Why do Chinese people love growing vegetables so much?

On October 12, 2024, Shi Jun, a Ph.D. in botany and senior research librarian at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave a speech entitled "Moving the Vegetable Garden to Space" at the "Exploring the Galaxy and Pursuing Dreams in the Sky" theme session of the Science Popularization China Starry Sky Forum, telling us about plant science knowledge in space exploration.

The following is an excerpt from Shi Jun’s speech:

Have you noticed that if there is a piece of land around your community that is not managed by anyone, it will soon become a vegetable field. This is a very interesting phenomenon. Many Chinese people, even if they have moved abroad, will turn all the land that can be cultivated into vegetable fields. This is an obsession in our Chinese bones.

So, why do Chinese people have this obsession?

The reason why we Chinese love to grow vegetables so much is mainly related to the following reasons in ancient times: first, the issue of nutrition acquisition; second, the influence of ancient China's small peasant economy and the socio-economic model of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce; third, the habit of cooking cooked food; finally, the frequent wars and extreme weather in ancient China also made our ancestors have a deep affection for growing vegetables.

How to understand it specifically? Let's talk about it briefly.

The major nutrients needed by the human body can generally be summarized as fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. The nutrients that vegetables can provide us mainly include very important vitamins, sugars, which are commonly known as carbohydrates, and water. It is worth noting that water is also a very important nutrient. In addition, there are minerals and dietary fiber.

The human body has a great demand for vitamins, especially vitamin C. It is worth mentioning that although humans claim to be the "spirits of all things", you may not know that humans are one of the few animals in the world that cannot synthesize vitamin C on their own. In this respect, humans do not seem to be advanced, but it does not matter, we can get this nutrient from vegetables. Therefore, we have a strong demand for growing vegetables.

Some people may say, I don't like eating vegetables. Then there is another alternative, which is to eat fruits, which also contain vitamins. However, in ancient China, this solution could not be implemented, which is directly related to the economic model of ancient China.

Why do you say that? Think about where the large amount of fruit we get today comes from? From the vegetable market, from the supermarket - we buy it. Is there anyone who says that we don't need to buy fruit at home, because we grow it ourselves? This is rare. But in ancient China, there could not be such supermarkets and markets. Why? Because in ancient China, the basic economic model was a small peasant economy. What is a small peasant economy? It means that each household produces food and supplies for their own use. In other words, what we put in our bowls and what we wear are all produced by our own families.

The establishment of the small peasant economy is closely related to one person, Shang Yang. In summary, Shang Yang's reforms have two basic points: one is to reward military merits, and those who fight well in battles are rewarded heavily; the other is to reward farming, and those who grow crops well are also rewarded heavily. In addition to these two points, the small peasant economy was also established.

Some people may ask, what does not encouraging business have to do with not being able to eat fruit? For example, if your family has planted 100 acres of apple trees, how long can the harvested fruit be preserved? With today's technology, it is no problem to store it in a cold storage for a year. But in ancient times, there was a lack of refrigeration equipment, and the fruit could only be preserved for three or four months at most, and then it would rot. What would you eat? You say you can sell it, sorry, business is not encouraged. In ancient China, the class order was scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, and business was ranked last. In this case, it is not reliable to meet nutritional needs by growing fruits. So the most reliable way is to plant a small vegetable garden at home so that you can pick vegetables to eat at any time.

Some people may ask, if we can solve the nutrition problem by eating vegetables, why grow vegetables? This involves a very important question. We Chinese entered the farming era very early. After settling down, it became more and more difficult to collect vegetables. You will find that the wild vegetables you want to collect are farther and farther away from your home. One day you will find that the energy you spend on collecting vegetables is far greater than the energy you get from eating them. What should we do at this time? We still have to grow vegetables, and we have to grow a lot.

Why do we need to plant a lot? Because we want to cook the vegetables and eat them. Why do we need to cook them and eat them? Because our ancestors discovered very early that fertilizing crops can increase yields. What kind of fertilizers? Of course not chemical fertilizers, there were no chemical fertilizers at that time. We used farmyard manure. The so-called farmyard manure is the excrement of humans and animals. Putting these things in the fields and applying them to crops can get a good harvest.

But this brings a big trouble - the danger of parasites, especially roundworms. Roundworm eggs will stick to the leaves and be eaten by people. Some people may have eaten "pagoda candy" when they were young, which is used to kill roundworms. What should people do when there was no pagoda candy in ancient times? Cook the vegetables and eat them. In the cooking process, roundworm eggs can be killed as much as possible, and the vegetables are relatively safe. This also forces people to grow more vegetables. Why? Because killing insect eggs will also destroy nutrients. Some people may say, what's the point of eating this vegetable if the nutrients are destroyed? It doesn't matter, if half are destroyed, there is still half, just eat more. It's such a simple logic, which also prompts us Chinese to like growing vegetables more.

Of course, there is another reason why Chinese people like to grow vegetables. That is, in ancient China, endless wars and extreme weather had a great impact on people's lives.

In ancient times, wars often broke out. When wars came, the common people suffered the most. After the war, farmland was destroyed. Sometimes, simply because the farming season was missed and the crops were not harvested in time, the seeds of these plants had no use and meaning. What should we do at this time? We can only eat some emergency food, such as turnip. Its characteristic is that the root is rich in carbohydrates, which can fill the stomach. In times of war and chaos, many people relied on vegetables such as turnip to fill their stomachs and survive the difficult times. This also makes us Chinese have a deep-rooted love and enthusiasm for many vegetables.