The Manchu and Han banquet derived from changes in the eating and drinking customs of the Manchus before and after the Manchu rulers moved to Beijing. Before they moved, it was cooked simply and there was little variety in the food served.
By the middle Qing Dynasty, the eating habits of the Manchus had been greatly influenced by the eating customs and cooking skills of other nationalities, especially the Han Chinese.
The banquet featured many of the world’s edible delicacies from land and sea, famous mushrooms and fungi, and choice vegetables and fruits.
The team made an episode of the Complete Manchu-Han Banquet, the palace feast that took place during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), of which 88 dishes from more than 100 years ago have been re-created. It is a banquet which features royal cuisine and local delicacies of both the Han and Manchu ethnic groups. The team spent over two months on the video.
To his delight, their effort paid dividends. The video performed impressively — it has been clicked over 56 million times and viewed nearly 200,000 times on YouTube.
Jiang says that presenting ancient dishes is not easy. "When making modern dishes, there will be countless methods, but for some older cuisines, many ingredients are no longer available," he says. "Also, there might be disputes or arguments among the viewers, since we can only present them through our understanding of the available historical references."
Jiang believes that Chinese aesthetics contains many illuminating areas that can be illustrated, some of which "may get ignored, forgotten or taken for granted by us Chinese at certain times". Once they are dug out and presented, they will shine brightly.
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