The Chinese tradition of eating lamb is the most special and complex. All over the country from north to south, almost all have outstanding characteristics of mutton meals, boiled hand-handled meat, large slices of stewed soup, lamb belly pot, white-cut mutton, braised mutton ......Chinese characters, all good things, are inseparable from the shadow of "sheep". For example, the word "beauty". What is beauty?The ancients believed that "big sheep" was beautiful. It can be seen that the ancients had a standard for measuring beauty or not, that is, to compare whose sheep was bigger. Whoever raises sheep is big and fat, that is a very face-saving thing. When it comes to face, the "envy" of envy indicates that his sheep is second, thus deriving the word envy.
From ancient times to the present, the Chinese have treated sheep
All have a special emotion
Sheep, elegant and gentle, gentle and affectionate, has been a partner with Chinese ancestors day and night since ancient times, and is deeply loved by people. "Shuowen Jiezi Sheep Department" said: "Sheep, auspicious. In "Spring and Autumn Dew", it is said: "The mother of the lamb who drinks will kneel, like the one who knows the rites." It means that the lamb kneels when it is next to the ewe**, which expresses great gratitude to the mother for her nurturing grace, so people call the sheep a thing that understands etiquette and righteousness.
But as an ingredient, sheep has always been a precious presence in China. In terms of production, China's per capita sheep ownership is very low, and in the system of agricultural civilization, land is a negotiable real estate equivalent to money. A piece of land that can produce all kinds of crops, if it is planted with pasture grass for cattle and sheep, is obviously a great waste, and sheep cannot be used as livestock for arable land like cattle;However, omnivorous pigs are different, discarding swill, fruit and vegetable root skins, and eating everything, which does not compete with the people for land, so pork has always been the main ingredient in ancient China.
The Yellow River Basin has always been a region where the north and the south have repeatedly fought for each other, and the long-term cultural exchanges and integration have made the people familiar with the custom of eating mutton among the northern peoples. And fell in love with the taste of lamb. Because of the scarcity, usually, only the guests who come to the family are willing to use mutton for hospitality, which further enhances people's yearning and emotion for mutton.
Dongying people's emotions towards Tan sheep are even more in-depth
The figure of the sheep herding baby on the Yellow River beach at sunset is the youth of many people
For a long time, because arable land cannot be used as pasture to raise sheep, the "tidal land" that cannot be cultivated in the Yellow River Delta has become a natural grassland for sheep, and the sheep raised in the tidal land of the Yellow River estuary in Dongying have had unexpected effects. The highly alkaline water of the Yellow River neutralizes the volatile substances produced by fatty acid metabolism in the sheep, so that the acid-base neutralization in the Tan sheep reaches a balance, and the smell of sheep naturally disappears.
In the rural areas of Lijin County, Dongying, every household has the tradition of raising sheep from ancient times to the present, but due to the limited productivity, most of them are idyllic small-scale peasant economic models, even so, the generations with sheep have also created a special feeling between local people and sheep. By the 80s of the last century, almost every household in some villages in Dongying raised sheep, and the breeding scale was small in the hundreds, and the large ones reached more than 10,000, which became the leading industry for local farmers to get rich and increase their income.
How many children who were born and raised in rural Dongying do not have good memories of playing with their partners while herding sheep?
How many children who were born and raised in rural Dongying did not rejoice several days in advance because they could eat steaming mutton for festivals and happy events?It can be said that Dongying's Tan mutton has given a generation of good memories and has a strong importance in Dongying's food culture.
Living conditions are gradually improving
Delicious food should go to thousands of households
In 2019, Lijin County built the largest single sheep standardized breeding park in the country, so that the sheep breeding industry from the traditional free-range 1The 0 model has stepped into the 20 mode. From 2022, Lijin County will invest 2100 million yuan, the use of animal husbandry and light complementation, high bed breeding, construction 3The 0 version of the breeding shed has continuously improved the breeding capacity, which also gives the scarce ingredient of "Tan Sheep" the opportunity to go to thousands of households. The good memories brought by the delicious taste of Tan mutton should not be limited to Lijin County and Dongying City, but should also go to the whole country.
Recently, in order to explore the organic combination of catering industry and animal husbandry in the Yellow River Estuary, so that the good memories of a generation can go to the whole country, Dongying will hold the "First Yellow River Estuary Tan Sheep Food Festival" to help the Yellow River Estuary Tan Sheep to thousands of households. It is understood that this food festival is hosted by the Dongying Green Catering Chamber of Commerce, and will be officially opened on December 19, 2023.
The productivity is high, and the once "inedible" Tan mutton can now be on the table of more people;Life is good, and the Tan mutton that was once "reluctant" to eat can also be eaten, ** the hungry childhood of "herding sheep and not knowing the taste of meat".