There was much diversity in the food that the people
ate, but only the rich could experience this pleasure. The average
person would live off of beans, rice, noodles, turnips, melons,
ginger, basil, peaches, plums, millet cakes, vegetable, and a little
meat on occasion. The northerners mainly ate millet and some wheat,
while rice was southern China's staple crop and diet. The southerners
ate yams, rice, taro root, oranges, tangerines, bananas, or coconut.
It was not until the improvement of transportation that rice became
the chief food throughout China. Since money, fuel, and energy were
hard to come by for most of the population, food was cut into small
pieces for faster cooking and thrown into a hot wok (pan) for a
few minutes. Also, many foods were steamed or stewed. Clay stoves
shaped like boxes were used to cook food. Steamed food was cooked
in a unit consisting of two pans where steam from water in the bottom
pan cooked the food in the top pan.
The wealthy had the option to choose from a variety
of dishes, which were served with tea or wine. They could afford
delicacies such as bear's paw, tortoise meat, tiger meat, deer meat,
crabs, shrimp, clams, small birds, pheasant, and quail. Many new
types of food such as spinach, pistachio nuts, dill, almonds, carp,
and ice cream were introduced into the diet. Many types of exotic
drinks were introduced into China such as grape wine and coconut.
