Chapter 43 ice room

Although the ice sports in our country have been poor for a long time, the ice-eating movement has been in full swing.A century before "31 Kinds" and "Haagen-Dazs" entered China, there was a Chinese ice cream store in Guangzhou, which was called "ice room" in Cantonese. However, there are not many ice rooms left in Guangzhou now. Apart from the time-honored "Meidu Ice Room" in Xiguan, there is also a "Sunshine Ice Room" that is booming in business. Unfortunately, although Guangzhou people are the first to create the "ice cream" It’s a romantic word, but it doesn’t taste romantic at all. In terms of taste, it’s not even as good as the candied haws sold on the streets in the north—ice cream is not the main business of “Sunshine Ice Room” nowadays, it is famous for selling “cooked dog meat”.Ice cream shops selling dog meat is actually a special tradition in the Guangzhou ice room industry.In the past, because no one went to "eat ice" in winter, the ice room sold dog meat in autumn and winter. Even if it is summer, it is unlikely that people will meet at the "Sunshine Ice Room" to eat ice.

When I first arrived in Guangzhou, I always attached the "Ice Room" to the "Ice Drinking Room" of Mr. Liang Qichao, a member of Guangdong Xinhui. Things gradually disappeared from Guangzhou, and Liang Rengong's former residence of ice drinking room in Tianjin is said to be doomed to be demolished. In a city located in the subtropical zone, the romance in the "ice room" is still secondary, the main function is to cool down and drive away the internal heat, "I am ordered to drink ice at night, and I will be hot inside?" However, Liang Rengong is just It's just meaning, in comparison, Su Manshu's behavior is much more "physical".According to Zhang Taiyan's Preface to Manshu's Posthumous Paintings, Su Manshu "drank five or six catties of ice a day in Japan, and he couldn't move at night. People thought he was dead, and he was still alive, and he would drink ice again tomorrow."Quantifying the spiritual pursuit of loneliness and calmness into the practice of "drinking five or six catties of ice" is cool no matter how you look at it.

Except for Guangzhou, places dedicated to "eating ice" used to be rare in all parts of China.Twenty years ago, a female classmate from the medical school invited me to eat a "snowman" at Dong'an Market in Wangfujing. Although the pile of human-shaped ice cream is still fresh in my memory, I have forgotten the appearance of the female classmate. Clean. At the same time, it is not easy to verify whether the store in Dongan Market specializes in selling "ice".Before the 1980s, the "Bright" series of ice cream was once one of the "100 reasons to live in Shanghai", but red bean popsicles that cost four cents a piece and cream ice cream that cost eight cents a piece were also the same. Most of them are eaten on the street, and only the 40 cents medium ice bricks-in fact, this is the only "brick" that can be called "ice cream"-will happily take it home and enjoy it slowly.

Although ice bricks are delicious, you have to rely on another real "ice brick" to relieve the heat. The high temperature continues, and food stores in Shanghai have begun to sell this product. It is a fake "ice brick", just like As seen in the freezer of the meat joint factory, its size is similar to the Feiyue brand nine-inch black and white TV produced in Shanghai later.Early in the morning, everyone went to rush to buy with washbasins or lead buckets. When they came back, they carefully hid the "ice bricks" in the earthen "ice rooms" of each household, that is, they were usually used to put rice pots. In the heat-preserving "grass kiln", when drinking, use a kitchen knife or an ax to cut and dismember the ice bricks, and then put small pieces into orange powder, lily and mung bean soup or boiled water... A meaningful day is like having an ice sculpture festival.

The ice room declined with the popularity of refrigerators.In the era of lack of refrigerators, ice or food that needs to be stored at low temperature are under the resource monopoly of temperature.The popularity of refrigerators has enabled most people to build their own icehouses, but to carry kitchen knives and axes again. Today’s Shanghainese may feel a little blush, but that’s okay. Many years later, who hasn’t learned that the Cheka was in Mexico and Sharjah? After the common murder weapon used by Ron Stone on the bed, did he know that there is a more professional tool for dealing with ice?