First, the management institutions The management institutions of court catering in the Qing Dynasty are mainly the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Guanglu Temple. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the general organ in charge of royal affairs, and its subordinate "Imperial Dining Room", "Imperial Tea Room" and "Imperial Tea Room" are institutions specializing in the management of the diet of the emperor and the royal family. The daily needs of rice, noodles, vegetables, sugar, wine, vinegar, etc. in the Imperial Kitchen of the Emperor are managed by the "Office in Charge of Customs and National Defense Management" under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Meat items such as chickens, ducks and pigs used in the Imperial Palace kitchen are mainly purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the cost is 42,000 silver, of which the Imperial Palace spends about 22,000 silver every year, which is distributed to the household department by Guanglu Temple on a quarterly basis; All the fresh fish are bought by Zhang. Among them, Zhili imported suckling pigs, suckling sheep, chickens, pheasants and ducks; Chongwenmen enters yellow croaker and October whitebait every Spring Festival Evening; Zhilibao Tianqiao Gorge in Texas enters the stone flower fish every winter; Shandong imports eucheuma, kelp, seaweed, auspicious dishes and shark's fin; Shanxi has imported stone flower ice fish and mud flower fish; Air-dried pork, spoiled goose eggs and spoiled duck eggs were introduced into Huaihe River. Dry whitebait and dried shrimp are introduced into Huguang; Jiangxi enters shrimp; In Mongolia, smoked pigs and dried venison are imported; Long reed salt is used to feed pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, flowers and fish. The vegetables that the emperor needed daily were purchased by the silver department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Every year, all localities also pay tribute to the imperial court for pickles and local specialties, including lentils and anchovies in Shandong; Zhejiang pickles, Hangzhou cuisine; Jiangsu enters all kinds of side dishes; Fujian enters Fujian ginger. In order to facilitate storage and ensure the freshness of vegetables and other foods, there are five ice banks in the Forbidden City, which store about 30,000 pieces of ice. According to the traditional customs of Manchu, the emperor had breakfast and dinner every day. Breakfast was mostly in Maozheng, and sometimes it was postponed to Chen Zheng (around 6: 00 am to 8: 00 am), and dinner was mostly at noon and late at night (around noon 12: 00 am to 2: 00 am). After two main meals, add a snack each. If you need food temporarily, you can pass it in at any time. In summer and autumn, breakfast and dinner should be half an hour in advance. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty had a fixed time and place to eat. The place of eating is not fixed, mostly in the emperor's bedroom or activity place. Emperors after Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty used the back hall of hall of mental cultivation as their living quarters, read the throne in the main hall of hall of mental cultivation, summoned ministers and handled government affairs. Since then, I have often eaten at Dongnuange in hall of mental cultivation. Wherever the emperor goes, there are always several attendants around him who are responsible for "lifting the table". As long as the emperor wants to have dinner, with the order of "passing the meal", the attendants who carry the table immediately spread out three tables. The Imperial Chef, who is in charge of the emperor's daily diet, is located in Yinan, hall of mental cultivation, which is the south and north courtyards adjacent to hall of mental cultivation. The Chinese Palace, Xianfu Palace and Fu Jian Palace around hall of mental cultivation were once the restaurants of Emperor Qianlong. Holding a lunch box, the eunuch who delivered the rice trotted in from the imperial kitchen and came to the place where the emperor delivered the rice, and put the rice, vegetables, cakes, porridge and soup prepared by the imperial kitchen on the long dining table one by one. The long table is full, indicating that the royal meal is ready. The eunuch, the manager of the dining room, invited the emperor to dinner. There are 370 officials and chefs in the imperial dining room of the emperor, and more than 120 people in the imperial tea room and green tea room. The emperor has a meal list, which is designated by the Minister of the Interior Office and made into a monthly book. Before eating every day, the menu should clearly indicate that a dish is made by the chef for the record. The home secretary is also responsible for putting forward strict requirements for the preparation of imperial meals. The ingredients of each dish are clearly defined and are not allowed to be changed or added at will. Dietary emphasis is different. Although the imperial court has the best raw materials and the most exquisite chefs prepare meals for the emperors, each emperor has different requirements for diet. Emperor Kangxi lived at the peak of prosperity. He practiced frugality, forbade extravagance in eating and drinking, and asked the royal family, children and ministers to pay attention to frugality. He said that no matter whether the food is fine or coarse, it will vary from person to person. According to everyone's physical condition, choose foods that are good for your health, and don't be greedy for delicious food. Emperor Kangxi ate two meals a day, and each meal was only eaten blindly, without eating or tasting, and the extra was used to reward empresses and attendants. After two meals, "don't eat at night, sleep at night." The food you eat is also "every time you eat vegetables, you will get less sick and be good for your health." All kinds of edible fruits, eaten when they are just ripe, smell sweet and pleasant. For fresh fruits and vegetables, "I only tasted a little, and I have never eaten it once." You must eat when you are mature, which is also very important for your health. "Even if he goes out hunting, he meets local officials and people who provide food (local specialties, such as wine and meat). ), emperor Kangxi ordered him to take only a little-"make a pinch of rice and a fruit. "Because Kangxi advocated thrift, the annual living consumption in the palace was only one-eighth of that in the Ming Dynasty." Mingguang Lvsi sends out more than 240,000 taels of money and grain every year for internal use, but now it only uses more than 30,000 taels every year. "Emperor Qianlong's diet pays attention to the way of keeping in good health. Before breakfast all year round, he must eat a bowl of stewed bird's nest with rock sugar. There are often bird's nest dishes in breakfast and dinner, namely red and white bird's nest duck, fried chicken shreds with bird's nest, mixed Chinese cabbage with bird's nest, slippery chicken and duck with Chinese cabbage, and steamed fat duck with bird's nest. Chicken, duck, fish, pig, sheep, deer and goose are the main dishes at Emperor Qianlong's banquet. Emperor Qianlong likes meat, so he must choose carefully and cook it before eating. For example, in the forty-third year of Qianlong (1778), a group of people just arrived at Shanhaiguan, and General Shengjing made a special trip to court the emperor and please him. Li Hong knows that eating venison nourishes her body, but she is still very cautious. Li Hong asked, "Is the deer fat today?" The chef replied, "thin. "/p-11463 49882708.html then Li Hong issued a decree:" For dinner, Sara (the chef's name) cooks Hami venison. The rest is service and enjoyment. "It can be seen that the emphasis on diet has reached a scientific diet structure. During the Qianlong period, the diet of the Qing Palace was very rich, but his habit of eating miscellaneous grains and vegetables did not change. Every spring, when the elms sprout, the Qing Palace will eat elm cake, elm cake and elm cake. Qianlong not only eats it himself, but also sacrifices it to his ancestors. " Temples in the Forbidden City and Yuanmingyuan provide Yuqian cakes. "Jade money cakes made by the palace chef are distributed to empresses and princes, and also given to princes and ministers for tasting. In early summer, we eat rice (made of tender wheat), eat zongzi in Duanyang and eat flower cakes on the Double Ninth Festival. Eating seasonal vegetables is Li Hong's hobby. Cucumber dipped in batter, fried fresh peas, garlic eggplant, spread on a couch, spring is not old, mustard seedlings, pickled cucumbers, sour leeks, baked rice and glutinous rice balls are all folk coarse grains, which are not elegant, but they are loved by the ninth five-year plan emperor. Adjusting diet and changing dishes with seasonal changes are the characteristics of Qianlong diet: in late winter and early spring, there are two hot pots in the dishes in the morning and evening. At the beginning of April of the lunar calendar, hot pot is removed from cold dishes, and lotus root and glutinous rice lotus root are mixed with sugar for breakfast and dinner in June, July and August. Eat venison mutton for three months in winter and paste rice porridge and mung bean porridge in summer. Eating regularly all year round, not eating too cold or too hot, not hungry or overeating, has a wonderful effect on Li Hong's health and longevity.