Spring Festival food custom: eating rice cakes

　　During the Spring Festival, many regions in my country are particular about eating rice cakes. Nian Gao, also known as "Nian Nian Gao", is homophonic with "Nian Nian Gao", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year.

　　As a kind of food, rice cake has a long history in our country. In 1974, archaeologists discovered rice seeds in the matrilineal clan social ruins of Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. This shows that our ancestors had begun planting rice as early as 7,000 years ago. People in the Han Dynasty called rice cakes "rice cake", "bait", "獍" and so on. The ancients also had a development process in the production of rice cakes from rice cakes to powder cakes. The cookbook "Shici" from the 6th century AD contains the method of making "white cocoon sugar" for rice cakes. "When the cooked rice is cooked and heated in a pestle and mortar, it will be pounded into rice cakes. It must be very cooked without any rice grains..." After the glutinous rice is steamed, pound it into rice cakes while it is hot, then cut it into the size of a peach core, dry it, fry it, and roll it with sugar before eating.

　　The method of grinding rice to make cakes is also very early. This can be seen from the Northern Wei Jia

　　It was proved in Sixie's "Essential Art of Qi Min". The production method is to sift the glutinous rice flour with silk silk, add water and honey to make a harder dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it with silkworm leaves and steam it. This kind of glutinous rice pastry is quite characteristic of the Central Plains.

　　Rice cakes are mostly made from glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice. In ancient times, sticky millet (commonly known as small yellow rice) was the first choice. This kind of millet is shelled and ground into powder. After being steamed with water, it becomes yellow, sticky, and sweet. It is a delicacy for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. The article "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty records that Beijingers at that time "ate millet cakes on New Year's Day, called New Year cakes." It is not difficult to see that "Nian Nian Gao" is a homophony of the "sticky cake" in the north.

　　There are many types of rice cakes, the representative ones include white cakes from the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, water-milled rice cakes from Jiangnan water towns, and red turtle cakes from Taiwan. Rice cakes have different flavors from the north to the south.

　　There are two types of northern rice cakes: steamed and fried, both of which are sweet. In addition to steamed and fried, southern rice cakes can also be fried in slices and boiled in soup, with both sweet and salty flavors.

　　It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year's Eve, and later became a Spring Festival food.

　　Rice cake is not only a holiday delicacy, but also brings new hope to people every year. As a poem from the late Qing Dynasty puts it: "People's hearts are so high that they make food with harmonious sounds, meaning that the year is better than the year, and they are used to pray for a good year." ”