Liang Shiqiu on Eating

Author: Liang Shiqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Greediness, a word that cannot be perfectly translated into English. Nero, the Roman tyrant, and Henry VIII of England, were often seen tearing off thick and sturdy chicken legs, holding them up to devour with indifference, looking like gluttons! But that was not greediness. Farouk, the former king of Egypt, was said to eat twenty boiled eggs for breakfast at a stretch, which was not greediness either, but merely indulgence, a lack of table manners. A preference for a particular food and eating it in large quantities is gluttony. Greediness, however, focuses on the quality of the food, requiring satisfaction of taste. When God created humans, He placed a tongue in their mouths, and on that tongue, countless taste buds, teaching them how could they not be greedy? Greediness is based on physiological needs and can also develop into an almost artistic interest. Perhaps the Chinese are particularly greedy. The character for greediness () comes from the radical for food () and the sound of the word for dates (). The sound of dates () is similar to the word for slander (), and its original meaning is a swift hare, skilled in running. For the sake of mouth and belly, people will go to great lengths to satisfy their greedy mouths, as the saying goes, "For the sake of a mouthful, run two legs to the bone." A true greedy person will never be lazy for the sake of food. I have a relative who belonged to the Han military banner, poor and greedy. One evening, during a heavy snowstorm, the old man huddled close to a small coal stove, shivering. His son came home from work and bought four pears, offering one to his father. The father, delighted, immediately bit into half the pear. Then, he put on his coat and hat, took a small bowl, and rushed out into the storm, disappearing from sight. His son only heard the sound of the gate creaking shut and realized it was too late to chase after him. An hour later, the old man returned, holding his small bowl. It turned out he wanted to eat pears and jujubes mixed with shredded pear! At old feasts, the first dishes served were four dry goods, four fresh dishes, and four sweet preserves. Jujubes and pears were readily available. After the meal, a dish of pears and jujubes mixed with shredded pear had a unique flavor (when pears were unavailable, cabbage hearts could be used as a substitute). This old man had eaten half a pear and suddenly remembered this taste, so he braved the snowstorm to run for an hour. This is greediness. A person's greediness occurs during the period when they want something but cannot have it. In Greek mythology, Tantalus was in water up to his chin but could not drink, and in front of fruit but could not eat, burning with hunger and in great agony. His feeling was not greediness, but the torment of being unable to live or die. Greediness is not so severe. When a person feels greedy, it is after being well-fed and warm, when they see, remember, or talk about a delicious dish, and their throat feels as if a greedy worm is scratching and itching, forcing them to swallow saliva dryly. Once they get what they desire and indulge in the enjoyment, they feel completely at ease. During the eight years of the war, I was in the rear and really missed the food of my hometown. People are always like this, never forgetting the flavors of their hometown, even though the famous saying "A thousand miles of fresh bamboo shoots and a pinch of salt and fermented beans" is not necessarily as enchanting as the legend claims. I had been dreaming of the flavor of Beijing's goat head meat for seven or eight years. After the victory, when I returned home, one winter night, I heard the cry of a street vendor selling goat head meat in the deep lane and immediately climbed out of bed, called the vendor into the passage, and sat on a lazy bench watching him slice the goat's face with a bright, thin knife under the dim light of an oil lamp, cutting it into thin slices. Then, he took out a piece of goat horn covered with gauze and sprinkled some pepper salt on it. I held a plate of goat head meat and went back into bed, placing one slice after another into my mouth, unknowingly falling asleep, completely satisfied.