Hakkas are industrious, enthusiastic and generous, and are famous at home and abroad. Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hakkas have formed their own unique customs and culture in the process of moving southward. Folk houses have world-famous Hakka earth buildings; The diet has its own Hakka dishes, which are famous for their light and nourishing health. After several generations of hard-working Hakka people's efforts, colorful Hakka dishes have become an indispensable part of China's food culture.

Hakka food culture is a new food culture created by combining the original customs and habits with those of local people in the south according to the climatic conditions in the south and the customs and habits of local people's life and production after the Han people in the Central Plains moved to the south to settle down. Diet is the material basis for the formation of culture, and the formation of diet culture is closely related to its natural environment, social structure and religious beliefs. We can understand the history and connotation of Hakka culture more accurately, and at the same time have certain reference value for the future catering, tourism and even economic development in Hakka areas.

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First, the characteristics of Hakka food culture

Hakkas are immigrants from the south of the Central Plains. Due to various historical reasons, after they moved to Lingnan mountainous area, they kept the language and eating habits of the Central Plains completely. Moreover, because most Hakkas live far from the ocean, Hakka cuisine is characterized by inland oil, strong flavor, salty and soft waxy.

Hakka dishes are mainly poultry and game, and they pursue the original flavor, that is, "rice tastes like rice and meat tastes like meat." There is a saying that "no chicken is not clear, no meat is not fresh, no duck is not fragrant, and no goose is not thick". Pay attention to firepower, and be good at steaming, roasting, boiling and brewing, especially casserole dishes. Hakka cuisine emphasizes the four seasons and is known as "winter sheep and summer dogs, spring chickens and autumn ducks".

Hakka settlements are dominated by the border triangle of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi. There are not only Wuyi Mountain which runs through Gannan and western Fujian, but also Dayuling and Luoxiaoshan, one of the five mountains which run through Gannan, as well as Tortoise Hill, Caimeishan, Bopingling, Songmao Mountain and the other five mountains in western Fujian. There are Xiangshan Mountain, Yin Na Mountain, Phoenix Mountain and Sagar Mountain in eastern Guangdong. High and steep mountains intersect with low and undulating hilly areas to form basins of different sizes. Generally speaking, Hakka settlements are mainly mountainous areas with river beds and valleys. Hakka ancestors moved from the north to the south, absorbed the long-term dietary experience of aborigines adapting to the local geographical environment, and gradually formed their own new dietary concepts and cooking skills:

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The cooking method is mainly stew, and the original flavor is the main way. The cooking method of Hakka diet is mainly stew, and less frying and roasting.

Hakka's dietary concept holds that stewing can keep the food original and not easy to get angry. Traditional Hakka dishes, such as boiled chicken, steamed fish, stuffed tofu, stuffed bitter gourd, braised pork with plum vegetables and steamed bones, all adopt this cooking method. Hakka dishes pay attention to the original flavor. They usually don't put monosodium glutamate and white wine as seasoning, but often use wine tanks and soup made of animal bones as seasoning. Therefore, Hakka dishes are generally delicious and delicious, suitable for all ages. Hakka kitchen knife workers are rough. In typical Hakka dishes, braised pork is cut big, thick and square, and the knife work is obviously not exquisite enough. In ordinary families, the materials used for soup, such as meat and pork, are also large.

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The choice of ingredients is mainly local products.

The object of cooking production is cooking materials, which directly affect the development of dishes in a certain direction. Hakka areas in Guangxi, Guangdong and Jiangxi are mostly typical southern mountainous areas, and delicacies, fresh rivers, vegetables, wild vegetables and livestock and poultry naturally become the main components of Hakka cuisine. Hakka famous dishes, such as fried fish in southern Jiangxi, stuffed tofu, fried chicken with Dongjiang salt in eastern Guangdong, braised pork with plum vegetables and braised pork with mushrooms in southern Fujian, etc. All of them are made of the above raw materials by Hakkas.

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Highlight with dry wax products.

There are two main reasons for the emergence of dry cured meat products in Hakka food culture: First, there are many Hakka mountainous areas and inconvenient transportation, so people can't buy fresh meat often, so they pickle the excess meat and put it in their own homes for use at any time. Second, the pickled food is rich in flavor and suitable for Hakka tastes. But now, these historical functions of dry-cured and pickled products no longer exist. They have become a famous Hakka flavor food and an important part of Hakka diet. Hakka's famous dry-cured products include plum vegetables, stewed chicken feet, stewed duck feet, stewed chicken kidneys and bacon. These foods are delicious and deeply loved by people.