold by this woman is said to be good, and those with knives regard it as an indispensable dish material to buy." It is said that "worms are snakes and snakes are fish". According to research, it is because "the ancient character for snake is used as it, which is similar to the false sound; the false sound is changed to fish, so the snake is renamed fish."However, as far as taste is concerned, the relationship between snakes and fish may not only exist in the change of pronunciation. Who is our food and who is not is the first question of eating and drinking.However, this problem is far from simple.In addition to nutrition, health, and individual differences, there are many distractions such as colonialism, racism, and tribal or regional prejudices within ethnic groups.Even resorting to the law does not completely solve the problem, for example, the law states that it is not allowed to eat food in a restaurant without paying, and it is not allowed to eat monkeys in a restaurant without paying, but, The law does not specify whether people can eat electricity, whether they can eat their own or other people's scabs. The story of scab addiction can be found in "Southern History·Liu Muzhi Biography Attached to Yong Biography".Liu Yong, Duke of Nankang, "is addicted to eating scabs...Tasting the dreams of Lingxiu, Lingxiu first suffered from scabs, and the scabs fell on the bed. Because of eating it, Lingxiu was shocked. Yong replied: "Sex I am addicted to'...the two hundred officials in Nankang state do not ask whether they are guilty or not, they hand them whips, and the scabs are often given as food." All schools of historiography have nailed this aberration to the pillar of historical shame, Or denounce it as "the madness and violence of the landlord class".In addition to class nature and personal taste, if you ask Western medicine, Liu Yong may be suffering from zinc deficiency.Zinc is a nutrient for the production of taste bud cells. Insufficient intake will deteriorate the metabolism of taste bud cells, resulting in abnormal taste and abnormal eating behavior. Patients often take the initiative to find something abnormal to satisfy the abnormal taste.Even today, reports of humans eating foreign objects such as glass and iron nails are still heard from time to time.The news about eating computers is not far away when it appears in the newspapers. Glass and iron nails are all inorganic substances, including the "stone marrow" that Ji Kang and Wang Lie ate when they saw a crack in a rock in Zhang Dai's "Night Sailing Boat".This happened to Ji Kang and his friends, not only did they never disdain human beings, but on the contrary, they doubled the coolness of celebrities.The nature of the problem is relatively bad for the heterophagia of organic matter.What Liu Yong ate was scabs of human skin, moreover, scabs of other people.If what he loves is only "the crispy crispy skin of suckling pig that is refined under the excellent skill of roasting and heat, which is crumbled when chewed, melts with a little sip, crispy and crispy, brown and tender" (Charles Lamb's "Roasting Pig Techniques") - the scabs made by the chef on the skin of the suckling pig; if he has a legitimate motive, such as to cure the disease, (Li Shizhen also suggested eating dandruff, earplugs, and paws in the prescription) A and human feces and urine, etc.), the name behind him may not be so embarrassing.Of course, Liu Yong's cravings are not politically correct because he has absolute power, and absolute power leads to absolute indiscriminate eating. Sometimes, eating indiscriminately is not entirely a biochemical effect.When I was eight, I tried to eat the same belt twice a year, driven by a powerful human element.It is a classmate who also admires heroism.Squatting in the field, at the same time pulled out the belt around the waist and put it on the fire to roast. After eating a mouthful of paint, they stood up again, and the pants fell off together.Incidentally, I think that Chaplin eating his own leather shoes in The Gold Rush is, in my opinion, the most touching scene in the history of cinema as far as leather goods are concerned.According to research, those delicious leather shoes were made from black licorice jelly with rock sugar in a candy store in Los Angeles. The most exciting strange food scene I have witnessed is eating electricity.More than ten years ago, I was introduced to a guru at the dinner table.The master said that he was nothing special, but because of an accident when he was young, he was exposed to excessive cobalt-60, and then he felt that his body could be electrified without hindrance, and he was no longer interested in food without electricity, only eating electricity, and Only eat AC, DC can only be used as afternoon tea or canned food.Now eating on the same stage with everyone is just to perfunctory ordinary social etiquette.While talking, the ambassador got a little hungry, so he stuck his index finger into the power socket on the wall, stretched out his other hand towards me, and politely invited, "You want some too?" Common sense is above all, and human feelings are below. Faced with this special social etiquette, I had no choice but to take three steps back, and thanked me more politely: "The dishes in this restaurant have always been generous with salt. The electricity in the house must also be It will be too salty. You use it slowly, so let’s avoid it next time.” I hate medicinal food the most. Whenever someone invites me to eat medicinal food, I will curse bitterly in my heart: "It's better to just invite me to take medicine." Medicinal materials grab the taste, and the taste of food is often succumbed to its lustful power and destroyed, so most of the medicinal diets are not delicious; secondly, medicine is medicine, and vegetables are vegetables. They confuse these two things together, and the result is that medicine is not like medicine, dishes are not like vegetables, restaurants are not like restaurants, and pharmacies are not like pharmacies. In addition to differences in functions and evaluation systems, the behaviors of taking medicine and eating vegetables are also very different.Before ordering, under normal circumstances, the host will usually ask the guests what they like to eat, whether they are fond of sweets and soft or afraid of spicy food. They can’t ask each of the men and women here about their physiques one by one. Is it spleen deficiency or anger, dampness and heat?Kidney deficiency? There is no loss for diners, anyway, eating is not bad for people, but in the long run, the prospects of the two major industries of catering and drug sales are really very uncertain.A few years ago, a large company specializing in medicinal materials in Hong Kong opened several herbal cuisine restaurants in one go on the street, but the response from the market was not enthusiastic.However, this does not stop latecomers from unremitting exploration and efforts, instead of directly adding medicine to the dishes, they will adopt indirect methods.A shop selling Xinjiang mutton in Guangzhou advertised that his sheep "drink mineral water and eat Chinese herbal medicine."Consciously taking wild herbs during life will not help to improve the meat quality. The story the store wants to tell is actually: eating part or whole of a sheep that knows how to take medicine to nourish is equivalent to taking medicine and paying extra money. Eat down the kind of innate self-nourishing mechanism.I believe, at least among readers, this is definitely a strong hint, because it is the same model as Tang Monk Meat. They are all perseveringly persuading you to take medicine, and they are all trying their best to coax us to take medicine.Those who open a restaurant desperately inject the concept of medicine, how can they deal with the situation of opening a pharmaceutical factory and opening a pharmacy?Is it necessary to launch "chowder multivitamins" or "oil-free cholesterol-lowering capsules"? Contempt for the senses and admiration for the internal organs is actually just the surface of the culture, but in fact, the two are the exterior and interior of each other.If you can convince a person who often can’t help but slip out to dance to believe that dancing has some kind of physical exercise function, he will dance with more peace of mind, more righteousness and more refreshment. This is also a way for a glutton to convince himself and others theoretical weapon. If the relationship between the two cannot be righted, you will not be able to eat well when you are gluttonous, and you will not be able to take medicine when you are sick.Those who are not sick only take medicinal food, and those who are really sick are eager to find medicine all over the world, so there is no such leisure.Cantonese people have a saying of "medical belly", but it refers to hungry and urgent, looking for some food and eating it at random, not urgent illness. For those who are really sick to the point of being incurable, those who have conditions, those who do not have conditions, and those who create conditions, it is very easy to reach a final consensus: eat what you should eat, and eat what is delicious What, nothing more. Many years later, few people will recall their happy life before weaning.Dairies are earnestly trying to revive that memory.They spent huge sums of money to create beautiful scenes related to milk, making drinking milk a fashion. Foodie Mr. Cai Lan is a milk admirer: "Watching "Days of Being Wild", James Dean (James Dean) came home in the middle of the night, opened the refrigerator, took out a large glass bottle of milk. After drinking, stick the frozen bottle on his face On, friction and friction, really stylish. Since then, I fell in love with drinking milk. In the United States and Canada, people drink milk desperately, so they grow up quickly, even their parents are short orientals, and the next generation and As tall as foreigners, this is definitely not genetics, it is all thanks to milk." Scientific research results continue to support the claim that drinking milk can help grow taller.And it is emphasized that drinking milk must start from the baby.A recent research report published by the University of Hong Kong shows that the short stature of Chinese people has nothing to do with race or genetics, but has something to do with acquired factors.The growth height of Hong Kong children under the age of two is very close to the standard of the World Health Organization. After weaning and switching to porridge as the staple food, their nutrient absorption lags behind that of foreign children.The total calories of porridge are 15% less than milk products, and calcium and vitamin D, which are very important for bone growth, are 60% and 80% less respectively. For nearly fifteen years, the pro-milk and anti-milk factions of the world have been at odds with each other.Harvey Diamond, a well-known anti-milk representative who taught at the American Academy of Health Sciences, once asserted: "It has been confirmed by all parties that most Chinese people do not drink milk, but there are very few people who suffer from osteoporosis. People who drink milk For example, Americans, British, Finns, etc., suffer from this disease in a relatively high proportion. Drinking milk not only fails to attract calcium, but also blocks people's absorption of calcium." There are radical animal protectionists, whenever they see someone drinking milk, they will come forward and show some photos politely, showing the painful expressions of the cows when the milk is forced out, and exhort everyone compassionately: milk is for It is prepared for calves, and it is only suitable for calves to drink. Humans do not have the digestion ability of cattle.It is unnatural, illogical, and almost comical for humans to drink milk. Has been developed or potential milk consumers, it is difficult to judge who is more convincing than who.There is no doubt that there are only two facts in front of us: First, the NBA after the relaxation of labor relations will still be exciting.The reason why we can only Love This Game but miss Join This Game or even Win This Game is because we are not tall enough.Second, for multinational companies and some countries where there are more cows than people, milk and its products are an almost astronomical business, especially in the Asian market where they are not tall enough. Economists pointed out that the Asian financial turmoil has taught Asians not only the lack of a financial system, but also taking this opportunity to reflect on the unlimited pursuit of high growth and development dominated by Protestant ethics and the belief in conquering nature.They questioned: Is the pursuit of high growth really that important? Regardless of your opinion on milk, you can actually ask yourself: Is "being as tall as a foreigner" really that important?