Cold Night Guest Arrives (Memoirs of Chinese Food Culture II)

Author: Dai Yaodong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Du Fu's poem "To Wei Ba, a Scholar-Official" goes: "Children prepare wine and jugs. On a rainy night, spring onions are cut from the garden, and newly cooked millet is mixed with yellow millet. The host says meeting is hard, and raises ten cups in one go. Ten cups don’t make him drunk, for he feels your kindness so deep. Tomorrow we’ll be separated by mountains, and the world will be vast and unknown." On a rainy spring night, Du Fu, who had wandered through turmoil, came to Wei Ba’s mountain village. The host asked his children to prepare wine and food, but the village had nothing to offer except freshly picked spring onions from the garden and a bowl of newly cooked yellow millet. Thus, the two long-lost friends, looking at each other with their shoulders, drank heartily and chatted about the changes since their parting. The candlelight flickered on the table, while the rain outside drizzled softly—it was truly indistinct whether it was night or day, a realm of dining. The Song Dynasty’s Du Lei wrote in "Cold Night": "In a cold night, guests come, tea serves as wine. The bamboo stove boils water, and fire first glows red." In a cold night, the north wind blows, and it’s hard to sleep under the quilt. Suddenly, a friend visits, and one throws off the robe to greet him. But there’s no extra dish in the kitchen, no aged wine in the cabinet. So, snow ised, water is melted, and fire is lit to boil tea. Outside the cottage, snow falls silently on the cold branches, while sparks fly from the pine charcoal in the bamboo stove. In the pot, tea boils with tiny bubbles. At this moment, the wind is calm, the moon bright, and a few sparse plum blossoms are reflected in the window—another realm. The so-called realm of dining is the culinary interest and taste formed by the environment, atmosphere, and mindset. It has nothing to do with the fineness or coarseness of the food, nor with the joyous gathering of guests in a splendid setting with dazzling lights and cups. This book collects about 30 articles, all written in the author’s consistent style—combining historical research with the humanistic sentiment of visiting food across the country, narrated in a gentle, literary manner. There are essays on the art of dining, stories about famous dishes and historical anecdotes, observations of dietary changes in daily life, blending historical tales, real-life experiences, and nostalgia. "Of all those who spread slander in Zhejiang, none surpass Zhang Dai."