Chengdu Rabbit Head vs. Turtle Soup

As the saying goes, "You are what you eat", and in my life, I also believe that there is nothing in the world that cannot be solved by eating. If one meal is not enough, eat two or three meals. If I am happy, I want to eat delicious food to celebrate. If I am unhappy, I want to use delicious food to cheer myself up. In addition, I have perfectly inherited the strongest genes of Cantonese ancestors' diet and diet. I have a kind of crazy love for food.

So, when Master Suishinian said that he would entertain everyone with rabbit heads and bullfrogs in Chengdu in the future, and his beautiful sisters immediately croaked, I accepted his generous promise without any psychological barriers. In fact, I have eaten both of these foods many years ago when I went to Sichuan. Ximei kept stressing to me, "Rabbits and frogs are very cute, how can you eat their meat?" I really want to tell Ximei, have you ever seen how the rabbit heads are presented in Chengdu food stalls? Probably scared to death. The first time I ate rabbit head, my colleague asked me to eat authentic Chengdu snacks, so she took me to eat rabbit head. On a large tray at the food stand, marinated and dipped in sauce, the rabbit heads lined up neatly, looking like enlarged roast goose heads with their mouths cut off. In the impression, except for the cheeks, there is no meat to eat in other parts. Archaeologically, we use tongue and teeth to search for shredded rabbit meat, and use our lips to suck in the mellow and spicy marinade. Eating rabbit heads is much more interesting than food. It is a bit like Cantonese eating fish cheeks. A little bit of meat to eat is the greatest joy of eating fish. As for bullfrogs, in fact, they are also sold in Hong Kong's street markets. Bullfrogs are not green and delicate frogs, but stupid and fat with brown skins. They are not particularly strange foods. Back then, my distinguished customer from Sichuan fished out a bullfrog leg from a large pot of red oil, and looked at me provocatively, "Do you dare to eat it?" It revealed a pure whiteness like jade, accompanied by the aroma of Chinese prickly ash, which made me move my index finger and put the bullfrog leg into my mouth without hesitation. It is said that the meat of the bullfrog is delicious. That day, under the stimulation of numbness and spicyness, I kept pouring Coke, but I didn't eat the deliciousness. The meat quality was tight and delicate, and the overall impression was good. It is said that long after I left the company, the client still remembered the woman who drank Coke while eating bullfrog.

I recently finished reading a book called "Look at the Menu, Click on History". I borrowed the title when I saw the title on the new bookshelf in the library, and finished it in a few days while I was eating at noon. The purpose of this book is to discover the historical background and stories connected at that time by sharing menus that have appeared in history. In addition to the gimmicky title of the book, the author did not grasp this interesting proposition well in the content. Neither did he deeply connect food and history, and the language used to describe food was not subtle and humorous. At best, he paid money to promote it on Facebook. 's diet article, take it for dinner and see that it is barely qualified. But this book still opened my eyes to see that the food of foreigners in history is also borderless. The most surprising thing is to learn that turtle soup was an indispensable appetizer on the European table in the 18th and 19th centuries, the coronation banquet of King George IV of England, and the luncheon of the Constitution of Alberto (a major symbol of Italy's unification). Serve turtle soup as a starter. Turtle soup uses the meat of green loggerhead turtles. Sailors in the 18th century would keep turtles on boats as a source of meat. Turtle meat was so delicious that it became the darling of the wealthy. In its heyday, Britain used to import 15,000 live turtles every year. . In addition to turtles, various wild birds such as swans, storks, egrets, etc. appeared on the menu in Europe. On his deathbed in 1995, former French President Mitterrand couldn't help but illicitly eat protected porcupines as his last supper. At the Duke of Wellington's Waterloo Celebration Banquet, I was also impressed by the game meat jelly sauce. After 10 rabbits and 10 partridges were roasted, they were ground into meat puree and made into aspic, decorated with flowers and After the truffles are placed high on the banquet table for display. (I will definitely croak again when I see it to my sister)

It can be seen that eating the so-called "strange food" is not unique to China. Every part of the world has its own wonderful things. I have never listened to internet celebrities like KOLs telling me what to eat and what not to eat. I only believe in my own mouth. Only when I eat any kind of food can I eat it, and then I can clearly know if it is my own food. The so-called arsenic in your eyes is not necessarily my poison. Especially when you travel to a new place, you must look for wonderful food by yourself. You must bravely try what you can eat in the local area. You can break through the boundaries and find your own surprises by ignoring the guidance of "travel experts". I suddenly thought that if I have the opportunity to travel to Quebec in the future, when the Nuit people give me a raw seal eyeball, I will also swallow it like my male god Anthony Bourdain. If you are told it is delicious, don't believe it...unless you have eaten it.

Turtle Soup: The Dark History of Colonial Delicacy