◎Chen Xiaoqing
My parents met and got married when they were college classmates. In order to avoid separation after graduation, they "responsed to the call" and chose to go to teach together in a relatively difficult county. Two years later, in 1965, their eldest son, me, was born there.
My hometown, Lingbi County, is located in northeastern Anhui and belongs to the yellow flood zone. It is affected by floods and droughts all year round and is not considered a prosperous place. I read a sociological field report and said that the reason why few people buy property in the rural areas of the Yellow River area is "to facilitate escape from famine". This is the same as what I saw in the countryside back then. Therefore, no matter time or place, no one can associate me with something called "food" - even though I have been greedy since I was a child.
Every summer vacation, my mother would travel all the way back to her hometown in the Dabie Mountains to visit her parents, so I naturally followed her. I remember when I was six years old, we first took a long-distance bus to Guzhen on the Jinpu Railway, and then transferred to a train. The mother was carrying a suitcase and a huge baggage.
The train needs to change trains in Bengbu. Compared to Lingbi, Bengbu is a big city. After getting off the train, my mother put the heavy luggage on the platform and asked me to take care of it. She went to the waiting room to find out which platform the next train to Hefei was on.
didn't go far when she turned back again, obviously a little worried about me. "No matter who gives you something delicious, don't eat it, let alone follow him," my mother said, "otherwise you won't be able to see your mother." She repeatedly gave me the example of several trafficked children in the county. Because he was greedy and so on, he left in a hurry.
The weather was very hot, and trains kept stopping and leaving. Under the bright sun, I stood there alone looking at my luggage. After a long, long time, my mother came back. I burst into tears. She was in a hurry, carrying a heavy baggage, holding me with one hand and carrying the suitcase with the other, and caught up with a train on another platform. After we got in the car, she took the time to comfort me. She felt that maybe she had been away for too long and my young heart had been hurt.
However, what I was thinking at the time was, why didn’t the person who promised to take me away with delicious food never come?
Yes, I have been so greedy since I was a child. I always have an empty stomach, anxiously waiting for food to be filled like a hungry stove looking for firewood. In those years, eating was just a matter of reluctance; satisfying one's cravings could only be achieved during the New Year's Day. I have recalled it in many articles, and I also feel that the desire for food is the nature of most people.
I'm glad that God didn't let me starve to death. As I was approaching adulthood, I caught up with another era. But I am still me, I still look like I can never have enough to eat, and I eat an amazing amount of food.
remembers that just after I got out of the university campus, I was organized and assigned a "grassroots exercise" for a month, and then I was concentrated at the Fangshan Radio and Television Cadre School in the suburbs of Beijing. That meal was the peak of my appetite in my life. Since the rice came first, I first made half a catty of rice, and then ate four 2-ounce steamed buns. At this time, the 1-ounce large meat buns were steamed again, and I still destroyed ten of them without changing my expression...
But it’s strange to say that I can eat it, but I don’t gain weight. I even boast that I will never gain weight from eating. Until I was nearly thirty years old, my figure could only be described as "lean." At the end of 1994, I was 1.78 meters tall and weighed less than 55 kilograms. With a waist of 1.9 feet, it was difficult to buy pants. I often laugh at other people for being fat. Who would have thought that one day I would join the ranks of those who "grow fat even if they drink water".
all because of the food.
Ever since I came into contact with the food circle, or to be precise, since I started writing food columns, my weight has increased faster than writing. But I still didn't stop eating and drinking, and all kinds of meals came to me. At that time, I particularly liked the books written by Mr. Jiao Tong. I ate big chunks of meat, drank a lot of wine, and got drunk and then rested happily.
later came to Taiwan and visited Jiao Tong in his study in Taipei. I thought I would have a lot of fun with him at the end. Unexpectedly, Mr. Jiao Tong looked indifferent and had no intention of staying as a guest. It turned out that he had stopped eating after lunch. Is this still the food writer who eats everywhere? Jiao Tong's own explanation was that he had no restraint when he was young and injured his stomach.He used very standard Beijing dialect and calmly said something very shocking: "Humans, there is a certain amount of desire for words."
It has only been in the past two years that I have realized that Mr. Jiao Tong's words are true. As people age, their appetites become smaller and smaller, their ability to drink less and less, their digestion becomes weaker and weaker, and their bodies become fatter and fatter. Life is such a fate. When you have a big appetite, you don't have so much delicious food, and when you have delicious food, you can't enjoy it.
Aging is a natural phenomenon that is scary but powerless to prevent. I once sincerely asked an older colleague: "I only have an apple at night. What should I do if I am hungry at night?" Now my age tells me that in fact, one meal a day will be enough. I can even pretend to be innocent and ask young people: " What should I do if I have stomach acid at night after eating full at night?"
Fortunately, in the past ten years or so, I have left some words, from which you can fully read my mentality that changes with age. Revisiting them, I can feel the passage of time that penetrates the food, as well as the smell and taste in the river of time. This is also the origin of the title of the book "Eating and Getting Old". After
established Daolai Studio, there were a lot of filming and little quiet time to write. One is because I am busy, and the other is because I am lazy. However, dealing with food has become my profession. As a "professional player", I can continue to maintain a strong curiosity about food, never stop, never taboo, and always full of expectations, so that I can tell food stories vividly. Because food is the most delicious way for me to understand the world.
Finally, I would like to thank my "food friends" over the years. Food is the best glue between people, and those who can eat together are worth cherishing. Although the circle of friends becomes smaller and smaller as we grow older, the most enjoyable experience is sitting at the dinner table with real friends. The best thing is always the people.
Yes, my surname is Chen, and I eat people Chen.
(This article is selected from "You'll Get Old As You Eat", published by New Classic Culture in January 2024)
