The past and present of rice

Chinese people have a long history of eating. According to archaeological findings, artificially planted rice has been unearthed at the Hemudu site in Yuyao, dating back to the Neolithic Age 7,000 years ago. 'Historical Records • Xia Benji' records that during the Xia Dynasty, Dayu distributed rice seeds to the people and planted them in low-lying and humid places. In addition to the south, rice from the Shang Dynasty was also found in the Yin Ruins of Anyang, Henan, in the Central Plains. How did the ancients cook? There are poems in the Book of Songs that record the cooking methods at that time. The poem in 'Dai Ya·Liaoju' says: 'If you drink it, you will be sloppy, and you can drink it.' It means 'from a distance, scoop up the pool water by the roadside and pour it into the pot to steam the rice.' It is steaming, and it is cooked food. It can be seen that the ancients steamed rice with water. The utensil for steaming rice is called a retort. The process of steaming rice is more complicated. The rice is half-cooked, removed and then steamed in a retort. In the pre-Qin period, steamed rice was not something that ordinary people could eat. During the Qin and Han dynasties, people dried rice and made it into glutinous rice flour, 'food for entry and exit', which is convenient to carry when marching to fight or walking in rivers and lakes, and adding water when eating, called 飧. There was also a kind of embarrassment at that time, that is, rice cooked with soybeans. Dang and embarrassment, people with status and status are not to eat. Therefore, historical records record that powerful people died of shame because of eating embarrassment. (See 'Book of the Later Han Dynasty • The Biography of Kui Xiao': 'I was sick and hungry, I went out to eat embarrassing food, and died in anger.') Modern people say 'embarrassing', and the meaning of embarrassment and shame probably stems from this. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the industrious and intelligent ancients raised the quality of rice to a new level. It is said that there is a kind of japonica rice in Xincheng, which is fragrant five miles away when cooking. There is an article in 'Daoxiang Village' in 'Qing Barnyard Banknotes' that writes: 'The japonica rice in the new city is blown by the wind and smells the fragrance in five miles. See the book of Emperor Wei Wen, and the name of the shop is called Daoxiang Village.' It may be a bit exaggerated, but Daoxiang Village The saying has been passed down to this day. In the Song Dynasty, a dynasty with a rich history and rich life, the patterns of rice were constantly renovated. People are changing the way to innovate the way of eating rice. There appeared Qingjing rice (black rice), golden rice (seaweed rice), Yujing rice (lotus root rice), panyou rice (fish, shrimp, and meat buried in the rice), and vegetable rice, which is chopped vegetables and mixed with rice. Cook with rice. However, vegetable rice is not a vegetable rice made for a change of taste, but a rough and light meal eaten by the people of Xia Liba. After Su Shi was demoted to Lingnan, he was impoverished, and wrote poems and complained: 'Vegetables, rice and quinoa are broken and clothes are swept away. I don't recite poetry.' With the continuous improvement of people's requirements for the quantity and quality of rice, high-quality foreign rice also began to enter our country. Now Thai rice is more expensive than domestic rice, but during the reign of Emperor Kangxi and Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, on the contrary, the price of rice in Thailand, which was called Siam at that time, was less than half of that of domestic rice. Kangxi ordered the importation of large quantities of Siamese rice, which was also tax-free. 'Drafts of Qing History • Biography of Dependent Countries III • Siam' records: 'Siam is very rich in rice. If the rice is shipped to Fujian, Guangdong and Ningbo for trade of 100,000 stone each, it will be beneficial to the place and exempt from tax.' , Vietnam's Champaign rice is trafficked back to China, and it can also be added to the ranks. For thousands of years, the stars have changed and the world has changed, but what has not changed is the gratitude and awe of the people for rice. I remember when I was a child, when the rice fell off the table, the elders asked to pick it up and eat it. The rice in the bowl should be eaten cleanly, and there should be no leftovers, because every single grain is hard work. It is because of reverence that cooking should not be done hastily. In order to fully reflect the essence of rice, the people of all dynasties summed up various cooking methods of rice. 'Qi Min Yao Shu', which was written in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, has a special chapter describing the cooking methods of rice and rice porridge in detail. It has very specific instructions on pots, rice washing, steaming, and heating. For example, in order to To cook high-quality porridge and rice, you must first 'treat the pot', that is, deal with the pot first; for example, when cooking porridge, you should pay attention: 'The porridge will be darkened by the cauldron; (A pot that will fade will make the porridge dark, if the fire is too high, the porridge will be burnt and bitter, and the old pot will not seep water, and the porridge will leak out when the lid is closed.) The 'grain is like green' unmanned cooking rice treasure is adhering to the gratitude and awe of the Chinese people for rice for thousands of years and the craftsman spirit of excellence, combining the ancient cooking experience with modern technology, through countless experiments. The optimal soaking time and heating profile of the rice is perfectly achieved by automation. Having an unmanned cooker can save time and effort for you in a fast-paced life, and also achieve 'never tire of eating fines and eating finess'.