What are the characteristics of Xiamen's food culture?

The staple food in southern Fujian is rice, so people's staple food is rice. Minnan people like to use canned early rice for dry rice, japonica rice for porridge and glutinous rice for some etiquette food. However, due to some differences in the specific environment in different places, the eating methods in different places are slightly different. In the coastal areas of southern Fujian, people usually eat porridge commonly known as "rice" in the morning and evening, stuffy dry rice commonly known as "granular rice" at noon, and eat more sweet potato porridge or sweet potato porridge commonly known as "sweet potato rice" or "sweet potato chips". Let's take this article to take a closer look at the food culture characteristics of Xiamen! Drinking ordinary tea Xiamen people have the habit of drinking morning tea. Call tea "MC Davi" and compare it with rice; Calling drinking tea "eating tea" is a foothold with eating. During the Republic of China, there were thirty or forty tea shops in Xiamen, and tobacco stalls and grocery stores also sold tea. People drink tea, some at home, and some go to the "tea table boy" to drink tea. The so-called coffee table boy usually puts several tables and benches in the shops in the alley to make tea for customers. This custom arose in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Boys at tea tables often "talk about the past". Drink a pot of tea slowly and listen to Talking about Ancient Immortals, The Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin. You can often hear many strange stories, folklore and the latest news. There are tea gardens bigger than coffee tables in front of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, such as "China Tea Garden". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were collectively operated "tea rooms" and "teahouses". After 1979, teahouses, tea rooms and tea houses opened one after another; Many hotels and restaurants offer morning tea, afternoon tea and evening tea. At home or on the coffee table, there are often "tea matches" (that is, refreshments), such as fried dough sticks, fried dates, hair or other cakes, which can replace breakfast. For personal use or hospitality, there are peanut cakes, tribute sugar, candied fruit and so on. , mainly dessert. In the 1980s and 1990s, morning tea, afternoon tea or evening tea in hotels and restaurants evolved into flavor snacks, which were found in Fujian, Guangdong and Hong Kong, and became a new way of communication and folk activities, a product of the combination of traditional tea culture, food culture and modern civilization.

Wine Custom Every holiday season, people in Xiamen have the custom of drinking. During the Spring Festival, the old custom in Xiamen is to invite people to eat spring wine to welcome the spring. During the Dragon Boat Festival, "drink realgar wine, wipe children's nose with wine, and wipe the wall bed of the house to eliminate the five poisons". Some carved realgar bubble shochu all over the environment and damp places during the Dragon Boat Festival to kill mosquitoes and flies, and even put the magical symbol of "gradually ear" on yellow paper with realgar wine behind the door, saying that it was to prevent evil spirits from invading. Make cakes, drink and enjoy the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. When drinking reunion wine on New Year's Eve, the whole family should drink some, and those who can't drink tea should use tea instead of wine. According to the ancient custom, the elderly often drink "Tu Su wine" or "Wujiapi wine". Tu Su wine is made by soaking Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Cortex Cinnamomi, Radix Saposhnikoviae, Radix Platycodi, Polygoni Multiflori Radix, Semen Phaseoli, etc. "After drinking it on the first day of the New Year's Day, all the unhealthy qi in the epidemic disease disappeared." Acanthopanax senticosus wine "has magical effects when soaked in acanthopanax bark and some drugs."

When engaged, there is "engagement wine"; There is a "wedding banquet" when you get married, and you should "toast" when you enter the bridal chamber. Children have "full moon", "four months" and "New Year's Eve" (one year old), all of which are "wedding banquets". There is also a "birthday wine" to celebrate birthdays. "commemorative wine" scattered on the ground in front of the tomb. The life process of birth, illness and death has become an ancient custom. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, wine customs were abolished, and some were not abolished.

In addition, there are "downwind wine" to see me off and "welcome wine" to welcome me home, both of which are folk wine customs. Making friends with a glass of wine and making peace with a glass of wine is also the custom of Xiamen wine. The old record said, "Sometimes a glass of wine can dispel a little anger."

There must be wine in the banquet on holidays. "No wine is a feast." So a banquet is called a banquet. The first glass of wine should be drunk with red wine, which means "something red". This custom has been used to this day. You should also ask for a drink at the funeral. "At the beginning of the funeral, you should buy wine and invite guests." Worship ghosts and gods and the dead can't be separated from wine.

Taking wine as tonic, medicinal liquor is called tonic wine. Many families make their own medicinal liquor according to the formula. Whenever the cold solar terms are supplemented, you should drink some tonic wine, especially for older people, and drink a little at ordinary times. Maternal women generally drink "old wine". "Old wine" takes glutinous rice as raw material, which has low degree, high nutrition, fragrant taste and sweet taste. Children in Xiamen should also take supplements during adolescence (commonly known as "getting old"). Adding some "old wine" or "medicated wine" to stews such as chicken and duck ribs is considered as a supplement.

At the wedding reception, pay attention to etiquette. First, the groom's parents give a welcome speech, and then raise a glass to propose a toast. The first glass is red wine. There must be chicken soup in the banquet. As soon as this chicken dish comes out, the bride and groom will toast at every banquet. If the bride and groom don't drink much, they can be drunk by "the groom's partner" and "the bride's partner". After the bride and groom propose a toast, both parents also propose a toast to their relatives or peers. Other guests also toasted the bride, groom and their parents.

Pour wine with eight as a gift. That's what "seven points for tea and eight points for wine" means. Often said "full" is just eight points down.

Nothing is impossible. At the banquet, the first cup is a toast, the second cup is often said to be a man, and the third cup is the so-called no three no gifts. That is what the banquet often says: "wine leads three rounds." When offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and ghosts and gods, you can also dip your thumb and middle finger into the glass, and then play it in the air three times or once before, before and after, giving away 30%.

Common customs daily meals are: "three meals a day, one night at night." As the saying goes, "solar eclipse" refers to three meals a day; "Eating" usually refers to rice noodles, porridge rice and vegetables. Xiamen is used to eating three meals a day, dry rice at noon and broken rice in the morning and evening (dialect, meaning porridge). There are many kinds of mi:

Mashing sweet potato, cutting into pieces or planing into strips with fresh sweet potato; In addition, round or striped dried sweet potatoes can be cooked with japonica rice. In salty porridge, there are taro porridge, oyster porridge, fish porridge and duck porridge. Generally "glutinous rice" (glutinous rice) is cooked with duck meat and ingredients. Put some celery beads (five grains) when it is almost cooked, add some fried dried beans, peanuts and "onion oil" when eating, sprinkle some peppers, and add some "oil to eat _" (fried dough sticks), which is full of color, flavor and characteristics.

Sweet porridge can be stewed with mung beans and glutinous rice mixed with sugar, usually eaten in summer and hot days, which has the effect of cooling down and reducing fire; Longan porridge stewed with dried longan meat, glutinous rice and sugar is often eaten in cold winter and has the function of enriching blood and benefiting qi.

Salted rice includes taro rice, bean rice, cabbage (cabbage) rice, radish rice, mustard rice and oil rice, mainly vegetables, commonly known as vegetable rice. Using the above different vegetables, mix some dried oysters, shrimp skin, meat and japonica rice or glutinous rice respectively, fry in oil and cook; "fried rice" is also called "glutinous rice (glutinous rice) salty rice", and the ingredients are exquisite. In addition to diced meat and dried oysters, shrimp, mushrooms, chestnuts or lotus seeds are often added, similar to the ingredients of jiaozi with minced meat. Oily, stir-fried with slow fire until cooked, so it is called "fried rice". Sprinkle some scallion oil and pepper when eating vegetable rice. Sweet rice is generally sweet glutinous rice, commonly known as "glutinous rice cake" or "rice cake" for short. Steamed with brown sugar is called "Redmi rice cake"; Steamed with white sugar is called "white rice cake", which often contains some red dates and dried longan.

The side dishes of breakfast with porridge are very distinctive, such as "lotus seed beans", "big kernel", "fried kernel" and "scrambled eggs with vegetables" (scrambled eggs with dried radish). There are many kinds of pickles, such as bamboo shoots, buckwheat heads, ginger sauce, vegetable tonic (pickled radish strips), pickled melon seeds, bean curd and black fermented beans. There are also "wheat snails" (yellow mud snails), "salted duck eggs" and "mushroom sauce", as well as floss, bacon and "fried dough sticks", tofu and so on.

The home cooking for lunch mainly includes: fried celery with dried bean curd, fried leek with bean sprouts, fried pork slices with garlic, boiled oysters with bitter gourd, sealed meat with betel nut taro, and boiled rice and blood with garlic. Rice blood is made by pouring pig blood or chicken and duck blood on glutinous rice in a bowl, steaming and solidifying, then cutting into pieces and frying with green garlic. There are also boiled green garlic with white fish (hairtail), fried green pepper with small rolls (small squid), stewed meat with strong fish, steamed white pomfret, sweet and sour fish (mackerel), boiled pickles with fish, red-haired fishy and fried cuttlefish. Soups include duck egg black fungus soup, vegetable head meat and bone soup, small intestine peanut soup, pig blood soup, chicken and duck abdominal soup, oyster roll soup, fish ball soup, pork belly lotus seed soup, simple clam soup and salad soup.

Besides three meals, there are snacks, such as yellow croaker noodle soup, boiled rice noodles with children, oyster noodle soup, shrimp noodle soup and bean stick soup. There are also ready-made snacks and snacks, such as flat soup, noodles, Satay Noodles, roast pork brown, steamed stuffed bun meat, fried dates, baked cakes and tofu flowers.

Dieting in 2008, the habit is to eat rice cakes in the New Year. The salty rice cakes in Xiamen are steamed with glutinous rice flour. There are melons (pumpkins), vegetable heads (radishes) and taro. Sweet cakes are steamed with glutinous rice.

Eat pancakes during the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and the third day (the third day of March). The reason why Xiamen people call pancakes is because there is an allusion to "old woman's cakes" (cakes made by my wife), and later "old woman" was mistaken for "thin"; Because the baked dough is very thin, unlike other places, it is called pancake. The stuffing of pancakes is shredded with Chinese cabbage, winter bamboo shoots, carrots, green pods, dried beancurd and green garlic, then mixed with shrimps and oysters, deep-fried and cooked, then cooked into pancake dishes and rolled with pancake skin. Seasonings include tiger moss (seaweed), coriander, garlic white, mustard, sweet sauce, hot sauce and so on.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, people steam turtles, peaches, dragonflies, fish and meatballs, which are made of glutinous rice flour paste and stuffed with mung bean paste, black sesame seeds and peanut crisp. After being wrapped, it is stamped with a wooden mold engraved with the patterns of Shougui, Shoutao, Qian (money string) and carp, and then steamed. Round is a red glutinous rice bag, which is also made by hand.

Eat glutinous rice balls in Shangyuan, half a year and winter solstice. Shangyuan "used rice balls to worship the gods and ancestors"; In June, "on the fifteenth day of the first month, cooking meals to worship the gods and ancestors is called half a year"; "Winter solstice? The rice is round. " Rice balls and rice circles symbolize reunion. In the way of eating, jiaozi with stuffing (lard, sesame, peanut crisp, bean paste) is often cooked in soup, while without stuffing (solid molasses, commonly known as icing) is eaten dry.

Eat oyster rice on February 2. "The earth god has a birthday and often eats in the oyster house." Oyster room rice is commonly known as oyster rice. This is a unique custom in Xiamen.

Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival. "Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th? Stickers win, glutinous rice remains "; On June 6th, Xiaomi was recommended to make zongzi to worship the land god. Before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, eat more sugar dumplings. However, Xia Zhangquan is an "alkali zongzi". On the other hand, making zongzi on June 6th is more distinctive.

Eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. Eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival is common all over the country, but it is only in Xiamen that this custom exists. Eating sweet potatoes and taro in addition to moon cakes is also a dietary custom of Xia Zhangquan. Old record: Mid-Autumn Festival: "Moon cakes are recommended at night, taro is offered to the gods and ancestors, and relatives and friends give each other relics."

Chongyang eats chestnut cakes. The "chestnut cake" in Xiamen is similar to the Chongyang cake in Lin 'an (now Hangzhou), with "broken chestnuts" stuck on it, and vendors only sell it on the Double Ninth Festival. The old custom provides it to the teacher.

Eat amaranth noodles in long summer. Eating amaranth noodles in long summer is also a unique food custom in Xiamen.

There are common sayings in Chongyang, Chushuang and beginning of winter that "it is better to make up the first frost once a year", "it is better to make up the Chongyang once a year" and "make up the winter". Xiamen people use "four things" (Guangxi, Qi, Shao and Di) to stew cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks, and add medicinal liquor to supplement them.

There should be a hot pot reunion around the stove on New Year's Eve. There must be fish, which symbolizes that you must eat boiled "blood cockroaches" (silver cockroaches) for more than a year. There is a saying that "mussels stay for the New Year and make a lot of money in the coming year".

Vegetarian Customs There are many vegetarian customs in Xiamen. Some devout men and women fast on Buddha's birthday and death day, so they must fast and be vegetarian. Fasting day for believers at home, commonly known as "eating cauliflower": there is a fasting day every month, that is, the fourth or sixth or tenth day; There are four fasting days, which are the first day, the eighth day, the fifteenth day and the twenty-third day of each month. There are also six days of fasting and ten days of fasting; Ramadan is three long days, that is, the first half of the first month, May and September (the first to fifteenth day) are fasting days; Some people eat "Lei Gong Zhai" in June, commonly known as "June Zhai"; There are also people who eat long lent, mostly elderly women. There used to be a vegetarian restaurant in Xiamen, which was quite famous.

Dietary taboos Xiamen people can't leave rice grains in the bowl after eating, otherwise the children will be accused by their elders; Adults or guests will also be considered "bad", "bad fortune-telling" or "not taught" not to throw rice grains when eating. When you eat sand, you can only pick it up and don't spit it out.

Xiamen proverb: "seven points for tea and eight points for wine", that is, only seven points for tea and eight points for wine. The stuffing is easy to overflow, wetting the guests' clothes and causing rudeness.

Don't put chopsticks in a bowl, because it is the same as putting chopsticks in a rice bowl when you are in mourning.

Don't knock on the bowl with chopsticks, because only beggars will knock on the bowl with chopsticks and beg from door to door.

Avoid using long and short chopsticks, thinking that one long and one short means that one of the host and guest died young.

Avoid using mottled chopsticks, one color at a time, which means that the family is not harmonious.

Avoid "cutting chopsticks", that is, two people cut chopsticks at the same time to form a cross, resulting in an embarrassing situation.

Avoid "tears chopsticks", that is, holding a chopstick with vegetables and soup, like tears dripping down, which is ridiculous.

Don't point at people with chopsticks, don't wave chopsticks when talking, and don't point at others with chopsticks. Xiamen Customs regards this as a sign of disrespect and impoliteness.

Avoid "fan chopsticks". Chopsticks reach for the food, hesitating, not knowing what to take. They are called "lost chopsticks", which is considered as a sign of lack of education.

You can't lick chopsticks. It is impolite to lick the food stuck to chopsticks in public.

No need to push or pull chopsticks. It is impolite to push and pull dishes with chopsticks for your own convenience or for the convenience of others.

Don't move chopsticks yet. At the beginning of the banquet, guests should not move chopsticks first, but wait until the host asks you or your elders to move chopsticks, otherwise it is impolite. Don't cut noodles with chopsticks. The longer the noodles, the better, which means longevity. Breaking them is considered unlucky.

White chopsticks should not be used for celebrations. Besides ivory and silver chopsticks, red chopsticks should be used, because white chopsticks are used for funerals. However, red chopsticks can be used in funerals for the elderly over 80 years old. People often compete for this kind of red chopsticks, which means that the living take care of the elderly.

Avoid six or nine bowls. Avoid 6 bowls or 9 bowls of vegetables on the dining table, and 6 bowls are regarded as "living sacrifices"; The word "nine" in Xiamen dialect is homophonic with "dog", so it is taboo.

The host can't clean up the dishes before the guests leave, otherwise it's impolite.

Avoid holding the bottom of the bowl. When serving the bowl, put your thumb on the edge of the bowl. If you put your finger on the bottom of the bowl, you will be considered a beggar.

Avoid pouring the soup bowl out, it's like giving alms to beggars.

Xiamen snacks are an important part of Xiamen's food customs. This is not only because Xiamen snacks reflect the imagination and creativity of Xiamen people. Its variety is rich and diverse, which is rare in China; Not only because Xiamen snacks are unique and unforgettable; And for Xiamen people, snacks can be snacks, meals and even banquets. There is no one in Xiamen who doesn't eat snacks. It has been deeply dissolved in Xiamen people's dietary customs and has become a preference, a habit and a folk custom. There are more than 200 kinds of flavor snacks in Xiamen, especially salty roasted meat jiaozi, fish ball soup, shrimp noodles, pancakes, taro buns, fried oysters, leek boxes, frozen bamboo shoots, satay noodles, fried onion rice and fried strips. Peanut soup, jiaozi soup, tribute cake, twist, fried chestnut rice, fried dates, fried garlic and flour tea are the most enduring sweets. Moreover, many traditional snacks have gradually evolved into exquisite, small, high-grade and diversified dishes, which have leapt to formal banquets and boarded elegant halls.

1, frozen bamboo shoots

Frozen bamboo shoots are a special snack in southern Fujian, and the frozen bamboo shoots in Anhai, Quanzhou are the most famous and delicious. According to legend, when Zheng Chenggong attacked Taiwan, there was a shortage of food and grass for a while, but he was strict in running the army and insisted on not accepting any funding from the people. At that time, the garrison was located near the sea. The soldiers went to the seaside to dig a lot of bamboo shoots for food, while Zheng Chenggong only ate soup cooked with bamboo shoots every day. In order to recover Taiwan Province as soon as possible, Zheng Chenggong often forgot to eat. One day, he didn't want his soldiers to keep him warm, so he ate frozen bamboo shoot soup directly. Unexpectedly, it is more delicious than bamboo shoot soup. Later, bamboo shoot soup was improved into bamboo shoot soup. In this way, the bean jelly of Anhai soil bamboo shoots gradually spread, and after the continuous improvement of the production method and seasoning by later generations, the well-known bean jelly of Anhai soil bamboo shoots was formed.

2. Sadie noodles

Xiamen and Nanyang's Satay noodles are inextricably linked. There are many overseas Chinese in southern Fujian. The ancestors of southern Fujian traveled across the ocean and settled in Nanyang, but they always maintained blood ties with their homeland, and overseas transportation and boat trips never stopped. Many overseas cuisines spread in southern Fujian, and sand tea was introduced to Xiamen by overseas Chinese from Malaysia (Indonesia). Nanyang has "sand tea cake" and "sand tea shrimp". This kind of "sand tea" spread to Xiamen, but it jumped into the soup pot and made a thick noodle soup-Satay Noodles, which was delicious, mellow, sweet and spicy. Most people who tasted it would be dumped by this delicious red and yellow, fresh and spicy.

3. Spring rolls

Spring rolls, also called pancakes, are traditional foods in southern Fujian, and eating pancakes is often a custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The origin of pancakes can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Cai was a famous Neo-Confucianism scholar in Tong 'an. When he was a governor in other provinces, he was diligent in government affairs and often forgot to eat or sleep. Mrs. Cai was worried that her husband would be hungry in the long run, so she came up with a way: wrap the dishes with dough and let her husband write with his right hand and eat with his left hand, which is very convenient. This is the prototype of pancake.

4. Peanut soup

Xiamen peanut soup is simple in materials, but exquisite in cooking. First, take out the defective peanuts, soak them in boiling water, then remove the film, add water and cook them in a casserole with slow fire. Sugar can only be put in peanuts when they are ripe. Continue to boil them in water until they are rotten. Then it is served with sweet and salty snacks, such as fried dough sticks, fried dates, leek boxes, meat buns, sweet buns, fried glutinous rice and so on.

5. Fried snapper

Oysters are fried with "pearl oyster" (a small oyster) as the main raw material. Eggs, sweet potato powder and minced garlic are evenly mixed, then put into a pot, and appropriate amount of lard is added until both sides are crisp and yellow. When eating, garlic paste, coriander, sand tea sauce and so on. Can be used as ingredients to achieve crispy and delicious effects.

In Taiwan Province Province, the earliest name of oyster omelet was "fried food chasing". According to folklore, in A.D. 166 1 year, the Dutch army occupied Tainan, and Zheng Chenggong led his troops from Luermen to recover the lost ground. When Zheng Jun was short of food, he used his quick wits. He just mixed clams and sweet potato powder with water and fried them into cakes. Unexpectedly, they spread to later generations and became popular snacks in the whole province.

6, fried spiced

Fried spiced system is to mix lean meat with onion, flat fish, water chestnut, duck egg, monosodium glutamate, superior soy sauce, sugar and spiced powder. Stir well, roll with bean bags and fry in oil pan until cooked. Cut into small pieces and serve with sand tea sauce. Spices such as hot sauce, mustard, radish acid, radish and sweet sauce are more delicious.

7. Xiamen Roasted Meat jiaozi

The reason for adding the definition of Xiamen roasted meat brown is that meat brown can be seen everywhere, but Xiamen production has its own characteristics. Xiamen meat dumplings taste sweet, oily but not greasy, and the color is bright red and yellowish. Most of them are made of mushrooms, dried shrimps, chestnuts, pork and glutinous rice. After fresh jiaozi is wrapped, it should be boiled in a pot until the water boils, and served with sand tea sauce, garlic, red hot sauce, seasoning soy sauce and coriander. It is really delicious. Need to be reminded that the meat dumplings should be eaten hot, otherwise the taste will be greatly reduced, so the roasted meat dumplings are worthy of the name. Authentic Xiamen roast pork belly brown, you must choose pork belly to cook, slow cooking, fat but not greasy, plus dried seafood, it tastes fragrant and delicious. It has always been the most famous incense, and at first it was meat palm. In the early years, overseas Chinese took delicious meat paws abroad from the dock.

Haoxiang is located at No.32 Dayuan Road, Xiamen, formerly known as Laicuo City, and was founded by Mr. Wang Chaoji in the 1940s. It is famous for its delicious snacks, such as "Roasted jiaozi" and "Taro Steamed Bun". The "Good Fragrance" located on Dayuan Road more than 50 years ago was just a small shop, and now it is the first multifunctional flavor restaurant in Xiamen, covering an area of 3,000 square meters and accommodating nearly 1,000 people at one time. It has a fast food restaurant, a bar, a multifunctional banquet hall and so on. , with its unique Xiamen flavor series, has become a typical representative of Xiamen cuisine today. Ludao's fragrant flavor, sea crab glutinous rice porridge, Geely manna ball, silver wire braised gold buttons and roasted meat zongzi won the gold medal in the national cooking competition.

8, horseshoe crisp

Horseshoe Crisp, known as "Sweet Cake", is a famous scenic spot in Xiamen and Quanzhou. Tongan's horseshoe crisp is the most famous. Horseshoe crisp was originally a court food in Tang Dynasty. At the end of Qing dynasty, Zhenjiang cake with the same name was copied and improved into noodles. This product is made of high-quality flour and red beans as raw materials, nuts as auxiliary materials, and fermented with glutinous rice. Because the finished product is thick around and thin in the middle, it looks like a horseshoe, hence the name. Its characteristics are crisp, loose and soft, with good color, fragrance and taste.