Chapter 445: Combined meal system, just do it if you like it
While Cao Shuang was tasting the fish meat made from Luohe crucian carp, three ladies, Jian Jia, Bai Lingjun, and Sun Luban, were already kneeling around the table and starting to eat.
The three girls were talking and laughing among themselves, and would even pick up food for each other from time to time. At this time, they were all sharing meals.
Jian Jia smiled and took some beef slices and said: "Sister Dahu, you are pregnant, so you still need to take more supplements. Come, eat some beef I made."
Sun Luban nodded and ate a piece of beef sliced into a bowl by Jianjia. He smiled and said, "Thank you, sister. This beef in sauce tastes good."
But Cao Shuang insisted on gathering several ladies at the same table for meals from time to time, in order to feel more at home.
As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the form of sharing meals appeared, but its salient feature was the demonstration of hierarchical status and it was a ritual system.
The banquet presents an aura, which can better highlight the majesty of the prince.
"The Rites of Zhou" contains: "The method of setting up a banquet is to set the banquet first and add the banquet later. The banquet is long and the banquet is short. The banquet is laid out below and the banquet is above for people to sit on." This is the target. Standard specifications for banquets.
Before the Shang Dynasty, social productivity was low, and people with kinship relationships lived together in groups, and people obtained food through collaborative labor.
In order to ensure that everyone in the team can eat food, everyone will divide the food into equal portions for consumption. Ensuring fairness is the reason why the meal sharing system was started.
However, during the Shang Dynasty, people began to have the idea of etiquette. In order to reflect the hierarchy and nobleness, Shang kings and princes often had different dining specifications during banquets, and the number of dishes for princes and officials also had to be different.
For example, the size of a meal for the emperor is nine tripods and eight gui, for princes it is seven tripods and six guis, and for a great official it is five tripods and four guis.
The tripod is used to hold meat, and the gui, with its round mouth and ears, is used to hold grain.
Even in ordinary people's homes, in order to show respect for the elderly, people of different generations and ages have different dining specifications.
For example, an elderly person over 80 years old can enjoy five plates, while an elderly person over 60 years old can enjoy three plates.
The Book of Rites Nei Principles, a Confucian book that records the status of women in the Zhou Dynasty, also states that after the age of seven, men and women are required to sit at separate tables and not to eat together, which also indirectly reflects the meal-sharing system.
At banquets in the Zhou Dynasty, people would spread large mats made of animal skins on the ground, which was called a "banquet", and the cushions laid out for each guest attending the banquet were called "seats."
At the banquet, a low table, called a "table", is placed. On the table, utensils for serving wine and food are placed. After the banquet begins, each guest can enjoy the delicious food in front of him.
At that time, people knelt on the cushions, with their buttocks on their ankles and their upper bodies straight. Therefore, the thicker the cushions, the more comfortable people would sit.
Therefore, sometimes people at banquets enjoy the same food and drink, and their status is distinguished by the material and number of cushions.
During the Warring States Period, Lord Mengchang held a banquet. In order to win the hearts of talented people from all over the world, he ate the same dishes and drank the same wine as these diners.
However, there was a diner with bad eyesight. During the banquet, he looked at Meng Changjun's dishes and what he was eating. He always felt that the dishes were different. The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, so he left the table.
After Mengchangjun knew the reason, he personally brought his dishes to the diner. After the diner discovered that the two dishes were exactly the same, he committed suicide on the spot out of guilt.
In the Han Dynasty, the tradition of sharing meals was still retained. For example, in the famous Hongmen Banquet, when Xiang Yu invited Liu Bang to the banquet, the two sat separately, with King Xiang sitting to the east and Duke Pei to the north.
Different seating directions also reflect the hierarchy of dignity. After all, the most noble person at that time was to sit facing the east, followed by the south, and then the north.
Because of the separation of seats, Xiang Zhuang had the opportunity to assassinate Pei Gong without hurting King Xiang when he was dancing with his sword.
However, the Xiongnu and other ethnic groups in the north have always been different from the Central Plains. Because the nomadic people have backward productivity and low cooking ability, they do not have so many exquisite and practical tableware to serve food, and they are not very concerned about the etiquette of honor and inferiority at the table. Therefore,
The meal system has always been adopted.
Up to now, although the food sharing system is still followed, with the continuous integration and exchange between the northern nomads and the Han people, the Han people have also begun to learn from the nomadic people's eating habits.
Therefore, even though the shared meal system was introduced to the Central Plains, most people still preferred to adopt the separate meal system, which also better reflected their power and status.
However, the war situation at that time was chaotic and the imperial power changed very frequently. This also led to the weakening of the authority of the monarch, and the gentry and landlord class no longer adhered to the original dietary etiquette.
He began to enjoy food that was not in line with his status, even more luxurious than the emperor. Just like Cao Shuang sometimes accidentally became more luxurious than the emperor.
Originally, people sat on the floor and ate at small tables. In the Tang Dynasty, large chairs that could hang their feet appeared, allowing people to sit more comfortably. However, the tables were still short, which made it inconvenient to eat.
Later, high tables appeared, so people did not have to bend down to get food while sitting on big chairs.
In the Song Dynasty, the meal-sharing system began to really become popular, and this was largely due to the development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, which led to a more commercialized food culture.
At that time, there were many types of food and more diversified cooking methods. Places such as Jiaofang Restaurant were popular among the people, allowing people to have more opportunities to sit together to eat and drink.
From this, the Song Dynasty also gave birth to the "Baixi people", a profession that is rare in ancient and modern times.
The duty of the person at the white table is to remind the guests to eat according to the intention of the host and guest. This is the etiquette retained by the meal sharing system. The existence of the person at the white table is to achieve the purpose of maintaining the normal progress of the banquet.
For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Han Qi, who had a high official position, was honored as the host and guest when he was having dinner at a host's house. When he picked up a lychee, the people at the white table would say to the guest: "The senior minister eats lychees and treats all the guests."
Eat lychees!”
By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolians were born in the grasslands and were accustomed to drinking and eating together. They often put a roasted sheep or deer at the banquet, and everyone sat around eating meat and drinking from large bowls.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the shared meal system had completely replaced the separate meal system. After all, the separate meal system was completely out of date.
But it is not possible now. The meal-sharing system with clear status levels is still the mainstream. Even as the prime minister of the Wei Dynasty, Cao Shuang only used the meal-sharing system to eat in a small area. He still had to use the meal-sharing system when holding banquets.
Bai Lingjun also said with concern: "Sister Dahu, try the fish head and tofu soup I made. It is also very delicious. It is very suitable for pregnant women like Qing."
After saying that, he put some fish head, tofu and soup in a clean lacquer bowl and put it in front of Sun Luban.
Sun Luban tasted it with a spoon and said: "Sister's craftsmanship is really good. It is not suitable for me to eat fish dumplings now. Please ask the two sisters to try the fish dumplings I made."
Cao Shuang tasted all the dishes cooked by the ladies and said with a smile: "The dishes cooked by the ladies are all delicious."
Jian Jia, Bai Lingjun and Sun Luban all said gently: "As long as your husband likes it, that's fine."