The institution in charge of the emperor's diet. The standard of general emperors' meals varies greatly according to their own situation. Some emperors like luxury, while others like simplicity. Take the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in China. In the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty, there was a special organization responsible for cooking for the emperor. We usually call it the "Royal Restaurant". It was the institution responsible for preparing food and ceremonial banquets in the palace in the Qing Dynasty, and was managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
This imperial dining hall also experienced a series of changes in the Qing dynasty, and it was not completely determined until the Qianlong period. In the early Qing Dynasty, such institutions were generally divided into two parts, one called "tea room" and the other called "canteen". These two departments merged into "Royal Tea House" in the 13th year of Qianlong (1748). The head of this institution is the Minister of Management Affairs, who is appointed by the Emperor among the monarch and cabinet ministers. It can be seen that its importance is related to the emperor's food safety and must not be sloppy. Later, an archive room was set up in the Imperial Tea Restaurant to manage the inscriptions and documents of this chapter, including the "bottom file" and so on.
On the other hand, the subordinate institutions of the Imperial Tea Room include dining room, tea room, meat room and dried meat room, among which the dining room and tea room have their own silver warehouses. The Imperial Tea Restaurant has a minister of prime minister affairs, but there is no quota. Its subordinates include officials who are good at politics, good at politics, good at politics, good at politics, good at politics, good at politics, good at politics, Zhu Zhe and Peng Tie.
In the Qing Dynasty, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty generally ate two meals a day, which originated from the custom of two meals in nomadic fishing and hunting culture that ancestors went up the mountain at sunrise and went home at noon. The time for emperors to eat is generally fixed. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty had breakfast and dinner. The breakfast time was exactly two minutes (6: 00 a.m.) and the dinner time was exactly two minutes (afternoon 12: 00). The time when they eat varies with the seasons. In summer and autumn, the days are long and the nights are short, and breakfast and dinner are half an hour earlier (1 hour). In winter and spring, the days are short and the nights are long, and the breakfast and dinner are delayed for half an hour. If there are special circumstances, there are also changes; In addition to dinner, if there is a temporary need, arrange another royal dining room. The food eaten is mainly: before entering the customs, all kinds of meat and game, sticky food, pickles and so on are the main foods; After entering Beijing, he followed the characteristics of the Ming court diet, and the diet gradually dominated by Shandong flavor; During the Qianlong period, Suzhou and Hangzhou cuisine was appreciated by the emperor and became popular in the palace.
The place where the emperor ate. Before Yongzheng, the emperor mainly dined in and around Gan Qing Palace, and then he often dined in hall of mental cultivation Dongnuange. But in general, the meal is with the emperor, and the location is not very fixed. Compared with the many affairs that the emperor handles every day, the place is difficult to be fixed, so under normal circumstances, where the emperor goes, the dinner will follow. The emperor will be accompanied by several attendants. As long as he wants to eat, the attendants will immediately set out three tables for dinner in the order of "passing the rice". The eunuch took the lunch box, ran from the chef to the place where the emperor ate, filed in, and put the rice, vegetables, porridge and soup prepared by the chef on the dining table.
For the treatment of inedible food, it is recorded in the historical book "A Record of Emperor Shizong of Qing Dynasty": In June of the second year of Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty, the canteen was instructed: "If you eat too much porridge, rice and vegetables, you should not abandon the ditch. Or eat with the waiter. People who cannot eat feed cats and dogs. If there is no more, dry it and feed it to the birds. "
As can be seen from the above records, the food that the emperor could not finish was mainly for concubines and ministers. If they can't finish eating, they will give it to maids, attendants and others. If they still can't finish eating, they will give it to animals such as cats and dogs in the palace. In short, these emperors could not finish their meals as frugally as possible.
Therefore, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty had a special person in charge of meals every day and kept records every day. The food that cannot be eaten is mainly given to the people below.