History of Chinese Food Culture
Do you know how to greet a Chinese in the past? You must ask: "have you eaten?" Chinese people take food as the paramount necessity, and their long history justifies it. Food has evolved from merely a survival necessity to a unique culture bearing Chinese philosophy and thinking. The history of Chinese food culture can be roughly divided into five phases. Hotpot Embryonic Stage (primitive times) In primitive society, eating was for survival . There was no such thing as food culture. People had what they could get until the discovery of fire. Five Grains Suiren made a significant discovery that fire could be made by rubbing sticks . Primitives began to cook food. With no sophisticated utensils, meats were either directly roasted on fire or boiled with water. The food supply was severely unstable. Starvation was common. Fuxi , a respected leader of ancient Chinese tribes, taught commons to fish . He also invented the primordial eight trigrams to guide people through the bad we...