The past and present life of a steamed bun

As a valuable heritage of Chinese traditional food culture, steamed buns originated in China and have experienced a long history of development. They embody the intelligence and wisdom of ancient Chinese ancestors and are deeply integrated into the daily life of Chinese people. They have become the staple food of Chinese people, especially those in the north, and are deeply loved. So, do you know the origin and development of steamed buns?

The Origin and Development of Steamed Buns

The word "mantou" first appeared in the literature of the Jin Dynasty. At that time, it was written as "mantou". It was written as "mantou" in the Song Dynasty. Some people believe that "mantou" is derived from "mantou" because it means "barbarian head". According to historical records, the origin of the word "mantou" is related to Zhuge Liang in the Three Kingdoms period. Gao Cheng, a native of Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in "Wine, Liquor, Food and Bread" that "When Zhuge Wuhou conquered Meng Huo, people said: 'There are many evil magics in the barbarian land. You must pray to the gods and borrow ghost soldiers to help you. However, the barbarian custom is to kill people and sacrifice their heads. The gods will feast on it and send troops.' Wuhou did not agree, so he mixed the meat of sheep and pigs and wrapped it with flour to make it look like a human head and worshiped it. The gods also feasted on it and sent troops. Later generations called it mantou." This statement about the origin of "mantou" has been widely circulated and has a great influence.

Some scholars point out that steamed buns were not originally called "steamed buns", but "steamed cakes", "rising cakes", "cooked cakes" or "cage cakes". "Cakes" were used to refer to all flour-based foods in ancient times. The earliest flour-based foods in my country were collectively called "cakes", which were equivalent to the foods made of "dead dough" in the early days. Cheng Dachang of the Song Dynasty explained in "Yanfanlu" that "rising cakes" means "putting into the fermented dough to make it fluffy." This shows that the production of "cakes" later adopted the dough fermentation process, and this kind of "cake" or "steamed cake" is equivalent to the current steamed buns. For example, "Taiping Yulan" records that Shi Hu, the King of Zhao during the Warring States Period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, "liked to eat steamed cakes, and often steamed them with dried dates and walnut pulp as the core, so that they could be cracked before eating." Some scholars point out that steamed cakes before the Tang Dynasty were made by steaming fermented dough with stuffing, which is the same as the early steamed buns, similar to today's steamed buns.

Some scholars have analyzed from the perspective of etymology that "mantou" is a food that covers the inner ingredients, which is close to or is baozi. Other scholars have pointed out that the earliest "mantou" was baozi. The ancient meaning of "mantou" to refer to "baozi" has disappeared in modern Mandarin and northern dialects, and is only retained in Wu dialect. For example, "xiaomantou" and "shengjian mantou" mentioned by Shanghainese still refer to baozi. Some people believe that the shape character "饣" and the phonetic character "曼" of "漫" show that "mantou" is a food that covers the inner ingredients. "头" is just a suffix without actual lexical meaning. The mantou at that time was equivalent to the current baozi. Some scholars disagree with the above view and believe that "baozi is baozi, and mantou is mantou. The two have never been collectively referred to." Other scholars have pointed out that although the mantou mentioned by the ancients was a steamed food with fermented dough as the skin, its shape was different from that of baozi. It was quite similar to a human head, with a round shape and no opening.

Solid steamed buns probably didn't appear until the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Qing Dynasty's literature began to record "solid steamed buns". In the second chapter of the Qing Dynasty's "The Scholars", there is a description that "the kitchen brought out soup and snacks, a large plate of solid steamed buns, and a large plate of fried baozi fire cakes".

In short, from a linguistic perspective, there is a certain overlap, confusion and ambiguity in the names of steamed bread, dumplings and steamed cakes in my country. "Steamed cakes", "rising cakes", "cooked cakes" or "cage cakes" are the most common pasta in ancient people's daily life. There are many varieties, some with leavened dough and some with unleavened dough.

The steamed buns in history may be different from the steamed buns today. It is very likely that the original steamed buns were filled with stuffing, but the appearance was a smooth hemispherical shape, and they were made of fermented dough. There are a lot of documents to prove this fact. Around the Ming and Qing Dynasties, solid steamed buns appeared. It can be said that this is the direct source of today's staple steamed buns in the north. As for steamed cakes, steamed cakes, cage cakes, and buns, they are other types of food. They may have common, overlapping or similarities with steamed buns in terms of appearance characteristics, craftsmanship and production methods, and they can learn from each other and influence each other.

Looking at steamed buns from the perspective of the history of scientific and technological development

The discussion of the origin of steamed bread cannot be separated from the development history of wheat cultivation, processing, steaming cooking utensils and fermented dough food technology in my country.

The history of wheat cultivation in China can be traced back to the late Neolithic period. For example, burial wheat grains dating back more than 4,000 years ago were found in the lower reaches of the Peacock River in Lop Nur, Xinjiang. Wheat was planted later in the Central Plains and the Yangtze River Basin than in Xinjiang. For example, carbonized wheat grains unearthed from Diaoyutai, Bo County, Anhui Province, were determined by carbon 14 to be produced around 504±138 BC. Wheat cultivation had developed greatly during the Western Han Dynasty, and the number of wheat relics unearthed from this period in my country began to increase. These archaeological discoveries show that wheat cultivation in the Central Plains developed significantly during the Qin and Han Dynasties. According to documents, Dong Zhongshu suggested that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty order farmers in Guanzhong to plant wheat vigorously during the Western Han Dynasty. Some archaeologists believe that from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the two sides of the Yellow River had transitioned to chestnuts and wheat as the staple food. The reason was that winter wheat was planted in winter and harvested in summer, which was in rotation with chestnuts, the main crops at the time, thus solving the food problem during the lean season. It can be inferred that wheat was already one of the staple crops in the Western Han Dynasty. The prerequisite for the emergence of pasta processing technology is the popularization of wheat cultivation, and this time should be roughly determined as the middle of the Western Han Dynasty.

The way of eating wheat-based foods has undergone an evolutionary process from "grain food" to "flour food". The emergence of steamed bread is one of the important product forms of wheat "flour food". The origin of steamed bread should also be closely linked to the invention and use of flour processing technology. According to archaeological discoveries, my country already had instruments for making grain flour in the Neolithic Age. Stone mills had appeared and were widely used in the Western Han Dynasty, and they were more common in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, which provided grinding tools for flour production. Of course, screening tools are also indispensable for flour processing. Screening tools had already appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and were widely used in the early Western Jin Dynasty. It can be seen that flour processing technology was basically mature in the Western Han Dynasty.

Steaming is a unique food production technology in China or the East. The origin of steamed bread is directly related to the invention and use of steaming utensils and steaming technology. It can be said that the Chinese were the first to use steam energy in food production, and it is estimated that it has a history of at least 6,000 years. As early as the Neolithic Age, the Chinese had invented a tool for steaming food - the pottery steamer. The pottery steamer appeared in the Yangshao culture period, and its use was very extensive in the Longshan culture period. The pottery steamer in the Neolithic Age was completely made of pottery sand. Some small holes were pierced at the bottom of the utensil so that steam could pass from below and bring heat to the top to heat the food. It can be seen that the "li" was already available as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. Since the pottery steamer can often be used in conjunction with the cauldron, the production method of boiling below and steaming above is realized.

Later, during the Songze Culture period, people invented bamboo and wood grates and embedded them in the bottom of the steamer, thus creating a composite pottery steamer. With the development of the Bronze and Iron Ages, Chinese steam cookers were increasingly used in a variety of ways for food cooking and processing. In the late Western Han Dynasty, "steamed cakes" appeared, indicating that the steaming method had been used to make flour-based staple foods. In Western food culture, the use of steaming methods began after the invention of the steam engine. Even so, Westerners still mainly used baking, frying, and roasting methods, and rarely used steaming methods to make staple foods.

The origin of steamed bread should be more closely related to dough fermentation technology. Some scholars pointed out that the "酏食" in the Western Zhou Dynasty was a kind of fermented flour food, which provided the prerequisite technical conditions for the production of steamed bread. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the number of "cakes" as a kind of flour food began to increase, and in the late Western Han Dynasty, "wine dregs cake" and "flour cake" appeared, which shows that the use of dough fermentation technology has become more common.

Through the research of scientific and technological historical materials, it can be confirmed that the emergence of the "leavening dough method" between the Song Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty laid the foundation for the modern steamed bun dough fermentation technology. By the Yuan Dynasty, the production method of steamed buns was basically the same as it is today. At that time, people already knew how to use alkali and salt to solve the problem of dough fermentation and acid production. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, solid steamed buns had been introduced to the market.

A Cultural Perspective on Steamed Buns

As a food, in the early days of its creation, steamed buns not only had certain edible functions, but also had important cultural functions.

The original main function of steamed buns was to offer sacrifices and worship gods rather than to be eaten as a staple food. "The Law of Sacrifice" by Lu Chen of the Western Jin Dynasty records "using steamed buns for spring sacrifices". According to the record of "Wine, Liquor and Food·Steamed Buns", Zhuge Liang also ordered the production of steamed buns for sacrifices. There are many similar ancient documents. Wheat products used for sacrifices are often more elaborate and particular in production, and some are also given certain artistic shapes. In ancient times, steamed buns were a sacrificial food with stuffing, and the main component of the stuffing was meat. This was obviously unaffordable for ordinary people in their daily lives, and it was impossible for it to become the staple food of the people, but it could be used as a sacrificial food. This is very important, which suggests that steamed buns were not a general food consumed by ordinary people in their daily lives in the early days.

The ritual of using steamed buns for sacrifices later developed into a custom of giving gifts during the New Year with special meanings. This custom is still popular in many places in northern China today. For example, during the Spring Festival, people worship and offer sacrifices to gods, and steamed buns are often used as offerings or sacrifices; some believers worship Buddha and also offer steamed buns; on some special festivals, people in rural areas in the north still give steamed buns to each other, some call them "flowers"; some call them "sheep" to show their wishes.

From this point of view, steamed bread has undergone an important transformation from "for gods" to "for people". As an important staple food in modern China, steamed bread was once an important sacrificial food in its early days. In the process of development and dissemination, through mutual reference and mutual influence with other pasta making techniques, after thousands of years of evolution and development, it gradually became the staple food of Chinese people, especially those in the north, and occupied an important position in Chinese food culture and daily life.

In fact, judging from the general laws of food culture development, steamed buns themselves cannot remain unchanged and will definitely change with changes in economic, technological, cultural and other factors.