In ancient times, how difficult was it to be a foodie?

Sometimes, when watching a costume TV series, I really covet the table full of delicious food. However, TV is TV. If you take it seriously, you will lose. Not to mention that even the actors may not eat the table of delicious food. Even if you travel back to ancient times, you may not be able to afford it.

Let’s first talk about a scene that we love to see in TV dramas. A certain hero with a majestic appearance walks into Yuelai Inn (why inns in various places in ancient times were called Yuelai, to be honest, I don’t know much about it. Well, it is speculated that Yuelai Inn is probably an ancient chain hotel like Home Inn. )

Let’s not talk about the inn, let’s talk about the hero. The hero came in and shouted: “Boss, come and have a bowl. Excellent beef ramen!" Before the boss over there agreed, the stage manager here who graduated from the history department should have jumped out and shouted stop. Why? There are too many questions in this sentence. Let’s talk about noodles first. Although noodles have a history of 4,000 years in China, and people have been eating noodles since the Neolithic Age, the noodles at that time were millet noodles, so it was impossible to make ramen. It wasn't until the Han Dynasty that something called "soup cake" appeared, which was somewhat close to the noodles we eat now. But the noodles at that time were either flakes or strips, which were very different from the noodles we talk about now. Ramen only began to appear in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, if the hero in the play was a hero from before the Tang Dynasty, let alone eating a bowl of ramen, I am afraid I have never even heard of it.

Okay, we won’t let you eat the noodles, but it’s okay to have two pounds of beef to go with the wine, right? Every time Liangshan heroes go to a store, don't they always shout: "Three to five kilograms of beef and a jar of good wine!" This is true in "Water Margin", because in the long history of China, only the Liangshan heroes of the Song Dynasty could do this. Eat beef, if other dynasties want to eat it, no way! Why? Because in ancient times, cattle were an important labor force for farming and could not be slaughtered casually. Common people don't even think about eating it. Only certain leaders can eat "special" beef. As the saying goes: "The emperor eats Tailao, cattle, sheep and hogs are all available. The princes eat cattle, and the ministers eat sheep." "The great men eat pigs, the scholars eat fish and vegetables, and the common people eat vegetables." Every dynasty has laws explicitly stipulating the protection of cattle, and those who can supply beef are black shops. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were legal provisions; those who stole cattle and slaughtered cattle were beheaded, and those who ate cattle were punished, and those who slaughtered cattle had to pay for the life of the cattle. The regulations in the Sui and Tang Dynasties were better; those who slaughtered cattle were sentenced to one year, and those who slaughtered cattle were sentenced to one year in prison. In the Song Dynasty, those who slaughtered cattle were punished One and a half years and a thousand miles of exile were stipulated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties; a cow-slaughterer who was beaten with a hundred sticks would be sentenced to one and a half years and a thousand miles of exile. Basically, eating beef in ancient times is similar to driving like crazy on Beijing’s Second Ring Road or stabbing someone with a knife in front of Uniqlo, which are all serious crimes. Therefore, unless you want to rebel with the Liangshan heroes, you should not even think about killing the cow and eating it.

Having said this, I feel depressed for the ancient heroes. Why don’t I eat something? Just slap your thighs and eat the simplest scrambled eggs with tomatoes! You won’t risk beheading your head this time, right? "Sorry, no." The stage manager from the history department spoke again. Tomatoes were introduced to China and began to be eaten. It was during the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty. The heroes of the previous dynasty wanted to eat them but they hadn't grown them yet. "Then just fry an egg with peanut oil!" "Sorry, peanut oil is a South American crop. , we have to wait until Columbus discovers the New World."

"Then just fry some vegetables in an iron pot."

"Sorry, iron pots were not available until the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty. The heroes can only make do with boiled vegetables."

"Well, if you don't eat vegetables, there are always steamed buns, right?"

"Sorry, steamed buns are from the Three Kingdoms period. Only then, the previous heroes could only order sesame cakes to satisfy their hunger."

"Well, I won't eat any of these. Let's have some watermelon to quench my thirst."

"I'm sorry, watermelon was popular in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the past, they were all "imported" precious and rare fruits, which were rarely seen in the market..."

"I didn't even eat the fruits! I just came to the head office for a pot of tea! Are you ready?"

"I'm sorry, tea only existed in the Han Dynasty, but until the Tang Dynasty, only officials could afford to drink it, and ordinary people could just make do with some leaves..."< /p>

Looking at the history of foodies in ancient China, I have to be grateful that I grew up in an era where even in a small town like Tangshan, you can eat delicacies from all over the world, and there are people who can cook them in various ways. What an honor it is for you to do it!