Why did the Empress Dowager Cixi add chrysanthemum petals to her Chinese hotpot?
Three imperial dishes served during the Qing dynasty – considered the pinnacle of Chinese cuisine at the time – continue to influence chefs to this day
“Food is the god of people,” according to an ancient Chinese proverb, meaning that food comes first – above everything else – for the Chinese.
Examining details of the imperial dishes prepared for generations of the nation’s royal family is definitely one of the ways to understand the history of Chinese cuisine, which stretches across thousands of years.
The emperors always had the money and power to hire the best cooks from across the country and also used only the finest available ingredients for every dish. The imperial dishes that were fit for the emperor were, in fact, the pinnacle of a cuisine at the time.
Check out three famous imperial dishes from different periods during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) and the stories behind them.
1. Emperor Kangxi and the feted hilsa herring
Since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), hilsa herring, or shiyu (鰣魚) in Chinese, had been served as tribute to the emperors from the nation’s Jiangsu region .
Even today, steamed shiyu – which is also very popular and sought-after across southern Asia, including Bangladesh and Myanmar – remains one of the most famous dishes of Shanghai cuisine.
Shiyu usually appears among the China coast, especially in the estuary areas where the rivers meet the sea.