Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who is familiar with Chinese and western food culture, commented on China's food in the book "The General Plan for the Founding of the People's Republic of China": China's food culture is a wonderful flower, which integrates color, fragrance, taste, shape and taste (the texture and taste of food) and nutrition (the health and health of food), so that people can enjoy it in a comprehensive way in vision, touch and taste, and it constitutes the cooking characteristics of China with delicacy as the core and health as the purpose. It has exquisite materials, exquisite knife work, realistic modeling, bright colors and ingenious combination, and has the same origin as food nutrition, food nourishing and food regulation, and has an indisputable historical position.
Food, that is, human appetite, is for the survival and growth of life; Color, that is, male and female sexual desire, is for the reproduction and continuation of life; This thought has influenced China people for thousands of years. From the beginning of human evolution, China people's food, from tens of thousands of years ago, Beijingers ate plants, flowers and fruits to satisfy their hunger, catching wild animals and eating them alive. From "burning meat on fire" to "burning meat on stone", from roasting with open fire to boiling, stewing and frying; Experienced stone cooking, pottery cooking, copper cooking, iron cooking, and now the era of ignorant thermal power cooking; From natural salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter flavors to one dish, all kinds of dishes are delicious. China's cooking skills and food culture also keep pace with the times, constantly evolving, expanding and enriching. As early as two or three thousand years ago, China people's food developed from primitive monotonous physical cooking to the ever-changing era of chemical cooking, pursuing flavor and taste.
On the other hand, although western cooking and western diet are modern in society, developed in economy and civilized in human nature, so far most western diets are still in the stage of primitive cognition and physical cooking, without progress and thinking change, and their cooking methods are mainly ancient barbecue, frying, baking and raw food; The common seasonings are just salt, sweet and sour pepper, hot and sour sauce, tomato sauce, red wine and cheese. My understanding of the composition of animals and plants is even shallower. Chicken, fish and beef play the leading role, while bread and potatoes are in charge of my life, which makes me marvel at the colorful China cuisine. They don't know that thousands of years ago, since Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, China people had a rich understanding of the animals and plants on the earth. More than two thousand years ago, the concepts of mountain eight treasures, water eight treasures, sea eight treasures, poultry eight treasures and grass eight treasures were put forward in the ingredients. Cooking skills have developed from a single category to dozens today, and seasoning has also developed from "salty, sweet and sour" to a hundred dishes.
In this way, westerners know that they can't compare with China in the choice of ingredients, cooking methods and skills, use and seasoning, so they have made great efforts in dining environment, atmosphere, ostentation and extravagance, etiquette, hollowing out and utensils, such as gold plates and silver lamps, knives and forks, and large cups and small cups. Although it looks like the whole table is resplendent and resplendent, and the surface is bright and beautiful, isn't it just eating some bread and grilled fish with chicken legs, black tea and coffee, and cake ice cream? Is it worth being so aggressive and rude with a knife and fork? West Renye Fang cooks candlelight meals, music meals, couples meals, molecular cooking and so on. They use their own atmosphere or environment to create momentum to cover up the monotony and boredom of their food and show off the so-called luxury and elegance. As a result, they put on a big banquet and a small banquet, which tasted bad and ugly. They pretend to raise a glass for a change, make it hot and eat indifferently, and get a bucket of spicy instant noodles when they go home. Look at the Manchu-Han banquet and nine bowls of dam banquet in China. A pair of chopsticks will dominate the world. How neat and chic.
Therefore, since the 1980s, many people of insight in the world of cooking, nutrition and food have repeatedly affirmed that China cooking is a science and an art, and China's food culture has a long history and is profound. Paul Bo Gu, a famous French chef in the contemporary world, once said, "China is a great country, and China's diet has a lot of profound knowledge." Therefore, the western cooking and nutrition circles have repeatedly called for "Oriental diet should never be westernized", "Please pick up chopsticks for delicious health."
In recent decades, China cooking and China people's food, especially Sichuan cuisine, is famous for its delicious, strong, wide and strong taste. It pays equal attention to freshness, alcohol and strong taste, and is good at spicy food, which makes people on earth crazy, forming the trend of Sichuan cuisine being the best in the world. A crispy duck excited Chaplin. A plate of sweet and sour crispy fish, let Dr. Kissinger sweep the plate; Homemade beans and fish make Schultz get carried away; Kung pao chicken, it is difficult to attract Merkel to Chengdu to learn from the teacher and buy authentic peppers and peppers at the farmer's market; Mrs. Obama ate hot pot, shredded pork with fish flavor, Mapo tofu, boiled beef and so on. This made eat drink man woman in the western world wet the pillowcase with saliva in his sleep. According to CNN, for several years in a row, 75% of American families went to China restaurant for Christmas dinner, and 70% of them took out Sichuan food. At the end of 2065438+2007, Hermè s Group held its annual meeting. In order to taste top-class Sichuan cuisine, the annual meeting place was specially set in the old restaurant of Chengdu Xuanxuan Market. Outsiders who have been to Chengdu, in particular, know nothing about the ingredients, and are helpless to the west. They don't know how to cook and eat, so they are disgusted and disgusting, pretending to be civilized and gentle. But when I arrived in Chengdu, I ate whatever I saw, and the dead cat and rotten mouse had no scruples. In the past 20 years, cooking institutions and food research institutes from the United States, France, Britain, Austria, Norway and Switzerland have come to China every year to learn experiences and exchange ideas. More European and American countries, such as The New York Times, CNN, French national television, Financial Times and other high-end media, have come to China and Chengdu to report and shoot TV series. The author personally received and accompanied more than 20 families, which is the world's recognition and charm of China's food and culture.
Sichuan province annals? Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Committee of Sichuan Annals; Sichuan cultural person; Sichuan writer.
Centennial legend of Sichuan cuisine, history of roadside Sichuan cuisine, 300 years of spicy temptation.