After eating Houttuynia cordata once, I realized the cruelty of nature.

Legend has it that before the first pioneer who put Houttuynia cordata in his mouth appeared, the differences between people were not as obvious as they are now.

He is as brave as the first person to eat crabs. He makes people clearly aware of their own limitations through food and regain the humility they should have towards the environment.

I understood this truth when I was traveling in Guiyang.

In the eyes of the people in the southwest, Houttuynia cordata is an elixir of life, and all ways of eating it are their gifts to the world. But for most outsiders, its main function is to build a more diverse sensory system.

This little grass contains all the heaviness of the earth. When you first take a bite, it activates more than just your taste buds and your sense of smell; your entire nervous system resonates with it.

Food is just the simplest label, and the density of information it carries has long exceeded the capacity of the brain.

It is said that even some Cantonese people who can eat Fujianese will step back when seeing this dish.

If a person has never eaten Houttuynia cordata, he should be considered lucky, because he still retains some of the most primitive life experiences.

It is very likely that at the moment of chewing, with the stimulation of a physiological reaction, your eye sockets will begin to moisten, and you can see the roots of the big tree, the earthworms turning over the soil, the dinosaur fossils, and Halley's Comet.

Image source: TikTok @又卯

The first time I ate Houttuynia cordata, I almost broke my roots.

Different from other foods that are good at packaging themselves, it won’t tell you unnecessary reasons. It is frank and overbearing in character, and no taste can overwhelm it.

In comparison, Mao Jidan is like a gentle courtesan, and Zheergen is Li Kui.

"The cocoons and pupae from the Northeast, the roasted pig eyes from Guangxi, and the canned herrings from Sweden were all good, until I met the Houttuynia cordata."

“That’s when I knew I was becoming a picky eater.”

Houttuynia cordata, scientifically known as Houttuynia cordata, is also known as fish mint, pig nose arch, dog ear, etc. Some people call it the end of the food world.

As an original and premium food, it may be one of the most polarizing symbols among people. As many people love it as there are people who are afraid of it.

It makes some people who think they can eat all over the world realize the objective regional differences and that one bite of the food can make them feel like they are having morning sickness.

After eating it, many people found the motivation for literary creation and dedicated their most vivid reviews to it.

Houttuynia cordata has given rise to countless folk poets, who probably never thought about how specific their descriptions could be before this.

Some people said that the feeling was like taking a piece of rotten ginger with water from a fish tank that hadn't been changed for three years. Others said it was like a fish leaping through the dragon gate in their mouth and directly breaking through the top of their head, like biting on an electric wire, and their brain froze at that moment.

"When I saw this dish, I gasped. This is clearly the inner elixir that a carp spits out after it has cultivated into a spirit."

From the perspective of efficiency, the closer to life, the more accurate the information can be conveyed. Those who are familiar with this are more straightforward:

"It's like a nosebleed mixed with earth, metal, and fish, flowing back into your throat, with a hint of diesel occasionally added in."

"You will experience a blankness of about one second, and your body will start to retch instinctively. It is more uncomfortable than enduring being drunk. The more you think about it, the more you want to vomit. The more you want to vomit, the clearer the taste becomes, forming a Tai Chi-like cycle."

"I gutted a carp and put it in a basin to wash. After washing, I smelled the basin and it smelled like Houttuynia cordata to me."

Seven orifices closed, anus contracted, throat tightened, rapid fainting. It is hard to imagine that these words are describing the feeling brought by the same food. Humans get an absolutely open experience from Houttuynia cordata.

What these friends have in common is that they have discovered the malice of nature in their eating. Some have even said that they would rather be beaten than eat it again.

Some people even began to reflect on themselves, especially when they saw the expectant looks from their local friends, it was easy for them to wonder if there was something wrong with them.

"I used to not understand those who don't eat cilantro or onions. I thought they were all pretentious. After eating the Chinese herb, I realized how narrow-minded I was. I apologize to those friends."

In some places, the leaves are eaten together to double the flavor.

A former colleague of mine once tried fasting after eating Houttuynia cordata.

He didn't understand why some people would become addicted to eating this thing. After careful deduction, he thought it was because of the dipping sauce. "The dipping sauce in the southwest is delicious even when dipped in bricks."

It was not until he went to Guizhou that he discovered that the Houttuynia cordata itself could be used as a dipping sauce.

Image source: Dianping.com

As for another group of people, they also couldn't understand why anyone would dislike the taste. They had been eating it for half their lives and never felt it was fishy.

For true enthusiasts, digging up Houttuynia cordata and destroying other people's paddy fields is a common practice. A plate of cold salad can be eaten with three bowls of rice, and just the smell will make you salivate.

The Houttuynia cordata seems to perfectly illustrate the law of the unity of opposites of things. Some people call it a divine object sent from heaven in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing.

According to my friends in Guiyang, Houttuynia cordata is the soul of the dish. For example, if it is not in the love tofu fruit, it is like eating tofu without falling in love, and the dish can be treated as a hooligan.

Image source: Taobao Foodie

Not being able to eat more is an instinctive reaction, and not being able to stop eating is also an instinctive reaction. You must know that there is no end to the development of this grass by the people of the southwest.

It will appear everywhere reasonably, and you can even drink Houttuynia cordata yogurt in Guizhou.

It can be said that Houttuynia cordata naturally draws a dividing line between cuisines, and is both a beacon and a city wall.

After all, even Mr. Wang Zengqi lamented its high threshold in "Five Flavors": "What is this? It's bitter, not a big deal, but it has a strong smell of raw fish, which is really unbearable!"

In fact, the knowledge about this plant was formed in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is more than two thousand years ago.

It is recorded in "Wu Yue Chunqiu·Gou Jian's Unofficial Biography" that after Gou Jian was captured, he ate the feces of the King of Wu, which caused long-term bad breath. Fan Li then asked everyone to eat Houttuynia cordata, which was a way of fighting violence with violence.

Cen grass is another name for it

It also appears in many medical books. Just from the way it is named, we can see that even beyond its identity as food, it can evoke a certain sense of fear.

Since ancient times, not everyone can eat it.

At least the name is very realistic, it doesn't start with the word "香".

I used to feel upset because I couldn't eat Houttuynia cordata, mainly because those dishes looked too delicious.

I also tried eating it while pinching my nose, but not only did it taste bland, but I almost died as soon as I let go.

A friend comforted me and said that it was a genetic thing, just like people who hate coriander almost all carry the "OR6A2" gene.

It is sensitive to the aldehydes in coriander, which causes the carrier to think that when eating coriander, they are eating a stink bug soaked in soapy water. The same should be true for Houttuynia cordata.

But some people said that they couldn't eat Houttuynia cordata originally, but after they got a girlfriend from Yunnan, they started to buy it and eat it on their own initiative.

When it comes to the mouths of those true chosen ones, they can't taste anything at all.

To them, this is just a plate of cabbage, but it may also be a malfunction of the sense of taste.

There is a more romantic statement on Wikipedia that the Folded Ear is actually a water plant in the Merit Pond of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

When Tang Sanzang went to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures, a goldfish in the Guanyin Pond descended to the mortal world and became a demon. It ate many young boys and girls in the Tongtian River, committing a serious sin.

After the Bodhisattva subdued it, he felt pity for the suffering of the people, so he spread the seeds of the water grass in the Merit Pond to the people. "

The Bodhisattva probably didn't expect it to be so powerful.

A few days ago I tried to eat Houttuynia cordata again, and failed again, ten years after the first time.

Finally I realized that, generally food is picked by people, but Houttuynia cordata can pick people.

It is like Buddha, saving those who are destined to be saved.

References:

If you don't like to eat coriander, your genes may be causing trouble - Life Times

Wikipedia

Zhihu

Weibo

Source: Unrelated Research Institute