Mao Zedong liked to eat peppers, liked to eat braised meat, liked to eat fish, which is well known, so there are many stories about Mao Zedong and chili, braised meat, fish, "only to drink the water of the Yangtze River, but also eat Wuchang fish" is proof.
Mao Zedong has always had a light diet, usually coarse tea and light rice, never eat mountain treasures and seafood, his old man's workload is particularly large, working day and night every day, up to more than ten hours, but rarely eat supplements, eat two meals or three meals a day, at most is only four dishes and a soup of home cooking, that is, when the economic conditions are good, only eat braised pork up to 2 to 3 times a month.
At the end of 1960, China suffered an unprecedented three-year natural disaster, coupled with the rupture of Sino-Soviet relations, the state had to repay the principal and interest of the huge loan to the Soviet Union, as well as the economic blockade of Western countries, new China's internal and external difficulties, entered the most serious period of difficulty since its founding, and the problem of food and clothing for the people of the whole country was also facing a severe test.
However, the tremendous difficulties did not overthrow the Communist Party of China, did not overthrow the strong Chinese people, and the people of the whole country were closely united around the Party Central Committee with Chairman Mao as the core, making concerted efforts, struggling hard, and tightening their belts to live their lives.
One day, Mao Zedong finished his busy work and was ready to eat, the staff brought the meal to Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong took a look, the dish is very simple, but there are a few small pieces of poor pork in a dish, suddenly put down chopsticks, said:
"I don't eat pork and chicken anymore. Pork and chicken have to be exported for machines, I see rice, greens, oil, salt can be. I want to work with the people of the whole country to pay off the debt. ”
The staff understood Mao Zedong's intentions and quickly agreed.
After coming down, the staff felt that the chairman did not eat any meat, after all, he was the leader of the party and the state, the work was heavy, the day was full of opportunities, if there was not enough necessary nutrition supply every day, it was difficult to ensure good health, and it would also affect the work efficiency, so the staff boldly advised Mao Zedong, from the perspective of work, or eat some meat every day.
Unmoved, Mao Zedong replied firmly: "The people of the whole country are struggling hard, and I want to be with the people!" ”
Chairman Mao
The chairman's words did not dare not be listened to, and in the next few days, Mao Zedong's diet became a vegetarian dish, whether it was lunch or dinner.
But Mao Zedong's health doctor suggested that in order to ensure basic nutrition and physical health, it is necessary to find a way to let the chairman eat some meat regularly, not just vegetarian dishes, because Mao Zedong has begun to have some symptoms of malnutrition, such as some puffiness in the limbs, the body feels weak from time to time, and so on.
This was a big problem, Mao Zedong repeatedly ordered him, and no one dared to persuade him to eat meat.
After a few days, a staff member had a sudden idea and figured out a new method, Chairman Mao said that if you don't eat pork and chicken, then you can always eat fish, right? Compared with pork and chicken, fish is produced faster, easier to raise, and generally do not export, do not exchange foreign exchange with the state, Chairman Mao still loves to eat, eating fish does not violate Chairman Mao's requirements!
So, one day at noon, a plate of fish appeared on Mao Zedong's table.
Mao Zedong saw the fish at a glance, he did not move a chopstick from beginning to end, after eating, the whole fish was still intact, the staff thought that this time it was bad, to be criticized by the chairman, but Mao Zedong was not angry, nor did he criticize anyone, but just arranged for the staff to send the fish to several old cadres who were not in good health.
That afternoon, Mao Zedong announced a new rule:
"I stopped eating meat dishes, only rice and green vegetables, which was implemented from January 1, 1961."
As soon as this stipulation came out, everyone no longer dared to make a good claim and prepared fish and meat for Mao Zedong.
Soon after, Mao Zedong set himself the "three noes": do not eat meat, do not eat eggs, and eat grain without exceeding the ration.
Over time, due to malnutrition, Mao Zedong began to appear puffy, especially the legs and feet were seriously swollen, and it was a pit when pressed with his hand, even to the point where he could not wear shoes.
Li Yinqiao, the head of the guard, went to Mao Zedong's secretary and the health doctor to discuss together, Chairman Mao can not go on like this, in case the body collapses, how can we explain it? Thinking about it, in the end, Li Yinqiao came forward and moved out a set of "big truths":
"Chairman, you will bring down your body if you go on like this, and you will have to eat some meat!" You are not eating for yourself, the party and the country need you, and the people of the whole country need you! ”
Mao Zedong's face suddenly darkened, he pondered for a moment, and said slowly and slowly: "I have heard that many people are hungry and hungry, hungry, and their legs and feet are swollen. ”
Li Yinqiao was silent, he knew that he could not persuade Mao Zedong, because Mao Zedong had the people of the whole country in mind, and at the most painful moment of the country, he chose to be diligent and thrifty for the country, and to share the hardships and hardships with the people.
In this way, Mao Zedong took the lead in firmly implementing the "three noes" principle, did not eat a bite of meat for 7 months, and the whole person lost weight in a circle, but his legs and feet were thicker - that is because of long-term malnutrition and puffiness that could not fade.
In fact, Mao Zedong took the lead in tightening his pants and belt to live a life, not only in eating, but also in living a daily life, he not only paid attention to frugality, but also emphasized the distinction between public and private, did not engage in special at all, and did not take advantage of the public.
As the leader of the party and the state, Mao Zedong's salary was 610 yuan, and from 1959, the whole country entered a difficult period, Mao Zedong proposed that cadres reduce their wages, and the first to take the lead in reducing his salary to three levels, only 404.8 yuan.
You must know that Mao Zedong's salary is not only his own living expenses, but also to bear the cost of a large family to eat and drink Lhasa, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, etc. Mao Zedong's living in Zhongnanhai is not free, the house where the family lives has to pay rent, furniture must pay the use fee, water, electricity, gas costs must be borne by themselves, and from time to time to squeeze out money to help relatives and friends who are in difficulty in their hometown.
Because of this, Wu Liandeng, who was responsible for serving as Mao Zedong's housekeeper, was very difficult, because of the heavy burden and heavy expenditure, a piece of money had to be broken in half and spent, and if he was not careful, he overspent, and had to use Mao Zedong's manuscript fee to subsidize.
Many people think that Mao Zedong's going out to inspect and investigate belongs to official activities, it must be public expenses, there is no need for personal payment, but the actual situation is not so, Mao Zedong every time he goes to a place, he has to give food stamps for meals, accommodation to pay, he often asks the staff around him, is it timely and full payment to the local food bill.
After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong often took a special train to go out to inspect, he had a habit of going out, carrying bed sheets, pillow towels, towels and other items, and even toothpaste, toothbrushes, matches and other small things to carry, this is not Mao Zedong pay attention to personal hygiene, but for the sake of thrift and thrift, can carry everything with them, as far as possible to save the supplies provided by local hotels.
Once, Mao Zedong went to Hangzhou to inspect and stay, and saw that his room was basically arranged according to the layout of the Juxiang Bookstore, the furniture was very simple, he was very happy, but as soon as he saw the new quilt sheets on the bed, Mao Zedong said to the guards: "Remove all these new ones, didn't we bring them, put the old one for me, otherwise I won't be able to sleep." ”
Mao Zedong's diligence and thrift were not limited to himself, but also strictly demanded his family, and they were not allowed to engage in special things, especially for his own children, Mao Zedong always tirelessly taught them: "People, life is still better than low, not better than contribution than enjoyment, then there is no success." ”
Ms. Li, Mao's favorite youngest daughter, grew up in the history department of Peking University, lived at the school, and when she went to college, it coincided with the country's economic difficulties, and her diet was no exception.
When declaring the grain ration, Li Ne remembered that in order to share the country's difficulties, Li Ne insisted on not eating meat, eggs, and fish, only eating green vegetables and rice, and even the amount of rice was limited, so he took the initiative to reduce his grain ration, and as a result, he often had to endure hunger because he did not have enough to eat.
Once, Mao Zedong's guard Yin Jingshan ran to the school alone to visit Li Ne, saw that Li Ne was thin and weak, his face was sallow, and thought that Li Ne was sick.
"Uncle Yin, I'm not sick, I can't eat enough, I'm really hungry, very hungry..."
Yin Jingshan heard that his heart was broken, and quickly told Li Yinqiao, Li Yinqiao was both anxious and sad, and in a hurry, he did not report to Mao Zedong, so he secretly got a box of biscuits and ran to the school to give it to Li Ne.
Mao Zedong and Li Ne
The paper wrapped could not hold the fire, and the matter was soon discovered by Mao Zedong, who summoned Li Yinqiao and seriously criticized:
"In such a difficult period, why do you still want to specialize?"
Li Yinqiao knew that it was inappropriate to do so, but still quietly defended: "Other parents also send things to their children." ”
As soon as Li Yinqiao defended, Mao Zedong was really angry, and he slapped the table and said loudly:
"I don't care about other people, but my children are not allowed to give a cookie!" Who called her Mao's daughter! ”
Mao Zedong was the son of a peasant and was well aware of the sufferings of the people, and his thrift and thrift were not in difficult times, but a fine work style formed over a long period of time.
In 1927, Mao Zedong led the autumn harvest uprising, and the insurrectionary troops at that time still retained some remnants of the old-style army, such as the disparity in the treatment of officers and soldiers, different cooking stoves, officers' meals were four dishes and one soup, and ordinary soldiers could only eat large pots of rice.
When it came to the "Three Bays Reorganization," Mao Zedong resolutely ordered the abolition of the small stove for officers, stipulating that officers and soldiers eat with the stove, and he took the lead in sitting with the soldiers and eating with a spoon in a large cauldron, setting a good example.
Mao Zedong with the Soldiers (Film and Television Stills)
After the "Three Bays Reorganization," Mao Zedong led his army up Jinggangshan, and encountered layers of "blockade" and "encirclement and suppression" by the Kuomintang troops, and the entire base area was very difficult, and there was not enough grain to eat, so they could only eat rough red rice and pumpkin soup, and sometimes even one meal a day red rice and pumpkin soup could not be guaranteed, and they had to dig wild vegetables from the mountains to fill their hunger. At this time, Mao Zedong, as a member of the Central Committee and former secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and the officers and soldiers ate the same meal and drank the same wild vegetable porridge.
Once, when the cook saw Mao Zedong working day and night, he made a bowl of white rice for Mao Zedong on his own initiative and quietly brought it to Mao Zedong on the table at dinner.
Mao Zedong saw a bowl of white rice, did not say a word, picked up the bowl and went into the room and asked, "What do you eat at night?" ”
The cook did not have time to answer, Mao Zedong had already seen a large bucket of steaming wild vegetable porridge, he stepped forward, did not say anything, directly poured the white rice into the porridge bucket, picked up the rice spoon and stirred it vigorously, then filled himself with a bowl, went to the courtyard and laughed with the soldiers, and drank it in a big mouthful.
Mao Zedong was a native of Hunan and had a special preference for chili peppers, which can be said to be spicy as fate, no spicy and unhappy, and even openly said that "no pepper is not revolutionary", it is better to "not eat braised meat for thirty days, not to be spicy for a day." ”
In May 1930, Mao Zedong went to The Wu area of Jiangxi to investigate, the local people are very poor, every meal is boiled greens in water, not a drop of oil star, not even add salt, eat tasteless, without any nutrition, it is such a meal, Mao Zedong also ate with relish, never put forward requirements for food.
The guard Wu Jiqing was distressed about Mao Zedong, he wanted to change his taste, he heard that Mao Zedong liked to eat chili peppers, so he went door to door to look for his hometown, and finally found a string of red peppers produced in Hunan, he originally wanted to give some money to the people, but the people saw that he was the Red Army, saying that they did not want anything, Wu Jiqing had to give up.
Mao Zedong
At dinnertime, Wu Jiqing sent a plate of fried red peppers to Mao Zedong's room, Mao Zedong was writing a report, looked up at the plate of red peppers, frowned and asked: "Where did you get this pepper from?" ”
Wu Jiqing replied with some pride: "If you ask for the old watch, you don't spend money, you can eat it with confidence!" ”
Mao Zedong also asked: "Did your company commander tell you the 'three major disciplines and eight points of attention'?" ”
Wu Jiqing honestly replied, "No! ”
Mao Zedong nodded and said pleasantly:
"Well, I can't blame you for this today, mainly because we haven't kept up with the education and propaganda of the new soldiers." Tell your company commander in a moment, and ask the chief of the department to send the chili money to the fellow villagers, and the money will be deducted from my food expenses. ”
Mao Zedong paused for a moment and continued: "Oh, remember to apologize to the old cousin, we in the Red Army do not take the masses a needle and a thread, this sentence is not a lip service, it must be truly implemented." ”
At the beginning of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong was keenly aware of the severe test facing ruling the country and demanded that "the whole party must keep a sober mind in the face of victory, withstand the test of ruling after seizing national power, ensure that comrades continue to maintain a modest, cautious, not arrogant, and impatient style, and ensure that comrades continue to maintain the style of arduous struggle." ”
Mao Zedong said and did the same.
Once, at dinner, Mao Zedong saw several rice grains that had accidentally fallen on the table, and used chopsticks to pick them up one by one and send them to his mouth, and the guard saw a sour nose and said to Mao Zedong: "Chairman, the rice that fell on the table is dirty, don't eat it." ”
Mao Zedong shook his head and said, "New China has just been founded, our country is not rich, the people's lives are still some difficulties, I eat so well, my heart is uneasy, the food I eat is very good, let alone waste a grain, when the Chinese people can eat four dishes and one soup, how good it should be." ”
Soon after, the guardian Wu Xiangting was reappointed as Mao Zedong's life administrator, and Mao Zedong was afraid that Wu Xiangting was young and had not suffered hardships, so he spent money indiscriminately, so he specially instructed him, and even taught him in person how to save money when buying vegetables:
"I tell you, as long as your meals are clean and hygienic, don't buy expensive things for me to eat." Let's say it's winter, so don't buy fresh vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. Now the money to buy a cucumber can buy a basket of cucumbers in the summer, buy a cucumber in the winter and eat only one meal, and buy a basket of cucumbers in the summer to eat dozens of meals. ”
With such "painstaking efforts" and meticulous calculations, those who did not know still thought that Mao Zedong was a "stingy miser," but those who really understood knew that this was Mao Zedong's consistent fine style of thrift and thrift, and they solemnly respected him.
During the three years of difficulty, Mao Zedong not only emphasized "throttling", took the lead in reducing wages, not eating meat, and reducing clothing and food, but also paid attention to "open source" and advocated "doing it yourself, having enough food and clothing", from the early 60s, Mao Zedong liked to ask the staff to plant various vegetables and fruits in the garden in Zhongnanhai, and he himself had time to water and pull grass in the vegetable field, so that he could save costs.
Mao Zedong's concept of "doing it yourself, having enough food and clothing" can be traced back to the Yan'an period.
Morning at Yangjialing (Mao Zedong watering the vegetable patch)
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, life in the rear area was very difficult, Mao Zedong put forward the "do-it-yourself", called on the military and the people to carry out a large-scale production campaign, basically achieved self-sufficiency, at that time Mao Zedong and others had the quota task of cultivating land, he also opened a vegetable garden in Yangjialing, he personally planted vegetables to water and fertilize, "The Morning of Yangjialing" is the best portrayal.
The story of Mao Zedong's thrift and thrift is by no means fictional, but well documented, both written and empirical.
The Shaoshan Comrade Mao Zedong Memorial Hall holds a set of precious written materials - 23 copies of Mao Zedong recipes and recipes, including 15 recipes and 8 recipes, which record Mao Zedong's daily diet, and are handwritten by the staff around Mao Zedong, retaining the original appearance, authenticity and authority.
By looking at Mao Zedong's recipe records, we can find that Mao Zedong's meal was very simple, and lunch was usually four dishes and one soup, and one bowl of rice. The so-called "four dishes and one soup" is not a big meal, but two ordinary home-cooked hot dishes, one meat and one vegetarian, and two plates of common cold dishes, one is chili, one is pickles, and then there is a soup, which is also very light.
Mao Zedong did not like birthdays, even if it was an occasional birthday, "improve" life, diet is very simple, for example, December 26, 1962 is Mao Zedong's 69th birthday, the most hearty birthday feast on this day is he and the staff to eat, the recipe is written: dry roasted winter shoots, fried shrimp, white carp white, chicken fat winter melon balls, fried lettuce.
This recipe is very light, there is no pork chicken, beef and mutton, the only meat dish "oil fried shrimp" is by no means the current "oil fried prawns", but the staff themselves in the pond to raise shrimp, there is no meat at all, can only be fried with oil to produce some taste, which strongly confirms mao Zedong in 1961 took the initiative not to eat pork, chicken situation.
Mao Zedong was with democrats
Among the above recipe recipes, there is a list of Western dishes that has attracted people's attention, this recipe was formulated on April 26, 1961, the cover is marked as "Western cuisine, Western soup", the contents of the dishes are more, divided into 7 categories: fish, chicken (including chicks), pigs, mutton, duck, beef, soup.
Some people believe that Mao Zedong often ate meat, which is not in line with Mao Zedong's eating habits and personality characteristics, nor is it in line with historical facts, and the views are absurd and broken in one blow.
People with a little common sense, as long as they have read this recipe, they know that this is a recipe to choose from, not a recipe for one person, just like when we enter the hotel, the waiter will provide us with a complete menu, we can order from it, but it is impossible to order all the dishes in it.
That is to say, this "Western cuisine, Western cuisine soup" recipe is not specially prepared for Mao Zedong at all, let alone the recipe that Mao Zedong actually "enjoyed", but should be the "recipe" prepared when entertaining foreign guests at a large banquet.
Mao Zedong entertained foreign guests
The author's conclusion is by no means speculative, but corroborated by example.
In September 1961, Mao Zedong hosted a banquet in Wuhan to visiting Marshal Montgomery, although the country was in difficulty at that time, but the state banquet was related to diplomatic etiquette, there must be a certain grade, the menu at that time was: "four dried fruits, four fresh fruits, four cold vegetables, bread, cream bean soup, teppanyaki mandarin fish, marshal shrimp, assorted fried rice, cream kes, fruit platters, drinks", and these dishes are basically selected from the "Western cuisine, Western cuisine soup" recipe.
Throughout Mao Zedong's life, he held a high position in the party-state, but he always performed honesty and official duties, had a clean wind in his sleeves, lived a quiet life, did not seek luxury and was deeply loved by the people, but always cared for the masses, shared weal and woe, struggled hard, and was diligent and thrifty. The traditional virtues of the Chinese nation and the lofty qualities of communists were vividly displayed in Mao Zedong's body.
Mao Zedong once said: "We live in this world, not to eat the world, but to transform the world." This is man, and man is different from other animals. ”
Now that we have lived a good life, we have begun to pay attention to the quality of life, eat and drink well, and even take pride in being "foodies." This was originally understandable, but we must not forget that today's happy life is not easy to come by; it was Mao Zedong and other revolutionaries of the older generation who were diligent and thrifty, worked hard, tightened their belts, led the people of the whole country to build an atomic bomb, and supported the "nuclear umbrella" for New China, which guaranteed national security and the dignity of the people and laid the foundation for today's well-off life.
Chairman Mao Zedong
Chairman Mao once said: "It is easy to do this when there are no conditions and not pay attention to it; it is difficult to do this when there are conditions." We Communists are going to do something that is difficult to do! "This is the high style and bright festival of a generation of leaders Mao Zedong, and we should always remember Mao Zedong's teachings, keep them in mind, and practice them in practice!"