MILLIONS OF YEARS AND MORE.....

août 17, 2012

Swanie suggested that we went to the Exhibition «Les Séduction du Palais» or «The Seduction of the Palate-Cooking and Eating in China» at the Quai Branly. Something I would probably not have gone to see alone but any suggestion from my granddaughter is one «I spring upon». While we were strolling through and really looking at the different dynasties, she told me that as a little girl, she had always been fascinated by China or even Asia. I’ll never be too old to learn.

Having visited and worked in China and enjoying it, I know the importance of food for the Chinese. As they say in the opening comments one of the first remarks made by a Chinese when he meets you is «Have you already eaten?» - I found this quite surprising if the meeting was a 11am. Breakfast? or Lunch?

Neolithic tripod for cooking and the departed "loved one"

280 BC

The exhibition starts at during the Neolithic period, the New Stone era some 10,000-8,000 BC . This saw the passage from raw to cooked food. The tripod was used for cooking when food was cooked and the bowls for drinking. I remarked to Swanie that from the start, their utensils were «modern», «practical» and many of them are still being used today. As so many of these utensils were buried with a loved one, what we saw was in an amazingly good condition

vase 9C - BC

Jug with handle 480-221BC

Bronze cooking utensil 280BC

We then go onto the bronze age - a big jump to 3000 BC. Water was used to purify guests before food but it was still customary to eat with fingers. Meat was a central part of the diet but looking at some of the recipes, neither Swanie nor I felt like eating a cow’s head which had been macerated for years. There seemed to be a lot of communication with the spirits too feeding their souls by means of the scent of their qi or energy. This is a term used often in Qi-Gong - I think that I need to understand more!

The Han dynasty which we have all come across, problem the richest and most stable gave way to four centuries of prosperity and naturally culinary art gained new audiences and the rich must have thrived with their own pantries, ovens, kitchens ....Banquets were the order of the day and by now we were eating with chopsticks. Food was hot and cooked in oil at high temperatures as it is today so a little impracticable to eat with fingers. Also the very well known lacquerware vessels were introduced. Such elegance. Such sophistication.

Cook in the Han dynasty

Statues from Han

Grill for brochettes....Han

First chop sticks

Tang dynasty Jug in silver

Bronze and beautiful

Luxury and exoticism was developed in the medieval times. The Tang period. A kind of golden age and the introduction of cakes, pastries and exotic spices. What I did not know was during the Tang period in the 8th century AD, mats and individual trays were abandoned to sit on chairs at tables. Having tables around certainly meant it was easier to display luxury items and beautiful dishes which frankly would find themselves on our tables today.

A rare brick - woman serving tea

During this period too (Tang) a new drink became popular. Tea. There were three teas. «Boiled tea», «beaten tea» and «infused tea». Large scale tea plantations enabled the drink to become a daily essential rather than a luxury. I could add that previous to tea, there seemed to be an awful lot of rice wines drunk and I gather sober guests were not around too often.

18th century

Duck tea pot

Gong made out of tea

Chinese gastronomy is already highly developed in the 18th century. In the Forbidden city, 400 officials, assisted by 150 eunuchs serve around 12,000 meals per day. Outside of seasonal festivals involving hundreds if not thousands of guests, daily meals were traditionally taken in solitude. Of course there were tasters to verify that the emperor was not about to be poisoned ...

Despite the sophistication of this era, I doubt if I would have been amongst the concubines or princesses so will stay resolutely in my century still of course eating at least one Chinese meal per week.

Ritual recipients -Ming

Sung Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

White porcelaine 916-1200

Laquer 18th century

18th century

361-581 BC

Tang female statue

Here are a list of dynasties : some of which I knew and most I know nothing about.
3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors Period (c. 2850 - c. 2200 BCE)
Xia Dynasty (c. 2100 - c. 1600 BCE)
Shang Dynasty (c. 1700 - 1046 BCE)
Zhou Dynasty (c. 1066 - 256 BCE)
Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BCE)
Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE)
Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280 CE)
Jin Dynasty (265 - 420)
16 Kingdoms Period (304 - 439)
Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 - 589)
Sui Dynasty (581 - 618)
Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907 - 960)
Song Dynasty (906 - 1279)
Liao Dynasty (907 - 1125)
Western Xia Dynasty (1038 - 1227)
Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234)
Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368)
Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)
Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911)