Ian_Lee Posted April 19, 2004 at 08:32 PM Report Share Posted April 19, 2004 at 08:32 PM What constituted as "freshness" to Chinese when the writing system was invented about 4,000 years ago? Surprisingly it was fish and mutton. In the "Cradle of Chinese Civilization" -- Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan -- nowadays both fish and mutton do not form as everyday dish on the dining table. For mutton, even though there is the famous Beijing winter cuisine of 涮羊肉, most of the restaurants' sheep come from the grassland in Inner Mongolia (or frozen mutton from Australia). It looked likely that 4,000 years ago, there were prairie in all three provinces where their landscape looked like present day Inner Mongolia which sheep were extensively raised. For fish, unlikely Yangtze which has many lakes, present day Yellow River which flow thru these three provinces do not yield many fish harvests. Maybe 4,000 years ago the river was way different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.