Pepper, why do you occupy the table?

On the family table of Cao Yu, a teacher of the School of Literature of Jinan University, the peppers occasionally "guest appearances."

This is not too "Guangdong". However, he also thought that he was not "authentic" Cantonese -his mother came from the spicy Hunan, his father came from the sweet Jiangnan, and he grew up in the light and beautiful Lingnan. This makes his taste very diverse: roasting is his heart; grandma's self -made hot and sour flavor of chopping peppers is also the best taste in his memory.

A few years ago, when an anthropological survey of immigrants and ethnic groups in Enshi, Hubei, he thought that he could "eat spicy food" and was "spicy" by the local diet. Why is it so spicy? He looked around the geographical environment around him and gave birth to the idea of ​​eating anthropological research on chili.

In the history of history and field surveys, Cao Yu realized that since the introduction of China in the Ming Dynasty, peppers have deeply changed the appearance of Chinese diet. Especially in the past few decades, with the industrialization of China's rapid urbanization and food, the spicy flag has been filled with a national dining table. At the same time, he also went abroad and met this magical plant from the perspective of the world.

In 2019, Cao Yu's "History of Chinese Food Spicy" was published, and the book described the changes in more than 400 years after the introduction of peppers into China.

Recently, "Chinese Food Hot History" was reprinted. He was invited to Changsha at the Changsha Library Star City Science Lecture Hall, ate a hot and spicy Hunan cuisine, and conducted a lecture on "The Journey to the Pepper".

The mountainous areas of eastern Guizhou and the border of Hunan and Guizhou have formed the earliest spicy food in China

Until now, the southwestern region is generally referred to as sea pepper. "Sea" -not only pointed out that peppers come overseas, but also remind that peppers come from the southeast coastal areas. Cao Yu believes that this implies the path of spreading peppers in China, that is, to reach the coast first, and then gradually introduce inland.

The transmission path of peppers after the introduction of peppers is very complicated, but almost both can be traced back to the two ports of Guangzhou and Ningbo. Hunan, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is likely to be influenced by the peppers introduced in Guangzhou and the peppers introduced in Ningbo.

But in the first century in the pepper, it was just regarded as an indescribable ornamental plant. Hunan is an important relay point for spreading "viewing plant peppers" to Guizhou in the west.

"Sea pepper, commonly known as spicy fire, soil seedlings are used to replace salt." In Guizhou, Cao Yu found the earliest records used by pepper in my country -"Sizhou Mansion" in the 60th year of Kangxi (1721). Its consumption background is that Guizhou lacks salt. After the local residents repeatedly tried many kinds of salt substitutes, they helplessly chose peppers, and the wind of eating was first popular among local people and Miao people.

Subsequently, the records of peppers in various local regions appeared in Guizhou and the "product" of Guizhou and the provinces adjacent to Guizhou.

In Shuangfeng County, farmers are drying peppers. Nai Jihui

Therefore, Cao Yu guessed that inland in China, the earliest people who consume peppers should be from Guizhou. Hunan has undergone two pepper transmission of "from east to west" and "from west to east "-

Pepper is introduced from the coast to the eastern part of Hunan, and then introduced from the east to the west of Hunan. Its important trading node is likely to be Changde, and then it is transmitted from Changde to the Miao Tusi area from Changde to the Miao Tusi area. , That is the area of ​​Sizhou Government (now Yiyang, Xiushan, Kuchuan, along the river, Yinjiang). Here is a major change from unbearable things to edible things. A small -scale spicy food is formed in the mountainous areas of eastern Guizhou and the junction of Hunan and Guizhou.

This style was transmitted to Hunan to the east, passed on to Yuzhou, enter Sichuan west, and entered Yunnan south. In Hunan, it has also experienced a flow from west to east. Daoguang years are important time nodes scattered in Hunan. "Changsha County Chronicle", "Xinhua County Chronicle", "Pingjiang County Chronicle" and "Xiangxiang County Chronicle" all included peppers into the product of the product during this period, which shows its prevalence. Yongzhou, Shaoyang, Hengyang, Chenzhou and other places in the hills of Hunan southern Hunan have the latest time to eat peppers.

But at least before the Tongzhi year, peppers had prevailed in the province. By the beginning of the 20th century, the habit of eating peppers had been roughly spread to most areas in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the industry had formed a "heavy spicy area in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River" with Guizhou as the geographical center.

From "Poor Storne" to the popular dining table

Zeng Guofan, a "famous minister" in the late Qing Dynasty, is a loyal enthusiast of peppers. When he was in the governor of Liangjiang, his subordinate officials wanted to know his dietary preferences to win the joy, so he secretly bribed his husband. Before serving, the husband took out the pepper powder and sprinkled it into the bowl. This is greatly unexpected. Why is this?

Cao Yu analyzed that peppers were welcomed among farmers in the southern mountainous areas, and the class marking the class of "poor people's staple food" was given to the peppers. Even in spicy areas, peppers are difficult to occupy a place in large cities and rich households. Spicy foods are considered as a poverty -stricken eating habits and are resisted. Therefore, the subordinate officials thought that Zeng Guofan's taste was "noble".

In fact, in the rural villages in the late Qing Dynasty, even rich households often have the habit of eating spicy food. Zeng Guofan's spicyness should be brought from his hometown in Xiangxiang.

Until a modern series of revolution broke the old class diet, the wind direction with the aristocracy as the advocacy was completely overthrown, and the underlying diet became the object of imitated. condition.

But the real spread of peppers in the country needs to wait until the reform and opening up. China ’s rapid urbanization has made hundreds of millions of immigrants enter the city. The huge population flow makes the spread of spicy taste wider, and these immigrants have huge foreign food needs. Cao Yu concluded that spicy food after reform and opening up has the influence of three factors: immigration, food industrialization, and economic development. After immigration, a large number of people gather in cities, and the surrounding diet is insufficient. It requires large -scale calling materials to supply, which will inevitably move towards food industrialization. The industrialized mass -produced food requires long -distance transportation of cold chain preservation, and in order to extend the storage method and cooking method of extending the shelf life. Not high in immigrants are popular. Spicy dishes are also a good social food. For immigrants with shallow foundations, there is no more "ice break" than about a hearty spicy rice bureau. Therefore, it is "rivers and lakes" that really bring the popular peppers across the country.

In addition, the Chinese have formed a salty and sour taste preference for a long time. In the era of industrialization, the main tastes of Chinese snacks were salty, and the addition of spicy flavors complement them, which also promoted the popularity of spicy snacks.

As the degree of urbanization deepen, fewer and fewer consumers who do not eat spicy food at all.

In a light show, the drone changed the pepper shape over Changsha. Photo by Gu Pengbo

Can Chinese people eat spicy?

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Ministry, China's pepper production is the number one in the world. However, according to the data of the Food Agriculture Agency, China's pepper production is far less than India.

Why is there such a difference? This is because the United Nations pepper statistics are counted by the genus plants containing pepper -containing pepper, and most of China's peppers are fresh food species. In the United Nations statistics, they are included in "vegetables". The category. In other words, the peppers in the dishes often eaten by Hunan people are not included in the "pepper consumption" in the United Nations.

There are about 500 million spicy people in China, but the per capita consumption of dried peppers across the country is only about 210 grams per year, lower than India (800 grams) and Thailand (700 grams). Judging from the seasoning of pepper, in fact, China is a common rising country to eat spicy food, but in general, it is not considered a very spicy country.

The population of spicy people among Chinese people is not as good as South Asian countries such as India and Sri Lanka in a macro. It is also weaker than Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, which is roughly related to the degree of spicy food in Latin American countries. The hottest peppers in the world, including Naga poisonous snakes, Havana pepper, and Indian ghost peppers are rarely cultivated in China.

Interview with Cao Yu: Eating spicy "dampness" is a "cultural imagination"

Xiangjiang Weekly: Why is the mountainous areas at the border of eastern Guizhou and Hunan and Guizhou first formed to eat spicy food? Pepper has gone through two spreads of "from east to west" and "from west to east" in Hunan. chili?

Cao Yu: Life in the eastern region of Hunan is relatively stable, and everything in the first and second season in the vegetable garden is fixed; thanks to the better traffic location, there is no shortage of salt. Therefore, farmers do not have enough motivation to try new species. "Poor thinking changes", there is this motivation in remote mountainous areas.

The diffusion of peppers is carried out with the "inner rolls" of Chinese agriculture. The population proliferation has made the lack of land non -farmers' choice of non -staple food selection. High seasoning non -seasoning is favored by more and more farmers, because a small amount of pickles and pepper non -staple foods can eat a lot of staple foods. This constitutes the main reason why peppers diffuse in the southern mountainous area.

Xiangjiang Weekly: The degree of spicy food in different regions of China is very different. Hunan people often take spicy food. With your observation, what is the "ranking" of Hunan people's spicy food is "ranking" around the world?

Cao Yu: If level 10 is full, it is probably level six. From the perspective of the world, there are many countries that can eat spicy foods, such as Mexico, southern India, Ethiopia ... Hunan is really not too spicy.

And it is proud of eating spicy food -because spicy is a kind of pain, not a taste. After all, eating spicy food is a kind of ability to endure pain, so there will be a "contest" to make the "winner" pride. At some dining tables, the behavior of spicy food is similar to people fighting at the dining table.

Citizens are tasteing Hunan cuisine. In Hunan cuisine, spicy taste is often indispensable. Photo by Gu Pengbo

Xiangjiang Weekly: This is unexpected. You mentioned that the Chinese have used chili as a vegetable, is this common in the world?

Cao Yu: Not unusual, other countries generally use pepper as a seasoning. Many high -spicy pepper varieties have been cultivated abroad, while the Chinese do not have such high pursuit of spicyness. To this day, the two major varieties of Chinese pepper cultivation -Hangzhou pepper and line peppers, high oil content, are high -fragrant varieties. Now we make some dishes and will use several kinds of peppers. Some peppers are responsible for spicyness, some are responsible for aroma, and some are responsible for color.

Xiangjiang Weekly: Do we only have the aroma of peppers in the world?

Cao Yu: Hungarian cuisine prefers smoky peppers, but most countries have no requirements for fragrance. When I was doing a survey abroad, I couldn't stand it. Their peppers were "dead and spicy", without any fragrance.

I personally feel that the more mixed tastes, the less spicy. For example, the "fresh spicy" in Hunan, the "hot and sour" of Guizhou, and the "spicy" of Sichuan and Chongqing are all re -seasoned, and there are other spices to join. Jiangxi is more spicy, because Jiangxi cuisine does not highlight other spices, so it is "hard." Xiangjiang Weekly: As far as your observation, at the moment, is the spicy food habits related to the economy strong?

Cao Yu: Still strong. It may not be obvious to observe individuals, but overall, the more developed the economy, the more people's tastes become lighter. This is not just a spicy area. For example, in Japan who does not eat peppers, people with poor economic conditions are more oily and salt than those with better economic conditions.

Xiangjiang Weekly: There is a saying that Hunan, Guizhou, and Sichuan and Chongqing are spicy because of humid climate. People need to eat chili to remove moisture, which is a physical need. What do you think?

Cao Yu: As far as my global dietary preference observation, this statement is not reliable. For example, in some countries in Mexico and Africa, their climate is suitable for pepper growth, and people there can also eat spicy, but these areas are dry.

I think these claims are closer to a "cultural imagination". Whether it is "getting angry" or "removing dampness", it is not the reason for people who do not eat or eat peppers, but a supplementary psychological comfort. As long as the preference for spicy food continues, people will continue to find reasons to explain their behavior and continue to weave the "web of meaning". In contact with other ethnic groups, it has become a standard and logo of identity.

Xiangjiang Weekly: Do a prediction! Next, will peppers occupy more dining tables?

Cao Yu: I don't think it will. The amount of immigrants is unlikely to have a large scale of growth. In addition, due to the aging population, people will slowly reduce spicy food when they are old. In the future, the spicy taste should become a "special diet". For example, after going to Changsha, I want to eat spicy.

[Author: Liao Huiwen Lin Dan Dan Wang Lu]

[Responsible editor: Lu Wei]

[Source: Hunan Daily · New Hunan Client]

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