Dietary Structure,Living Standards and Social Class Differences in the Qing Dynasty:An A-nalysis Based on Food Basket and Menu Items of Villagers in Southern Zhejiang(1820-1949)
In the debate on the Great Divergence,there was,though quite few,an analysis focusing on the history of people's food consumption.With an examination of account books of Shicang farmers during the years from 1820 to 1949,it is possible to understand the types of ingredients and the configuration of food lists for kinds of ceremonies and daily life of the common people in the southern Zhejiang area.In terms of the types of ingredients,the staple food of Shicang vil-lagers was rice and wheat,with corn and sweet potatoes as a rare addition.Pork was main for meat diet,followed by poultry and eggs,with a very rare addition of beef and mutton;Dried seafood was important as food ingredients;The characteristics of local mountain-and-forest e-conomy were clearly seen in other non-staple food,including camellia oil and dried shiitake mushrooms of various sorts,with no foreign characteristics of the immigrants there found.In terms of the configuration of the food list,the analysis of the ingredients used on four typical oc-casions revealed that wedding and sacrificial ceremonies both tended to have pork,poultry and eggs,as well as dried seafood and shiitake mushrooms;Iron furnace workers preferred more to intake rice and meat,while martial arts students tended to have diversified intake of animal proteins,such as meat,poultry,eggs and fish,with less dried mushrooms during their prepa-ration for examinations.It is shown in this analysis that the villagers'diet reflects clear social class differences,but the immigrant group characteristics are not obvious,and the ingredients and food list have been very persistent in historical continuity.
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