How the ancients prevented food poisoning in summer

Northern Song Dynasty Zhao Ji "Wen Hui Tu"

In summer, food is easily spoiled and causes food poisoning. How did the ancients ensure that food was clean and hygienic and not spoiled in summer? During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi Guocheng Xiangguan had raised the issue of preventing food poisoning in summer, "Guanzi Dudi" cloud: "In summer, there is a big dew of raw smoke, choking on a hundred herbs, and people eating hurt people... Do not poison and eat utensils, which will injure people. The so-called "hurting" refers to what is called food poisoning in modern times. In the Song Dynasty, "not eating unclean food" to prevent "disease from entering the mouth" became a consensus among people.

01

How did the ancients make food hygienic and safe?

"Huainanzi" has clouds: "Eat with a clean cup, wash and drink".

Qi Guocheng first proposed the problem of preventing food poisoning in summer from the perspective of food safety. So, how to prevent contamination during food and after it is made into a finished product? The ancients also came up with many tricks, one of which is the simplest and most practical, that is, covering or covering food with a clean gauze or net cover to prevent dust or flies from falling on and staining the food.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, "scarf curtain" became a regular food cleaning method among the people. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty explained the "curtain" in "Speaking Wen Xie Zi": "The curtain is on the upper curtain, and the case of covering the food is also known as the curtain." "Meaning, the curtain that covers it; The gauze tent that covers the food is also called a curtain.

Zhang Zhongjing of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded a variety of situations prone to food hygiene problems in the "Twenty-fourth Article of the Taboo and Treatment of Beasts, Fish and Insect" in the "Essentials of Jin Kuang", one of which said: "All bees, flies, insects, ants, etc., collect more food, and food will cause fistula." Tang Sun Simiao's "Thousand Gold Essentials and Nourishing Nature" also believes: "In terms of diet, bees live and drink, and food will be poisonous and harmful." ”

Covering the food can effectively prevent fly bites and ensure food hygiene. Washing the tableware containing food was the most common method used by the ancients to deal with unclean food. Now many families choose to wash the dishes after meals, in fact, after the washed tableware is placed for several hours, especially in the high temperature summer, it is still easy to breed germs, and it should be washed again before serving meals. Therefore, Liu An said in "Huainanzi": "Eat with a clean cup, wash and drink, and collapse after raccoon, you can support your family." ”

For the hygiene requirements when cooking dishes, the ancients did not jokingly say "not dry and clean, eat without disease". Qing Dynasty gourmet Yuan Zhen once put forward the "four more" view to ensure that food is made clean and hygienic, that is, the "Cleaning Instructions" article of the "Suiyuan Menu" said: "sharpen more knives, change more cloth, scrape more boards, wash hands more, and then treat dishes." "When cooking, "soot from the mouth", "sweat on the head", "flies on the stove", "bituminous coal on the pot", etc. must not fall into the dish, otherwise the dish will be unhygienic. Yuan said: "Although it is extremely good to cook, such as Xizimeng is unclean, everyone covers their noses. ”

02

How did the ancients deal with "problem food"?

There are clouds in the Analects: "Eat food and eat, fish and meat are spoiled, do not eat."

The easiest way to prevent food poisoning is not to eat spoiled food. Confucius, a pioneer in advocating the prevention of food poisoning in the pre-Qin dynasty, put forward the scientific concept of "not being tired of eating, not being tired of being fine" in the Analects of the Township Party, and then listed the criteria for "not eating", at least six of which are directly related to the prevention of food poisoning. 1. "Food and hunger, fish and meat are rotten, do not eat": the meal becomes flavorful or moldy, the fish is rotten, the meat is rotten, and the meat is rotten, do not eat; 2. "Evil color, do not eat": the color of the meal becomes bad, do not eat; 3. "Stinky and bad, do not eat": smell bad, do not eat; 4. "Loss of cooking, do not eat": improper cooking, undercooked and overripe, do not eat; 5. "Sell wine market, do not eat": Do not eat wine and dried meat bought from the street. 6. "Sacrifice to the public, not to the meat." The sacrificial meat does not go out for three days, and it is not eaten for three days": The sacrificial meat of the helper cannot be stored overnight. The meat of the family sacrifice cannot be stored for more than three days, and if it exceeds three days, it cannot be eaten.

Confucius's above-mentioned "six do not eat" view, although subjectively put forward out of the consideration of "propriety", but also played a positive role in the prevention of food poisoning. For example, from the statistics of modern food poisoning cases, in summer food poisoning cases, the proportion of food from street delicatessens, marinated vegetable shops, and smoked stalls is much higher than that of home-made food.

Why did Confucius put forward the idea of "selling wine in the market, not eating"? Xing Yang of the Northern Song Dynasty gave a further explanation in the Analects of Language: "Wine may not be refined if it does not make itself, and it is not good to eat meat without knowing what it is." "It seems that the phenomenon of food fraud with shoddy and sheep's heads selling dog meat already existed during the Spring and Autumn period in which Confucius lived.

Confucius's view of preventing food poisoning was inherited by later generations, such as Yuan Jiaming's "Dietary Instructions" article "all meat is poisonous" said: "Meat is not cooked after sleeping", "meat is not cooked" and other "kills" after eating: "Light is a patient, carbuncle swelling and boil poison." ”

In order to prevent what Confucius called "fish and meat failure", the ancients generally controlled the slaughter time. Qing Yuan proposed in the "Seasonal Instructions" article in the "Suiyuan Food List" that slaughter should not be too early: "Summer is long and hot, and if you slaughter too early, the meat will be defeated." ”

For fish and poultry, the ancients generally "rotary killing and rotary cooking". According to Song Hongmai's "Yijian Ding Zhi" "Shu Mao Yu Loach Eel", "Lin'an Zhejiang people Shu Mao and sell fish and rice as a business. In the multi-breeding loach eel urn, rotary killing and rotary cooking..."For food that cannot be eaten in time after being slaughtered, the ancients would put salt, spices and other sterilized substances to extend the shelf life. According to Song Zhuang's "Chicken Rib Compilation", the modern phrase "disease comes from the mouth, and disaster comes from the mouth" has become popular as early as the Song Dynasty.

03

What was the importance of food safety and hygiene in ancient royal palaces?

There is a cloud in "Tang Law Shun Discussion": "If the evil thing is in food and drink, two years in vain."

In ancient times, the highest requirements for food hygiene quality were undoubtedly the imperial dining room, and in the summer when food safety and hygiene problems were easy, ice cellars and other low-temperature spaces were often used to store food ingredients. However, when it comes to production and serving, there must also be strict requirements. In the Tang and Song dynasties, when the imperial chef served food, it had to be tasted by the officials of the Shang Food Bureau, which is the so-called "food and tasting for the imperial court". Of course, this is not only about worrying about spoiled or unhygienic diets, but also about preventing human poisoning.

The imperial chef must cover the meal well to prevent dust and flies from falling in. According to Wu Zimu's "Mengliang Record", "Prince Zaiji Nanban Hundred Officials Enter the Interior to Give the Shou Banquet": "When entering the imperial meal, the imperial chef closes the treasure before entering the imperial palace with an embroidered dragon cover, and the inner attendant serves the food before entering, both of them are entrusted, and the head is straight." ”

Royal food safety is the most basic requirement, from the selection of ingredients to the production must be carefully selected, that is, the so-called "simple rice selection of dishes". If there is something unclean in the food you eat, or if you choose it poorly, you will be severely punished. According to the article "There is a mistake in making imperial meals" in the "Tang Law Shun Discussion": "If the evil thing is in the food and drink, two years in vain; Jane chooses not to be refined and enters the imperial from time to time, minus the second class. Those who do not taste, a hundred rods. "From this point of view, do not say that the food is unhygienic, even if the service is not timely, you will be guilty.

In addition to ensuring absolute safety and hygiene of the food for the emperor, the food used by the emperor to entertain his ministers or foreign envoys must not have any quality problems. The emperors of the Song Dynasty had the system and custom of giving food to ministers, because of the large amount, some imperial chefs tried to save trouble, often made and stored first, that is, the so-called "pre-made", but the hygiene of food, especially in the high temperature season, became a problem, and the phenomenon of "dust and damage, more unusable" occurred from time to time. In September of the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1010 AD), Emperor Zhenzong of Song issued an edict: "From now on, the envoys will be sent to the province to inspect the kitchen in each section, and if it does not damage the evil, it will be paid to the province to declare the gift." "The Ministry of Internal Affairs officials, who are in charge of food safety, send full-time personnel to check whether the food is clean and fresh, and only when there is no problem can the ministers be rewarded.

It is worth noting that in addition to preventing "filthy things" from being on the table, the royal family also emphasizes "food taboos", because different foods are cooked together, which is likely to cause toxicity and cause food poisoning. The "Tang Law Shun Discussion" demanded: "Those who make imperial meals are all in accordance with the "Book of Food", and if there are taboos, they must not be made, some preserved rice must not be put into millet, and amaranth and turtle meat and the like shall not be allowed." "If food poisoning is caused by violating food prohibition regulations, it will be considered poisoning: "Mistakenly offender food abstinence, staple food grinding." ”

04

How to deal with food poisoning in ancient times?

There are clouds in "Drinking and Eating": "Poisoning by eating pork, drinking rhubarb juice".

In ancient times, food poisoning was common among ancient people. In "Han Feizi Wuying", it is said that in ancient times, "eating fruit and clams, fishy and evil smell hurt the stomach, and the people had many diseases." "So, what if you get food poisoning? Although there were no modern medical methods in ancient times, the ancients also discovered many effective "detoxification" methods, which are recorded in ancient Chinese medicine texts.

In Yuan Hu Sihui's "Drinking and Eating", he listed a special section on "food poisoning" to talk about how to deal with food poisoning. Hu Sihui believes that if you accidentally eat rotten and poisonous food, "it will cause damage to the intestines and the stomach, light or heavy, each of which will be harmed by its poison and solved with the poison." For example, "Food poisoning, take chicken manure and burn ash, and water to take it." Or licorice juice, or boiled kudzu juice to drink. Hu powder water can also be served"; "Food gourd poisoning, boiled millet juice and drink it is solved"; "Eating pork poisoning, drinking rhubarb juice, or almond juice, simple nitro juice, can be solved."

In ancient times, the methods and means of food detoxification were very rich, and drinking "licorice juice" was one of the more commonly used methods. During the Qin and Han dynasties, people already used licorice to cure food poisoning. The "licorice" article of Tao Hongjing of the Eastern Jin Dynasty described the function of licorice as follows: "Warm and low breath, full of shortness of breath, wounds and coughs, quench thirst, clear meridians, promote blood qi, and detoxify hundreds of medicines." "The poisons here include food poisoning.

In addition, garlic was also a commonly used "disinfectant" ingredient by the ancients. According to the "Famous Doctors", garlic "mainly treats cholera, abdominal restlessness, grain elimination, stomach management, warmth, and removes evil and poisonous gas." Southern Dynasty physician Yao Sengtan believed that garlic could be used to treat food poisoning, and the "cure for crab poisoning" in the "Yao Sengtan's Collected Prescriptions" said: "Dry garlic boiled juice, drink it." ”

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