What do people usually eat in the Ming Dynasty? Do you eat three meals aday?

One of the topics that caused "international influence" in the MingDynasty was "what to eat."

For example, in the notes of many European missionaries from the 16th to the17th centuries, the topic of "what to eat" in the Ming dynasty mademany European readers salivate: Portuguese Creus' "Chinese History"describes the Ming dynasty as "excellent Food and drinks. " Inaddition to staple foods such as rice, wheat, and vegetables, there are avariety of meats including pork, beef, and a large number of aquaticproducts. There are hawkers everywhere in the city, and food can be boughteverywhere, so "Chinese are big eaters."

In the Spanish book "Remembering China's affairs of Daming" by Radain Spain, the common people along the coast of Fujian in the Ming Dynasty alsoate a variety of meats, not only common meats such as grilled meat, smokedchicken, bacon, pigeon and turtledove There are also various methods anddetailed records showing how many Europeans drool.

In Matteo Ricci's "China Pass" and "Ricci's Notes toChina", the Ming Dynasty had fertile land and highly developed productionin the south, so "people like to eat, drink, and wander." Forordinary people, the price of rice, wheat, fish and fruits is very cheap,especially the cultivation and production of rice, which is "much richerthan Europe".

So the real diet of Daming people is really written by theseforeigners? From the historical background, during the Jiajing to Wanliyears of the Ming Dynasty, the lives of these foreigners were mainlyconcentrated in the southeast coastal areas. If we refer to historicaldata from China, Chen Shun recalled in the year of "Disorderly Departureand Seeing and Recording" that during Wanli years, Guangdong's rice wasonly 20 yuan, meat was 67 yuan, and fish was 12 yuan. In fact, as Matteosaid, "the price is cheap." So ordinary people live "in everypossible way" and eat a lot.

Can people everywhere in the Ming Dynasty really "love to eat anddrink", or even "become a big diner", as these foreignersrecord?

According to the records of Wenzhou Prefecture during the Ming Hongzhi period,ordinary farmers in Wenzhou began to work every spring equinox, and only had alittle leisure time when harvesting late rice in winter. However, thewomen at home are still busy. Even the 60- or 70-year-old woman in thispoor family had to make money for others. It's too difficult, three mealsa day, two meals in the morning and evening are porridge, eat dry rice atnoon. Most of the dishes offered are aquatic products. Thecontemporary "Jiaxing House Records" describes the life of peasant familiesin the same way, but during the Duanyang Festival, everyone can collect moneyto drink, which is called "Sailehui", a small luxury product.

Of course, this life is also based on the premise of good weather. It canalso be seen that even if God takes care of the farmers, their lives are stilldifficult.

Compared with the diet of farmers, the diet of urban civilians is relativelyrich. According to the "Complete Collection of Foods That Must BeUsed at Home in the Ming Dynasty" statistics, the diet of ordinary peoplein the "first-tier cities" of the Ming Dynasty includes variousfoods, such as "tiger fish", "bacon", "windchicken", "sour bamboo shoots", " Sauerkraut ","dried radish ". Compared with the extravagance and waste thatprevailed at the time, the diets of those doctors who claimed to be "nofood" were much more vulgar.

For example, in winter when food is scarce, official families in Beijing havetheir own greenhouses, and they can grow vegetables even when it is coldoutside. You can even eat fresh cucumbers. What about ordinarypeople's homes? You can only eat cabbage or pickled kimchi stored in thecellar. If you have money but no money, you will see if you can eat freshfood.

However, the diet of the Ming people was much richer than in previousdynasties. Food and even vegetables from different regions are usuallylocated in different places. "Rumenglu" records that in Kaifengin the Ming Dynasty, there were many shops selling "odd" dishes, notonly the "dried vegetables" in the south, but also some inexpensivefresh vegetables.

However, the record in Xie's "Five Miscellaneous Books" of MingDynasty vividly witnessed the "dietary consumption" of the MingDynasty. When Xie came to Beijing at the age of 20 (1587), he wanted tobuy meat in the capital, but he could only buy chicken, duck, cattle andsheep. Buying a fish is extremely difficult. But when Xie was fortyyears old (1607), the market in Beijing was full of a lot of southernspecialties, such as silverfish, turtles and crabs, and the prices were much cheaperthan the market at the time.

However, despite the "rude" diet of ordinary people in the Mingdynasty, the enthusiasm of ordinary people in the Ming dynasty, especiallyurban ordinary people, to become a "big diner" is indeed as high asdescribed by Matteo. Since the middle of the 16th century, the phenomenonof urban extravagance and waste in the Ming Dynasty has been rampant. Foodconsumption cannot be "exempt from vulgarity". For example, ordinaryfamilies in Jiangnan often use "bunches of dishes" to holdbanquets. Food on the table can be piled up to ten feet high. Notonly meat and vegetables, but also a variety of rare fruits and sweets, evenrare items like turtledove and horse milk. As a result, the cost of livingfor "a meal that takes months to sustain for a while" has been gonefor months.

This increasingly luxurious atmosphere also made the catering industry of theMing Dynasty promising. During the Wanli period, Shen Shixing, a cabinetofficial and a bachelor of art, lamented in his notes, "Today's capitalhas tens of millions of dollars in sauce and ivory income." In otherwords, the small businessman who is engaged in slaughtering and even saltingsauce has tens of millions of assets, which is fatter than his "old cabinet".

This heat consumption is often considered evidence of Ming Dynasty's"richness." However, it must be said that most of theseprosperity scenes occurred in the economically developed areas of the MingDynasty, and they were more concentrated in the "ZTE" era of the middleand late Ming Dynasty. If you look at the late Ming Dynasty, it's also a"what to eat" topic, but this is another shocking scene.

For example, during the Chongzhen Year, Ming Dynasty official Ma Maocai's"Preparing for the Disaster of Chen Chen Disaster" described indetail the "dietary life" of the people in northern Shaanxi: thegovernment's relief could not come in the year when the Yan'an government didnot gain. Hungry people eat grass on the mountain first, then bark andbark. They can only eat the rocks on the mountain. This kind of stonecalled "bluestone" smells fishy and can only be eaten alittle. However, after eating, they "died from abdominal distensionand fall within a few days", and the scene was miserable.

After seeing this tragedy, I believe it is not difficult to understand why thelate Ming, who claimed to have an "elegant" life, suddenly fell intochaos in the northwest, until the chaos began in Liaoyuan and engulfed theentire dynasty. A "what to eat" question, like a barometer, summarizesthe rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.

However, if we compare this situation with those of our contemporaries, it willstill be on the victims' heads, allowing them to eat "delphiniumcakes" that "bluestone" does not have. Let's take a look atthe bureaucrats who enjoyed "eating fine" in late Ming Dynasty. Theytalked about "people's livelihood" when they were full, but theyworked hard for the party. The shocking contrast behind the prosperity,and even the profound lesson of the demise of the Ming Dynasty after thecontrast. Hundreds of years later, just looking at the question of"what to eat" was as exciting and echoing as the echo.

Reference: "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Records of the MingDynasty", "Records of the Dream", "Five MiscellaneousBooks", "Must-eat food in the Ming Dynasty", "WuzhouMansion", "Jiaxing Mansion", "Social Life History of theMing Dynasty", Chen Baoliang, "Peasants in the Late MingDynasty" "History of War", Gu Cheng's "Into the LateMing", He Ziquan 0103010

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