In the minds of Chinese people who pay attention to "eating", every festival is indispensable for food, and the Dragon Boat Festival, which is popular in memory of Qu Yuan, is no exception. In the hometown of Qu Yuan, the dietary customs of the Dragon Boat Festival are different from other places, condensing the special feelings of Qu Xiang’s children for the “Chinese poetic ancestor”, and even the food is full of poetry.

　　In Zigui's mind, Zongzi and Qu Yuan are inseparable. Every year on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of the fifth lunar month of the lunar calendar, the Zigui people will mobilize the whole family to wrap glutinous rice with the leaves of the Polygonaceae to form a triangular prism with red dates and green dumplings in the middle.

　　Zigui Zongzi is commonly known as Qingshui Zongzi. It has a light taste and a simple way to eat. It untie the clues, peel off the leaves, and dip the glutinous rice "water chestnut" in sugar. The Dragon Boat Festival begins with the scented dumplings.

　　However, Zigui's Dragon Boat Festival is far more than dumplings.

　　The editor swallowed saliva and counted more than 30 kinds of food from "Chu Ci". Pasta, meat, lo mei, thick soup, and mountain and seafood flavors are all available.

The room family Suizong, eat more.

Rice paddy, wheat, take the yellow beam.

Big bitter acid, Xin Gan do some.

The tendons of fat cattle are more rudimentary.

If the acid is bitter, Chen Wuxian will be more.

Porcupine turtle lamb, with a little bit of pulp.

Hu sour, fry the red partridge.

Exposing the chicken tortoiseshell, a little bit uncomfortable.

The yummy honey bait is a little bit stale.

The honey spoon of the syrup is more plump.

Frustrate the cold drink and make it cooler.

Huayue is both old and has some syrup.

Come back to the room of the apostasy, somehow.

　　This is a passage from Qu Yuan's "Chu Ci·Soul".

　　The translation of Professor Lin Naishen, an expert in Chinese food culture in "Chinese Food Culture" is mouth-watering: the restaurant at home is cozy and the food is varied: rice, millet, two wheat, yellow beam, you can enjoy it; sour, sweet, bitter , Spicy, strong fragrance, fresh, will serve as you wish. The beef hamstrings were buttery, soft and fragrant; Chef Wu’s specialty hot and sour soup, really called the water flow; braised turtle, mutton hung on the stove, dipped in sweet cane sugar; fried swan, braised wild duck, grilled iron Fat geese and big cranes, drinking acid soup. Marinated chicken, stewed turtle, you want to eat more bites no matter how full you are. Deep-fried egg dumplings, honey dip beam, pancakes with bean paste, sour and refreshing. To understand the wine, there is the plum soup of jade pulp. Come back! Hometown will not disappoint you.

　　After reading the translations of scholars and experts, the editor's saliva is coming out.

　　There is such a charming "menu" in "Chu Ci·Da Zhao":

　　Five grains and six cents, set up only two beams. Ding Xiao Ying Wang, and Zhifang only. The inner part of the dove pigeon, only tastes the soup. Soul return! Just try it.

　　Fresh 蠵gan chicken, and Chu case only. Ying Gui bitter dog, 贴蒪 only. Artemisia selengensis is not thin. Come back in spirit! Choose whatever you want.

　　(Some are omitted here...)

　　This translation in "Chuci Translation":

　　There are many fine foods here, and cooking with rice is really fragrant. Food Ding full display, the food exudes fragrance. The fleshy partridge, dove, swan meat and the leopard broth are also reconciled. Soul! come back! Let you taste.

　　Big fish stewed with fatty chicken, and then put Chu Kingdom's milk. Pork sauce and bitter dog meat, then add some rags. The sauerkraut made by Wu Guo is just right. Soul! come back! Whichever you choose.

　　(Some are omitted here...)

　　Qu Yuan mentioned food in "Chu Ci·Soul" many times. There were more than 20 courses with clear dish names, which involved as many as 60 to 70 kinds of ingredients. Qu Yuan's hometown Zigui Qu Yuan's family banquet started from the relationship between "Qu Yuan", "Zongzi" and "Dragon Boat Festival".

　　Zigui restored ancient Chu cooking methods according to "Chu Ci", combined with thousands of years of eating habits and unique ingredients, put Qu Yuan's "private dishes" back on the table, recalling history and nostalgia for his hometown Made a mouthful of delicious dishes.

　　Without further ado, let's first order a table of "Qu Yuan's Family Banquet" to solve the greed.

Ancient Cannon Lamb

　　The oldest cooking method prepares the freshest delicacy, and the tongue is full of satisfaction and rejoicing that has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Duanyang steamed five yellow

　　Duan Yanghua bloomed, the sound of the Dragon Boat was full of fragrance, and the fresh, salty and sweet collision of the five yellows inspired the most full life enthusiasm of Qu Xiang’s children.

Chili Sauce

　　The meaning of spicy, stewed, boiled. In Chu Ci's "Soul", the turtle's approach is to make pure soup. Qu Yuan's family banquet is made from big-ang turtles and fired with special sauce, which is more fragrant than the method of stewing, and is a good product for nourishing the shadow, cooling the blood and moisturizing the dryness.

Orange Beef

　　Qu Yuan's "Soul" has "fatty beef tendon, more ruddy." Use the beef tendon of the yellow cattle and fresh orange peel from Quyuan's hometown to stew into the flavor, wait for the soup to gradually thicken, then close the juice, and the orange flavor is particularly rich. . This dish is a classic representative of the "Hometown of Chinese Navel Oranges" and was named "Chinese Famous Dishes".

Orange-flavoured steamed meat

　　Chu Difen steaming originated in the Jianghan Plain and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Chu Difen steamed meat highlights the original flavor of the ingredients. After the steamed meat is ready, add kang chili to the kang fry in the pot. In this dish, citrus absorbs the greasiness of steamed pork, which absorbs the orange flavor of citrus and is fat but not greasy.

Quxiang Steamed Wax Hoof

　　The wax hoof is a must-have dish for the Zigui people to entertain guests. The cleaned wax hoof and local hens, together with the potato and dried kohlrabi (dried potatoes) cooked in Zigui’s home, are cooked in creamy white color and cured meat. The potatoes are soft but not rotten. It is excellent for soup or meat.

Qingtan Duluer

　　The so-called "Qingtan Xietan is not a beach, Kongling is a ghost gate", Zigui occupies the three dangerous beaches. Therefore, the life of the boatmen in Qingtan is particularly difficult, and the food is scarce. The boatmen use pebbles and various spices to cook spicy and fragrant When the wine was served, the boatmen sucked the stone to drink, and then the stone was discarded. In Zigui dialect, sucking is "talking", so this dish is called "talking". This dish is known as the "hardest dish in the world". It is prudent to eat this dish. It can only be tasteful, not bite.

　　The industrious and wise Zigui people blend their love for their hometown into one dish. Using the herbs and citrus that Qu Yuan once sang to taste, he developed Zigui's unique medicinal feast and navel orange feast.

　　In 2018, the "Hometown of Chinese Gourmets" came back, Qu Yuan's family banquet was rated as "Chinese Famous Banquet", and 14 dishes such as Lao Lao Lao and Duanyang Steamed Five Yellows were rated as "Chinese Famous Dishes".

　　Food nourishes people's most primitive nostalgia. By restoring the taste of history, the children of Jing Chu and even the children of China are attracted to the hometown of Qu Yuan to find the spiritual roots. Qu Yuan's family banquet returned to the dining table and became a symbol of historical and cultural memory.

　　Text: Zhou Huashan Guo Xiaoying Dong Xiaobin Xiang Hongmei

　　Picture: courtesy of Zigui County Propaganda Department