Small dining table records 40 years of living standards, and people’s dining consumption has increased by 474 times.
On April 25, 1993, Xinyuanli grocery store in Chaoyang District had a variety of goods, which fully met the shopping needs of citizens. Zhang Fengshe
In the past, expensive white-flour steamed bread has now become a common staple food. Eating a foreign fast food has also changed from a "luxury consumption" to a daily consumption. More Chinese food companies have gone out to sea to make money, and the scale of China’s catering market has climbed 700 times … … Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the changes on the small dining table have permeated the ups and downs of ordinary people’s lives, recorded the continuous improvement of ordinary people’s living standards, and witnessed the rapid changes in China’s economy and the improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength.
Dining table memory
Meng Xianqi, who lives in Chaonei Toutiao Community in Dongcheng District, is 75 years old. The old man was born in the age of material shortage. When he mentioned the changes on the dining table, what the old man wanted to share most was his story with half a bowl of noodles and a drawer of steamed bread.
"Not enough noodles, vinegar to gather together"
In 1979, Meng Xianqi was still a graduate student at Beijing Normal University. One morning, I went out shopping and sending things with my classmates. After I finished, I had to eat out after school. They searched for a long time and found a Daoxiao Noodles Pavilion in Xisi. They only had half a catty of food stamps, which was only enough to buy a bowl. What should we do? Only two people can share it, and one person has two and a half. There is not enough food for two people! Just don’t know what to do, Meng Xianqi saw the vinegar on the table, and vinegar doesn’t cost money. So the two men poured vinegar fiercely. "The noodles are not enough, and the vinegar will come together." Everyone poured a small bowl, and their eyes were so sour! The old man said that up to now, after passing through Xisi, there will still be acid reflux in his stomach.
Yiti steamed bread quanjiarang
In 1985, at that time, I still bought food on a monthly basis. Meng Xian started out with a weight of more than 110 kilograms. Two sons, one in the sixth grade and the other in the third grade, were able to grow up. Every month, there was not enough food at home. At the end of the month, he became worried and had to borrow it from relatives and friends.
Meng Xianqi recalled that flour and rice, that is, white flour and rice, only accounted for 20% of the 110 kilograms, and the rest was corn flour. When cooking, my wife steamed a steamed bun and a steamed bun, and the steamed bun was divided equally between the father and the son, and I didn’t eat any. At this time, Meng Xianqi took out his own steamed bread and gave it to his wife. The children also learned from their father and took out one for their mother. And his wife always said, "Your father has a bad stomach, and eating coarse grains is uncomfortable;" You are growing up and need nutrition. Mom has a good stomach and good health. It doesn’t matter if she eats more coarse grains. " Say that finish and then return the steamed bread, so that you can push me for a while. Every time I think about these old people, I feel uncomfortable.
Dining table change
Not only should we eat enough, but we should also eat healthily and well.
With the development of economy, food and non-staple food are constantly enriched, and food stamps can also be used to buy steamed bread and cakes in the street and in the canteen of the unit; Later, the food ration and food stamps were cancelled, and all kinds of pasta were available in the market. Originally, the steamed bread that had to be let go at the dinner table became the most common staple food, but the food made of coarse grains was more expensive. This expensive and cheap change is the great enrichment of the material life of ordinary people for decades. People no longer just pursue full food, but also eat healthily and well.
Not only staple food, but also various vegetables and aquatic products are now extremely rich. If 40 years ago, vegetables were "what you eat", it was nothing more than cabbage, radish and potato. Today, 40 years later, there are so many kinds of vegetables that you can’t name them, and you can have whatever you want. In the past 40 years, with the area of cultivated land reduced by nearly 60%, the output of major agricultural products has increased dozens of times. While the number of agricultural products is extremely rich, the variety of agricultural products in Beijing has also achieved diversified and high-end development, especially the promotion and planting of special dishes and out-of-season vegetables, which not only enriched the "rice bag" and "vegetable basket" of the capital, but also made the citizens feel a real sense of gain and happiness.
Dining table "import"
The influx of foreign catering brings new tastes and changes.
On November 12, 1987, the first restaurant in China of KFC opened at No.1 Zhengyang Market, Qianmen West Street, which was also the first foreign-funded restaurant to enter China. On the opening day, it attracted countless customers who came to try early adopters. "All of them were discharged from the door to the other side of Qianmen Street." According to an old employee of KFC, "People are curious about what fried chicken sold by KFC looks like. Many people hold pots to hold it, and some people think that eating chicken is just about buying it, so they will say: ‘ Give me two KFC … … ’”
At that time, a piece of original chicken from KFC cost 2.5 yuan and a set meal from 7.8 yuan. In 1987, the monthly income of ordinary cadres in China was only about 100 yuan. Therefore, in those days, eating KFC was considered a high consumption. The average family would order a set meal for their children, and the parents would have to eat a little bone left after eating. Some couples chose KFC as the wedding venue. It is reported that the highest single-day turnover of the former store was as high as 160,000 yuan, setting a world record for KFC at that time.
After KFC settled in Beijing, McDonald’s opened a shop in Shenzhen in 1990, and Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Yoshinoya, etc. also poured into the China market. These international brands of foreign catering not only enrich the catering market, but also bring more diversified catering culture to China consumers. Their advanced management mode has also given a vivid lesson to a number of domestic catering enterprises.
Dining table "exit"
Chinese food goes to sea to become the representative of China traditional culture.
At the same time, as a gourmet country, Chinese food, which represents China’s traditional culture, has been trying to go abroad. In recent years, China Cuisine Association has continuously organized catering enterprises to actively participate in overseas exchanges, skill competitions and exhibition activities, etc., to promote Chinese food culture to the world. According to incomplete statistics, Chinese restaurants have settled in 188 countries and regions in the world during the 40 years of reform and opening up, and the number of restaurants is as high as 200,000. Leading catering enterprises such as Quanjude, Meizhou Dongpo, Haidilao, Huajia Yiyuan and Dadong have successfully expanded overseas markets. According to a survey in new york in 2018, Chinese food has become the most representative element of China traditional culture in the eyes of overseas respondents.
Near the Harvard campus, Chinese restaurants such as "baobao" steamed stuffed bun shop, Hong Kong House, flame, and Nanbei Jiayuan all have considerable influence. Chinese food is a popular form of catering for local students.
In new york, known as the capital of the world, Chinese restaurants can be found everywhere. Especially in Manhattan, there have been some restaurants that are very suitable for China’s local tastes. However, considering the acceptance, most Chinese restaurants in the United States will make adjustments to the tastes of local people, such as frying more, being sweeter, being less spicy, etc., and American Chinese food like Zuo Zongtang chicken has also appeared.
The popularity of Chinese food is inseparable from the prosperity of the motherland, the improvement of Chinese social status and the improvement of Chinese food environment and service.
Our reporter Sun Wenwen
