Head picture: Roland, Executive Chef of the US Embassy in China-New Weekly

Number: 1 one

1860, Prince Gong Yi? After signing the Beijing Treaty with Britain and France, it is said that a banquet was held for the envoys of the two countries.

The British arrived first, but they refused China's invitation and the table on the table did not move. Later, when the French saw a table full of Chinese food, their forefinger moved greatly, and they mingled with friends at home and had a good time.

Prince gong

British special envoy Elgin

French envoy Gro

This is probably the first recorded official banquet hosted by China for foreign guests, and it was later written into the literati's essays, which became evidence of the arrogance of the British Empire and the approachability of French gentlemen.

In fact, this difference in attitude towards food may not be due to the different personalities of British and French ministers, but behind it, it contains various internal causes of the two countries' nationalities, religions and history. If Prince Gong could gracefully put on a tea set, add some high-calorie Shaqima and pea yellow, and invite the British envoy to have a Chinese-style Manchu-Chinese afternoon tea, he might have a completely different understanding of each other's social attitudes.

More than 30 years later, "Oriental Bismarck" Li Hongzhang visited Europe and America and invited foreigners to dinner. Li knows much more about it than Prince Gong. Although he didn't leave a specific menu, he can still vaguely see Li See Tang Zhong's style of inviting guests to dinner in the "Li Hongzhang Chowder" that has been popular in the United States so far: sea cucumber and chicken as the bottom; Chicken soup, lard seasoning, squid, ham, scallop hanging fresh, mushrooms, yuba, bamboo shoots, cabbage and other vegetables increase the layering.

Stew into such a pot, want to get fresh eyebrows. Compared with its eponymous "Left Chicken", the style is not much higher. Unfortunately, the cost is too high. Later, the "chop suey" of American Chinese food chain was changed to "fried chop suey", and the materials were also turned into cheap shredded pork bean sprouts, but the reputation in the eyes of foreigners remained the same.

How to treat foreigners to a delicious Chinese meal is not only related to diplomatic etiquette and international image, but also an opportunity for us, a big country where food is the first priority, to re-examine ourselves.

When what we are used to is put on a broader stage, we use unfamiliar folk customs, religions and cultures as benchmarks, and finally the * * * part is both national and worldwide.

Number: 2 er

When searching for "Banquet for Foreign Guests" on the Internet, the most displayed name should be Zhou Enlai.

As a senior student who has traveled all over Japan and France, he knows well foreigners' appreciation of China cuisine. In dozens of banquets, including Kissinger, Nixon and other important western guests, Premier Zhou arranged Beijing roast duck on almost every banquet menu.

Although dubbed "Beijing", Beijing Roast Duck is not Beijing at all. It is a national famous dish that combines the characteristics of Cantonese roast flavor, Jiangnan waterfowl and Shandong burrito. The title of "national cuisine" is not exaggerated at all.

At the same time, roast duck is also very in line with the eating habits of Europeans and Americans: duck meat is good and there is no bone. Although the ancestors in the Book of Rites also taught us not to bite bones, China people have long forgotten the lessons of our ancestors when faced with boiled chickens, sheep scorpions and hairy crabs. Europeans and Americans generally have the habit of eating but not eating, and think it is impolite to vomit while eating. A well-cut roast duck is not much different from the chicken breast that Europeans and Americans often eat.

The way to eat roast duck is also full of ritual: spread a cake, spread it with sauce, put in green onions and cucumbers, put in duck skin and duck meat, and finally roll it up and take a bite. China people's requirements for food are "color, fragrance and shape", and shape, that is, setting the plate, is the last item. However, foreigners often attach importance to the sense of ritual in dining. Exquisite dishes of roast duck and unique eating methods give them the motivation to try new things.

The key is the taste. There are often combinations of "A" and "B" in western food, such as fried lamb chops with potatoes, bologna roasted with cheese, and spaghetti with broccoli. This collocation is based on the logic that the two ingredients are complementary in taste but relatively independent in taste, which is completely different from the "collocation" in which we fry and stew different ingredients together.

Roast duck is one of the few exceptions, it takes into account the combination of fat, vegetables and starch, and its nutrition tends to be balanced; Cake, green onion, cucumber and roast duck are all treated separately and put together before serving, which ensures the relative independence of taste; The mix and match of various ingredients neutralizes the spicy taste of green onions and the greasy taste of roast ducks. Essentially similar to the combination of grilled bologna cheese, broccoli and pasta.

third place

Roast duck is certainly good, but it is impossible to sit alone. With this panacea, it is not pure Chinese food without many cups and plates.

China is very big, and there are many kinds and genres of Chinese food, but many cuisines are not easily accepted by foreigners. For example, Sichuan cuisine with spicy and delicious flavor as its background. Like Deng Lupu in Fuxia, only a few people have been immersed in Chinese food for decades and finally accepted spicy food completely. Few people in China can accept canned herring and pickled raw shark meat unless they live in northern Europe for decades and are fully integrated into the local cultural circle.

In fact, Fu Xia's resume didn't go deep into Chinese mainland from the beginning. As an Englishman, she first came to Hong Kong, then a British colony. After tasting shrimp dumplings, rice rolls, barbecued pork and roasted goose, I "fell in love with this country" and decided to come to the mainland to study cooking.

Therefore, the cuisines easily accepted by westerners are often the coastal developed areas that opened earlier, especially the Chinese food in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, represented by Su Bang cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Guangfu cuisine and Chaoshan cuisine. If you have to show the profoundness of a big food country, it is not bad to have a few thick Shandong dishes. For example, fried shrimps, kung pao chicken, crispy fried oyster sauce yellow, sauce-flavored conch, braised elbow and so on.

In short, those with good taste, chewiness, no bone spitting, no irritating taste, rich in oil and high in calories, crispy and delicious can be given priority. It would be better if the raw materials are seafood or poultry familiar to foreigners.

If we want to show the existence of Sichuan cuisine in the four major cuisines, it is not bad to serve boiled cabbage at the expense of work, but most westerners can distinguish the subtle differences between different kinds of cheese and bread with their tongues, but they can't taste chicken soup and ham poured in cabbage.

Number: 4 si

Diet, like mother tongue, comes from deep-rooted childhood memories, so we can make westerners fall in love with some Chinese food, but don't try to change their dietary preferences. Just like a child who grew up with snacks, rice and noodles, although the quality of bread can be distinguished through training, it is still difficult to make a meal of bread.

Many Chinese food that foreigners eat in their own countries is not authentic Chinese food. Figure/Big Bang Theory

A young man who came to Canada worked as a foreign teacher in Shandong for two years, and learned to wrap jiaozi and dip it in old vinegar. After returning to Canada, he learned how to get the chef in China restaurant to change the left chicken into sweet and sour pork tenderloin or braised pork. But someone asked him what his favorite Chinese food was, and his answer was: Jiaodong honey three knives. This is a replica of maple syrup bread. An English girl who traveled to Penang, Malaysia, watched China's stall owner stir-fry kway teow, stew duck soup, pot bone tea and braised chicken feet with great interest in Shantou street snack night market, but when she was finally hungry, she silently chose a fried food store in the corner to sit down and eat. Still the familiar smell of fish and chips. These are all true stories. Although the truth is cruel, it is full of humor that makes China people laugh.

Therefore, when inviting foreigners to eat Chinese food, respect is the most important criterion to remember: Europeans and Americans like sugar because Europe has been short of sugar for a long time. Although the Crusades snatched sugarcane seeds from Arabs, sugarcane was not widely planted due to climate reasons. It was not until the discovery of the New World that a huge sugarcane planting base was established in the Caribbean. Knowing this history, we might as well order some walnut cheese, rock sugar taro, sesame glutinous rice balls and double skin milk for them with sympathy and tell each other that Chinese food also has great desserts.

Europeans and Americans have long formed the dining system, which is related to the pursuit of high efficiency by nomadic civilization and marine civilization. So subconsciously, foreigners always think that it is an unhealthy habit for us to put chopsticks and spoons on the same plate. Knowing these cultural backgrounds, we might as well put chopsticks and spoons next to every dish. This is not a matter of pressure, but to let the other side enjoy the fun of sitting around a table in a harmonious farming civilization, and at the same time take care of their psychological concerns about eating together.

Due to religion, legend or other reasons, Europeans and Americans are more afraid to see the shape of the whole animal except turkey on the table. This problem is also easy to solve. Roasted lamb is replaced by roasted lamb chops, Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish is replaced by vinegar willow, and whole chicken stewed with mushrooms is replaced by crock chicken pieces. The same smell, but let the other side can't see the "body" of the net.

-End-

After reading Yuan Mei's Menu with the Garden, Liang Wendao once asked such a question: "Did the word' Chinese food' appear in this classic book which is very expensive for China?"

Yes, standing still and overemphasizing the concept of traditional China cuisine does not show how confident we are. And those innovative Chinese restaurants that conform to the eating habits of more people on earth, even those made of Chinese food and western food, may better reflect the tolerance, wisdom and progress with the times of our great food country. This is the significance of Michelin Chinese food list which has been criticized repeatedly and firmly rooted in China.