For a period of time, every Chinese has truly felt the "pressure" brought by pigs, and the continuous increase in pork prices is no longer news. Of course, some experts have suggested that other livestock and poultry meat can be substituted for pork, but this is obviously incompatible with the Chinese eating habits, and this can not help but make us wonder, how much do the Chinese like to eat pork? Why do you like pork so much?
Now let us start from many aspects and deeply analyze the "historical genes" that Chinese people love to eat pork.
The upper history of pork
There is no doubt that pigs are extremely important to the Chinese, and this is also true in ancient times. Many scholars have examined the development of enamel of pigs, and compared the homotopic vegetarian studies with DNA sequencing. They have established that pigs were raised in captivity by the Chinese as early as nine thousand years ago and became the first domesticated meat livestock.
Early humans domesticated animals to ensure the supply of meat in winter, so in the remains of primitive settlements across the country, quite a lot of livestock bones have been unearthed, and traces of cutting and cooking can be found, and a considerable part of it is cooking. Leftover from pork. For example, at the Dawenkou site, 66 pig bones were unearthed from 43 tombs, while at the Qinwei family site in Yongjing, Gansu, 46 pig bones were unearthed from 46 tombs. These pig bones accounted for One third of the bones unearthed from all domestic animals①. These relics fully show that pigs were selected and raised by our ancestors from thousands of wild animals in order to meet the meat needs very early.
[The growth trend of the relative proportion of pigs in the Central Plains between 10000 and 7000 years ago]
However,Although pigs were domesticated and bred by Chinese ancestors early on, and improved breeds were domestic pigs and became an important source of meat, pigs did not establish a dominant position on the Chinese table at the beginning. As a result, pork ranks behind cattle and sheep, and is at the end of the main meat livestock. The " Book of Rites " records that "the emperor eats the prison, the cattle, sheep and hogs are all available, the princes eat the cattle, the Qing eats sheep, the doctors eat the hog" vividly illustrates the status gap.
This situation has been maintained for a long time since then, and it has become worse as the eating habits of the good cattle and sheep of the nomads continue to enter the Central Plains.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, the delicious temptation of pork was far inferior to mutton in the upper and middle classes of society. "Luoyang Jialan Ji" praised "the sheep is the most terrestrial product", and the work " 太平广记", which compiled the literature of the previous generations in the early Song Dynasty, mentioned mutton many times, and its proportion reached all meat. 44%, compared with only 11% pigs, much inferior.
The meat of the palace in the Northern Song Dynasty was still mutton dominant. According to the literature, the Northern Song Dynasty palace consumes only 4,100 catties of pork each year, which is only a fraction of the consumption of 434,000 catties of mutton. In the upper class, pork is also a despised food. The famous Northern Song poet Su Shi described pork in "Ode to Pork" as "the noble will not eat" and "the price is cheap and other dung." However, it is the characteristic of "low price and other dung soil" that makes pork gain the opportunity of popularization among the people.
The relatively weak position of pork on the dinner table showed signs of reversal in the Song and Yuan dynasties.
, for example, " Tokyo Menghualu" which depicts the capital opening in the late Northern Song Dynasty recorded: "Only the pigs slaughtered by the people must enter Beijing from now on (Nanxunmen), every day to night, there are tens of thousands per group. , Only a dozen people have been expelled, and there are no chaos." Kaifeng consumes more than 10,000 pigs a day.It just shows the huge consumption of pork by the people. During the Yuan Dynasty, Marco Polo also mentioned that there were particularly many pigs in Zhejiang. These data show that during the Song and Yuan dynasties of , the demand for pork and the amount of pigs raised by the folks are growing, and pork is gradually becoming the most important meat for ordinary Chinese.
[Portrait of Marco Polo]
The popularity of pork, from bottom to top, began to occupy the palace in the middle of Ming Dynasty . "The Record of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty" mentioned that Guanglu Temple was responsible for the supply of banquets in the palace. Starting in 1457, the supply of chickens and geese was reduced each year and the import of pigs increased. This subtle change was finally finalized in the Qing Dynasty. Most prefectures, prefectures, and counties list pigs as one of the specialty products. In some places in the south, such as Xiapu County, pig farming became popular, and the county chronicles recorded that pigs were raised in nine out of ten, which shows that pork in the Qing Dynasty. Popularity.
[Su Shi is very fond of pork]
When the wheel of history entered the modern era, Chinese people’s love for pork reached its peak.
This can be seen at a glance from the Chinese table dishes, whether it is the common pork ribs, minced meat, meatballs in the family or the tenderloin, pork chops, trotters in the snacks, or the pork skewers in the barbecue stall, The pork brain and pork belly in the hot pot can all show that pork is an indispensable food.
This absolute advantage is also clearly reflected in the data. According to survey statistics, China’s per capita pork consumption accounted for 87.6% of meat in 1980, although it dropped significantly in 2008,It also reached 65.4%③.
This carnivorous structure can be said to be rare in the world. In the major meat-consuming countries of the United States and Australia, the per capita pork consumption in 2007 accounted for 24.2% and 19% of the meat consumption respectively. Brazil and Japan, which are relatively small, are 13.7% and 43.5% respectively. If we do not consider the particularity of individual cases and take a look at the world average, we can find that the average ratio is 37.5%, which is only half of China's-the Chinese people's preference for pork is self-evident.
[Proportion of types of meat per capita in all countries in the world in 2007]
What does pork dominate?
Since China has attached importance to eating pork since ancient times, and has gradually deepened its demand and preference for pork over time, we cannot help but have some related questions about its causes.
Regarding the answers to these questions, before we outline the complete picture, we might as well start with the pork itself.
Although people choose the same food, there are many considerations, but the most direct impact is their nutrition and taste. As for the former, pork is very nutritious, not low in protein, and provides a lot of Fat, its content is as high as 37%, far exceeding 13% of beef, 14% of goats and 2.5% of chicken ⑤; along with fat, there are 3.16 times the calories of cows and 1.94 times of sheep. These two points were the easiest to be observed by ordinary people in ancient times, and they were also the nutritional indicators that the ancients observed from life experience and paid great attention to. So much fat in pigs effectively supplemented the lack of edible oil at that time. While providing sufficient calories, it also promoted the absorption of multiple vitamins and protein metabolism. It is no wonder that there is a shortage of food, and the ancients who are also very scarce of all kinds of materials would like it so much. Pork out.
[The nutritional composition of pork, because the statistical method is different, the specific data may be different]
Since the nutritional advantage of pork is so obvious, why did pork dominate until the Song and Yuan era What is the status of meat? It must be said that this is closely related to changes in cooking methods and food culture. To be clear, it was in the Song Dynasty that the "stir-fry" cooking method appeared to give full play to the advantages of pork, which established the dominance of pork in the Chinese meat industry.
Generally speaking, most food has a special taste or texture, which is also a basic indicator of food that gourmets talk about. For example, the mutton taste, the umami taste of chicken, the chewiness of beef, the tender taste of fish, etc., but pork does not have these characteristics. Although pork has 68 volatile flavors after cooking, more than 70% of them are aldehydes ⑥. A large part of aldehydes is hexanal, which smells more comfortable, and there is no short volatility that causes mutton smell in lamb. Chain fatty acid powder BCFAs⑦, unlike beef, which contains high protein in muscle fiber, it is full of chewiness, so while it has a fragrance, it does not have the taste characteristics that only some people can like. It makes the oil and meat itself. It is less likely to damage and cover the taste of other ingredients and seasonings than chicken and lamb. These characteristics of pork, on the best, can fully reflect the meticulous care of the cooking itself, on the worst, the indicator is that the ingredients are unremarkable and lack the gimmick to become a gourmet.
[Proportion of fatty acids in all kinds of meat, BCFAs are a kind of saturated fatty acids, and they account for a large proportion in lamb fat]
and the cooking technique is "fried" and more adequate This characteristic of pork is brought into play.
Since the Song Dynasty, along with the emergence of cities with modern significance,Based on the maturity of iron pots and other cooking equipment and the increasingly scarce fuel environment, frying cooking technology has appeared and popularized. "Stir-frying" is a way to save fuel, but "stir-frying" is also a way to test ingredients. Stir-frying pays more attention to seasoning than steaming, boiling, frying, frying and other processing methods. Therefore, the strong-flavored lamb and chicken are not so suitable for everyone’s stir-fry, especially lamb. Its fat can be burned and lost during barbecue. The taint is greatly reduced, and even people who don’t like the taint can accept it, but if it is fried, it will become a vegetable soup. The taint is still lingering and is naturally rejected by many people.
Some people may question, if you simply say that there is no taste, isn’t rabbit meat also tasteless? Why is it not popular? This is because it lacks vitamins and fats. It needs to consume its own minerals and vitamins to digest rabbit meat. Moreover, it has less fat and a dry taste, which is really not a good ingredient.
So, just in terms of taste, the popularity of pork in China is really the result of the selection of generations of gluttons.
[Lamb soup is not acceptable to everyone]
is not only delicious and economical, but also to calculate the calories 1 _span, p3p, and strong calories. The demand for pigs has prompted people to accept pork as a popular food. The condition that makes pigs the most important domestic animal in China is the "economic account" that no one can escape.
As we all know, ancient China had a huge population and was very dependent on agriculture. Therefore, the "economic account" of the Chinese people's choice of livestock is inseparable from the need for farming. Since it is necessary to satisfy agricultural production as much as possible, fertilization is very important. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soil and fertilizer are essential nutrients for crops, in order to increase and maintain crop yields. The ancient Chinese used animal manure to make fertilizer very early.Among the many livestock, pig manure once again reflects its unique adaptability to agricultural production methods.
【Cow manure that is not suitable for fertilizer】
Pig manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It is among the best in common manure, and the potassium content is second only to poultry manure. Nitrogen and phosphorus are only higher in sheep and poultry ⑧. However, just such a nutrient content is not enough to stand out. What really makes pig manure be considered by the Chinese is its decomposition advantage. Because the fertilizer needs to be decomposed and decomposed in the soil before it can finally provide nutrients for Plants absorb, so the decomposing ability of manure directly affects its use. The poultry manure with the highest nutrient content has great limitations in this respect. The nitrogen contained in it mostly exists in the form of urea, which cannot be absorbed by plants, and is easily lost with water. It must be fully decomposed in the deep soil. Row. What’s worse is that poultry manure will generate a lot of heat during the decomposition process and burn the roots of plants. Fresh poultry manure is easy to attract underground pests, so it is difficult to use directly and can only be used as base fertilizer on uncultivated land. . However, agricultural production models such as fallow and rotation farming are really a luxury for China, which has a serious shortage of arable land.
Fortunately, pig manure has good characteristics in this respect. Its nitrogen is mostly in the form of nitrogen. The carbon and nitrogen of is smaller than , which is conducive to the growth of plant stems and leaves, and there are more ammoniating bacteria. It is easy to be decomposed and does not produce much heat in the process of decomposing humus. This makes pig manure faster than other manures, easier to form humus, fast fertilizer efficiency, and wide application range. These advantages are rare "fool" fertilizers for the ancient extensive fertilization technology.
[The nature and composition of various manures and uses]
And these benefits,The ancients knew very well, so the "Wuyang County Chronicles" during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty praised pig manure: "The method of manure accumulation is not good at raising pigs." At the same time, the survey also showed that a pig can supply 7.5 acres of land with fertilizer⑨. It can be seen that pig manure can help farming. No wonder we can hear the saying: “If you rent a field without raising pigs, you will not succeed if you don’t study.” ⑩
In ancient China where agriculture was founded, pig manure was most suitable for the characteristics of Chinese agricultural production, which naturally made pigs the first choice for farmers to supplement meat.
[Xiucai: I read a book, why did I get in touch with the pig? ]
Of course, farmers like pigs not only because of the good pig manure, but also because of the high cost-effectiveness of pigs as a source of meat. Pigs have relatively low requirements for food. Even in ancient times, it has as many as 42 kinds of food⑪, And whether it’s leftovers or grain husks, or inedible plants, or even human feces⑫, it is always coming; compared to cows, sheep, horses, and pigs that must eat soy and forage. The food input in China is very cheap and diversified.
[Pig food recorded in some historical data]
In addition to eating cheaply, the habits and physiological characteristics of pigs also help to improve the price. The energy conversion efficiency of pigs to food is very high, reaching 35%, while sheep and cattle are only 13% and 6.5%. Moreover, after domestication, pigs do not like sports very much, which provides convenience for people to keep in captivity. Especially after in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the shortage of land resources gradually reduced the stocking of pigs, and they formed the habit of not exercising in the pen. In the "Heping County Annals" of the Republic of China, it was emphasized that "pigs are lazy, hungry and sleepy". This feature perfectly adapts to ancient China where the population has repeatedly broken records since the Song Dynasty.
At the same time,Pork grows meat extremely fast. The weight of wild boars can reach 70 kg when they are 1 year old, and some domestic pigs can reach 70 kg when they are half years old. In addition to the ability to grow meat, the reproductive ability of pigs is also very strong. A pig can produce more than a dozen litters a year. Even unimproved Nigerian pigs have an annual output of 14-15 pigs⑬, which is stronger than cattle and sheep. There are no more than one cow a year, and an average of 1.2 sheep a year. In addition, cattle and sheep need to be stocked, which increases land and labor costs. Therefore, pigs that adapt to centralized breeding and do not require too much care will naturally gradually become The most economical choice for pure meat supply in ancient China.
[The difference in feed conversion rate between cattle, sheep and pigs]
Cultural and political factors are also very important
individual factors But even if we take a more macro perspective, we can also find the reasons why Chinese people prefer pork.
Among the edible livestock, cattle are the most precious. It is the labor of arable land. It is the transportation capacity. Cowhide, beef tendon, and horn are also necessary military materials, so the Central Plains dynasty has always There is strict control over cattle, Qin Dynasty has issued "Stable Garden Law" to require farmers to take good care of cattle and compile cattle inventory information. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of attention was further advanced, and even the use of sacrificial ceremonies was suspended to protect the cattle. In the Song Dynasty, it reached its peak and the private killing of cattle was prohibited. So the cattle were the first to be excluded from the main meat supply.
The next thing to exclude is the sheep, which can provide wool and goat milk, is also suitable for sports, and can be used as military supplies. This is not uncommon in classical records, such as the Longyou recorded in "Old Tang Book · Military System" The herd has the number of sheep but no pigs, and the records of seized livestock in historical records can also see sheep but not pigs.At the same time, it has a higher status in sacrifice, and it is placed on the far right among the three animal sacrifices. In the eyes of the Chinese who respect the right, this is an extremely lofty status. Therefore, it is directly given to sheep and pigs in the "Three Characters Jing·Exegesis". Qualitative: "Pigs can feast on superbin, and sheep can be used to provide sacrificial vessels."
[Cows can be said to be treasures all over their bodies]
It can be seen that in ancient China, there was a strong culture of bullfighting and respecting sheep, and cultural and practical considerations further promoted the policy. Since the Han Dynasty, the Chinese government has tried to persuade farmers to solve their meat problems by raising chickens and pigs. For example, Huang Ba of the Western Han Dynasty asked Posting Officer to take the lead in raising pigs and chickens in Yingzhou. Bohai prefect Gong Sui also encouraged farmers to raise two sows and five chickens per family.
In the Qing Dynasty, the importance of pigs was greatly elevated. Manchu has a habit of eating pork, which stems from their original hunting and production lifestyle. With limited meat choices, pork is the best food they can choose. So in the ritual of Manchu The status of pork is so high that after the Qing Dynasty ruled the world, Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City opened a pig butchering pig dedicated to sacrifices.
After the sacrifice, the pork is divided into food, even the coated slaves can share it, and it is accompanied by the custom of not wiping the mouth and not thanking the master. This tradition lasted until after entering the customs, and the Qing imperial family continued to retain it.⑯ . Along with these sacrificial scorpion meat flowing into the folks, new dishes such as garlic white meat , sauerkraut stew and other new dishes emerged.
It is these historical cultural and political factors that indirectly help pork popularize on the Chinese dining table.
【Sacrifice ceremony in Qing Dynasty】
Summary here
, Speaking ofLet us summarize that in terms of nutrition, beef, mutton, chicken, and rabbit meat do not have as much fat and calories as pork; in terms of taste, beef meat is hard and mutton has a smell, which is not suitable for popularization in China after the development of cooking. On the economic level, cow dung, sheep dung, horse dung, and poultry dung are not as good as pig dung, so it fits the characteristics of China's intensive farming and ancient technology; it cannot rely on cheap and diversified food to create a short growth cycle and relatively high quality. High meat yield; coupled with the additional value of beef, mutton and chicken and its cultural positioning in China, pigs have naturally become the first choice for Chinese meat.
[Common comparison of pigs, cattle and sheep]
Of course, this is only a relatively superficial reason. After all, pork has not become the main meat of other countries such as the United States, even in ancient China. It wasn't that there was a huge proportion at the beginning. Even before in the Ming Dynasty, pork was far less popular than mutton. So what is the underlying reason for the modern Chinese people's enthusiasm for pork? I believe that attentive friends have discovered that no matter from which point of view, the Chinese people choose the main meat food has a core logic, that is, to adapt to the contradiction of China's huge population pressure and limited food. This is incisively reflected in the trend of pork popularization, and we can find that the node where the pork popularization rate increases is also the node where the population has increased by a large amount.
[The era of the popularity of pork coincides with the crazy population growth after the Ming Dynasty]
This is obviously not a coincidence. Ancient records also confirm this point. "Princes do not kill cows for no reason, doctors do not kill sheep for no reason, and scholars do not kill dogs and hogs for no reason". The reason is that they eat less meat, and give examples of and banchao in the Han Dynasty. This was still the case in this age when the population had not yet exploded, until the Song Dynasty. China’s population exceeded 100 million for the first time,After the Ming Dynasty, with the explosive and large-scale population growth of China, this is naturally even more so.
Just because the Chinese people’s meat needs are not met and the calorie intake is limited, the meat is fast and the cost is low. It is suitable for intensive feeding. Pigs with rich fat, protein and calories in the meat will be the first choice. Because of the huge population pressure and the difficulty of fallow farming, the most nutritious poultry manure is abandoned and pig manure is used. Because of the tension between man and land, cattle, sheep and other livestock that need to graze gradually withdraw from the main meat diet; the most suitable cooking Ways to maximize the advantages of pork...
Finally, due to the combined action of various reasons, pigs were finally pushed to the main position of Chinese meat supply.
[Romans love to use nutrient-rich pigeon manure, because they have surplus for fallow]
end1 _span12strong _span12 With the changes in the social development situation, subtle changes have occurred. With the establishment of New China and the reform and opening up, agricultural technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and people's lives have become better and better. The increase in income has also brought about a huge increase in the types and quantities of food intake, turning the original malnutrition into nutrition. Excess, it is under such circumstances that pork gradually loses its previous advantages. In terms of nutrition, the rich fat and calories of pork has become the culprit of the "three highs", which are gradually abandoned by the Chinese people who have begun to overnutrition; in terms of taste, the abundant supply of meat and fuel has promoted people to start further Pursuing diversified cooking and tastes, the introduction of western food has increased the use of other meats; at the economic level, modern science has clear quantification, fully understands the principle of fertilization, and more efficient chemical fertilizers can be used, so pigs The adaptability of manure is no longer the only choice; scientific and intensive farming dilutes the importance of individual efficiency; finally,As cattle and sheep gradually withdrew from the functions of transportation, sacrifice, and military supplies, and returned to meat, it is logical that pork is no longer the only option for the Chinese people to supply meat. This can be clearly seen in the changes in my country's per capita annual meat consumption ratio in the past 40 years. In the 1960s and 1980s, my country's per capita annual consumption of pork accounted for more than 80% of all meat, which can be described as the leader. By 1997, as the consumption of beef, mutton and chicken continued to increase, the proportion of pork fell to 67.3%. During the period from 1998 to 2007, the total meat consumption per capita was still increasing, but pork The growth rate is still declining, with an average annual rate of only 0.4%, which is far from 3% for poultry, 2.1% for beef, and 4.9% for mutton. This has led to a continuous decline in the proportion of pork in various meats, and by 2007 there were only 61.6%. This trend fully illustrates that the importance of pork in China is closely related to the reasons mentioned above, and it points to a clear way to solve the current lack of pork.
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