Gao Qi'an: How did the Silk Road affect the Chinese diet?

Lanzhou, April 4 (ZXS) -- How does the Silk Road affect Chinese food?

——Interview with Gao Qi'an, Vice President of the Dunhuang Society of Gansu Province

China News Agency reporter Feng Zhijun

Chinese pays attention to "eating", forming a broad and profound Chinese food culture. On Chinese tables today, many delicacies are "imported products" along the Silk Road. How do these "imported products" from the Western Regions enrich and influence the Chinese diet? Gao Qi'an, vice president of the Dunhuang Society of Gansu Province, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East-West Question".

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: What impact and changes did the opening and prosperity of the Silk Road bring to the dietary life of the ancients?

Gao Qi'an: In fact, before the opening of the Silk Road, there was an exchange between Eastern and Western food cultures, and important dietary ingredients such as barley and wheat spread from west to east, as evidenced by the fact that the site of Sibatan in Shandan County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, was unearthed 4000,<> years ago. In addition, there are eating utensils such as duck head spoons and some wine utensils.

With Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions, exchanges between the East and the West were smooth, and the Silk Road also became a "food transmission road", and many dietary raw materials, diet preparation methods, and food names were introduced one after another. Predecessors and today's people have studied the introduction of dietary raw materials, and some scholars have compiled and counted more than 100 kinds of ingredients and condiments introduced from the West to the Central Plains. The introduction of vegetables and fruits such as peas, spinach, grapes, and seasonings such as pepper enriches the taste of Chinese. In terms of dietary ingredients and production methods, baked noodle foods represented by Chinese cakes are popular in the Central Plains, and fried foods have gradually appeared.

The antique camel caravan re-walked the Silk Road, passing through Zhangye Danxia Geopark. Photo by Cheng Lin

After the opening of the Silk Road, what triggered major changes in the Chinese diet was the introduction of wheat flour production technology. Chinese pasta was introduced from Central Asia, and the late Southern and Northern Dynasties work "Qi Min Zhishu" has "cake", "noodles", "noodles" and other materials, which is the earliest historical record of noodles in China.

After wheat was introduced to China, due to its processing technology, it has been entered into the recipe in the form of grains, that is, it is flattened and cooked. Due to the popularization of rotary grinding and the improvement of grinding teeth after the Western Han Dynasty, wheat processing technology has made a leap, and many wheat flour food varieties have appeared. Such a rapid change has a lot to do with the introduction of wheat flour production technology in the Western Regions, which gradually changed the diet structure and eating style in the north. "Noodle import" was called "the third important breakthrough in Chinese diet" by Mr. Zhang Guangzhi, a famous contemporary scholar.

During this period, some eating utensils were also introduced from the West, the more representative ones being Laitong, Hu Bottle, Liuqu Long Cup, Baqu Long Cup, Koro and other wine utensils, which increased the interest in the wine market and gradually changed the original way of wine injection in the Central Plains.

Ripe wheat. Photo by Zhou Changguo

China News Agency: Are there records of ancient Chinese cuisine preserved in the Dunhuang murals and documents, and how do they support and reflect the history of the exchange and integration of Eastern and Western food cultures?

Gao Qi'an: In the Dunhuang documents, we have compiled more than 60 kinds of related food records according to the name and cooking method, including about 20 kinds of "hu food" such as steamed buns, steamed hu food, and burnt cakes. However, after these foods are introduced to the mainland, there will be some changes in the way they are cooked and the pronunciation of the titles.

For example, dumplings are from the Western Regions, and its original size is relatively large and cooked in the roasting method, but we have changed the roasting method to boiled, and the size has also been reduced. Another example is the roasted steamed bun introduced from the Western Regions, the name is transliterated, and in the process of being introduced into the Central Plains, there are also changes in titles such as "steamed buns", coupled with Chinese very deep cooking technology, it also makes the roasted steamed buns become steamed buns.

In the process of the eastward transmission of food in the Western Regions, in addition to the food itself must have palatable, convenient, nutritious and other conditions, it must also be suitable for the cultural beliefs and eating habits of the local people in order to become popular. After being integrated into the Chinese diet, the Western Regions diet has been well preserved and developed. But overall, today it is difficult to distinguish which are the "hu food" introduced in the early years and which are "native" diets. This reflects and illustrates the continuous fusion of Eastern and Western food cultures.

The Shanxi Museum contains the Sui Dynasty "Hu people eating bread and riding camel figurines". Photo by Hou Yu

China News Agency: Compared with the eating habits of the divided meal system in Western society, the Chinese diet pays more attention to "eating around the table", what kind of food culture differences does this reflect?

Gao Qi'an: The ancient Chinese people were also the first to distribute meals, for example, after hunting in primitive societies, the food obtained was distributed to the entire tribe, and each person had a portion, which was the earliest meal sharing system. Why did it become "eating around the table"? This has something to do with the rise and prosperity of urban eating after the Song Dynasty, and as the variety of dishes increases, if you continue to divide meals, not only the long "food bed" can not hold too many dishes, but also it is particularly troublesome.

Compared with Western cooking dishes with fewer varieties and monotonous methods, there are many ways and varieties of dishes through cooking and stir-frying in the Chinese diet, and they pay attention to color, aroma, taste and shape, which is not conducive to distribution according to people. Later, with the invention of the Eight Immortals Table, the Square Table, and the Round Table, "eating around the table" became the norm.

Of course, now the catering industry and the culinary industry are also advocating the meal system, and some restaurants have also adopted methods such as setting up special chopsticks or dish clips. In the process of long-term development, the Chinese diet should slowly find a way to be healthy and hygienic, while maintaining the tradition of food culture.

In Heyuan, Guangdong, the Hakka people use the four-square table, commonly known as the "Eight Immortals Table".

China News Agency: How can Chinese food culture be better protected and passed on in the future? What role will it play in foreign exchanges?

Gao Qi'an: Chinese food culture can be said to be unique in China's foreign cultural exchanges today, which is quite effective and recognized by all countries in the world.

Overseas Chinese restaurants have become a beautiful scenery. The fact that large and small Chinese restaurants can take root all over the world shows the strong vitality and dissemination of Chinese food culture. This communication effect also reflects the advanced and excellent Chinese food culture. During the years that I lived and worked in Japan, the local area even developed some special words due to the introduction of Chinese food, such as Sichuan cuisine pronounced in Japanese, mapo tofu, etc.

Therefore, Chinese food should be innovatively passed on on the basis of maintaining traditional culinary culture, so that people with different tastes around the world can accept it. This was the case when these diets were introduced from the West, and today's Chinese food culture should also have some characteristics in the process of spreading abroad. (End)

Respondent Profile:

Gao Qi'an, director of the China Dunhuang Turpan Society and vice president of the Gansu Dunhuang Society, specializes in Dunhuang studies and Silk Road food culture, Yugur and local folklore, and is the author of "Research on Dunhuang Food Culture in the Fifth Dynasty of Tang" and "Research on Silk Road Food Culture", and his book "Wine Lamb - Food Culture of Dunhuang" was translated into Japanese and published in Japan.