Who invented rice cakes? What is the origin of rice cakes?

There are many types of rice cakes, my hometown is in Tokyo Village, Jiangning, Nanjing, and I remember that every family makes rice cakes before the Chinese New Year in winter. It is to wash the glutinous rice and put it in a wooden basin and soak it in water for a day, put it in a large steamer to steam it into glutinous rice, and then put the rice into a washed stone mortar, and two to three young people use a wooden shovel to remove the shovel head to take turns to mash the very hot rice up and down, until the rice grains are not visible, and then spread the thick paste rice that is still a little hot on the wooden door panel sprinkled with dry glutinous rice flour, and to flatten the thickness of each layer about one finger thick. Making rice cakes is generally made by several households, the rich with a large population make several layers, and the difficult households make fewer and some only have one layer, and each layer has dry glutinous rice flour isolated and will not stick to each other.

The next day, when it is completely cooled and hardened, you can use a kitchen knife to cut it into three-inch square rice cakes, because the weather is relatively cold before and after the New Year, it is easier to keep the rice cakes dry by the wind, and it is very important to prevent rats. Rice cakes are simple to eat, boiled, and fried, and they are very fragrant. At that time, it was a precious gift from relatives.

My ancestors migrated from the south of Anhui Province, and their ancestors used the method to make rice cakes, so they can be regarded as inventors.

The origin and history of rice cakes are:

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to prevent the invasion of foreign enemies, Wu Zixu led people to build the city wall. After the city wall was repaired, he said to his henchmen that if after his death, the country was invaded by foreign enemies, and the people were hungry and cold, they could dig under the city gate to find food.

In times of crisis, he remembered what his master had said, and he found food in the shape of bricks and stones at the city gate, and he survived the trouble, and after that, it was called rice cakes.

In ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian", which lived in the deep mountains and old forests all year round, whenever winter came, there was no animal activity, it had no food**, and it ran to the village to hurt the people, the people were miserable, and later there was a tribe called "Gao Clan".

Every time in the harsh winter, a large amount of food is made with grain, and it is placed at the door in strips, and after the "year" goes down the mountain, there is no food to be found, so it is used to satisfy hunger. Because it was made by the Gao family, and in order to avoid the attack of the year, the year and Gao were linked, and it was later called rice cake.

Origin

The reasons why things happened are historical; Since the beginning; It's been a long time since it happened. The origin of chocolate: Many people like to eat chocolate, but who invented chocolate?

There are some twists and turns in the origin of chocolate, and in the final sense, chocolate is produced in Europe, but its "hometown" is South America.

Rice cakes, a traditional food made from glutinous rice, can be traced back to ancient China. According to historical records, as early as the Tang Dynasty, people already had a way to make rice cakes.

There is a legend about the origin of rice cakes: according to legend, in ancient times, an elderly grandmother was ready to welcome the New Year, but because she was old, the glutinous rice could not be steamed, so she kneaded the glutinous rice balls into small balls, and then threw them into the pot, but it turned into long strips of food, which became the later rice cakes.

In addition, rice cakes also have symbolic meaning in traditional Chinese culture. Because "cake" is homophonic with "gao", rice cakes are regarded as an auspicious food that symbolizes "high ascension", and people eat rice cakes with the expectation of a better life in the future.

Rice cake is a traditional food of the Chinese nation and a seasonal food for the Lunar New Year. Rice cake is a cake steamed with sticky glutinous rice or rice flour, and in the Spring Festival, many regions of our country have paid attention to eating rice cakes.

Rice cakes have red, yellow, white three colors, symbolizing gold and silver, rice cakes are also called "New Year cakes", and "high every year" homonym, implying that people's work and life are improving year by year. Therefore, the predecessors had a poem called the rice cake: "The meaning of the rice cake is slightly deep, and the white is as white as silver-yellow gold."

Looking forward to the good times when the years are high, pious and silently wishing for the coming of wealth. ”

The origin of rice cakes: According to legend, after Wu Zixu killed himself in the late Spring and Autumn Period, Goujian, the king of Yue, raised troops to attack Wu, surrounded Gusucheng, the capital of Wu, and the Wu army was trapped in the city, and the food was cut off, and the women and children in the streets and alleys cried miserably. Before he died, he said to his subordinates:

If there is trouble in the country and the people are deprived of food, you can dig three feet under the city wall and get food. ”

After Wu Zixu's death, his subordinates were surrounded by the Vietnamese army, and many people starved to death when the city ran out of food. It turned out that when Wu Zixu supervised the construction of the city wall in Gusu City, he was ready to store grain to prevent hunger.

Since then, every family has made rice cakes every New Year, and rice cake soup is eaten at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner to commemorate Wu Zixu.

How to eat Ningbo Cicheng rice cake: boiled, fried, fried, fried, sliced and fried, boiled in soup, etc., and salty and sweet are suitable. For example:

Fried rice cake with sugar. The folk proverb says: "Sugar is fried, the oil is bursting, and the corners of the mouth are blistering."

There are many cooking methods, there are no less than dozens, and the storage conditions were not good in the past, so many residents sliced the rice cakes and dried them for storage, and soaked them in water for two days when eating. There are also those who are soaked in water, which can be kept fresh for several months.

China has a wide area, different customs and habits, and a variety of new types of rice cakes. The representative ones are the white cake in the north, the yellow rice cake of the farmers in the north, and the glutinous baba in the southwest; Taiwanese red turtle cake, etc. Rice cakes have a difference in flavor between the north and the south.

There are two kinds of northern rice cakes, steamed and fried, both of which are sweet; In addition to steaming and frying, there are also slices of fried and soup boiling methods, and the taste is sweet and salty.

Rice cakes were invented in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and have a long history, and there have been ways to make rice cakes many years ago. The method of making rice cakes is to sift the glutinous rice flour, add water, honey and hard dough, and then paste dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it in leaves and steam it before eating. Rice cakes have different types and flavors in different places.

Rice cake is a specialty food of which country.

In 1974, archaeologists found rice seeds in the ruins of the matriarchal clan society of Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang, which indicates that our ancestors had begun to cultivate rice many years ago, and the recipe "Shiji" in the sixth century AD also recorded the production method of rice cakes.

The method of making adult cakes from the flour of grinding rice is also very early, and its production method is to sift the glutinous rice flour with silk, add water, honey and a hard dough, and then paste the jujube and chestnut and other items on the flour dough, and then wrap it with a basket leaf and steam it, this glutinous rice cake is very characteristic of the Central Plains.

China has a vast territory, customs and habits vary from place to place, and there are many types of rice cakes. The most representative ones are the white cakes in the north, the water-milled rice cakes in the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, and the glutinous baba in the southwest. The flavor of rice cakes is also different in the north and south, and the rice cakes in the north are generally sweet; The taste of rice cakes in the south is generally sweet and salty.