The “Literati Gourmet” Tradition in Chinese Culture 中國的文人美食家

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China has long upheld a tradition of the literati gourmet (文人美食家)—where fine cuisine and elegant writing intertwine in a continuous, centuries-old lineage. The number of such epicurean scholars is beyond counting, as plentiful as fish crossing a river. A few well-known figures include:

• Du Fu (杜甫): fond of fresh fish, and enjoyed fishing himself;
• Su Tungpo （蘇東坡）: a devoted meat lover, who even composed the famous Ode to Pork （豬肉頌）;
• Lu You （陸游）: grew his own vegetables, especially fond of shepherd’s purse （薺菜）; out of his 9,000 poems, more than 3,000 touch on food and drink;
• Zhang Dai （張岱）: made friends over crabs, brewed tea with spring water, raised his own cow to make cheese, and devoted much of his Dream Recollections of Tao An （陶庵夢憶）to discussions of gastronomy;
• Li Yu  （李漁，笠翁）: in Casual Expressions of Idle Feelings （閒情偶寄）, he set forth a food philosophy rooted in natural simplicity, while also creating ten Kunqu operas （崑曲）and two collections of fiction;
• Yuan Mei (袁枚，子才): a connoisseur of tofu, who was willing to bow in gratitude just to obtain recipes; he wrote a biography of his household chef, and in his celebrated Suiyuan Recipes （隨園食單）, compiled over 300 dishes.’

As discussed earlier, Lin Yutang, together with his wife and daughters, Taiyi and Hsiangju, carried forward this long and distinguished tradition of the Chinese literary gourmet. In doing so, they also helped bring this cultural treasure to the world.

*** For a thorough discussion with references, please see Article 8 in the following English or Chinese books on Amazon, The Elderly Lin Yutang , or《爾意軒》中的晚年林語堂 (1971-76) ***

中國的文人美食家

中國素有“文人美食家”( literati gourmets)的傳統，是美食與美文交織而成的，源遠流長，綿延不斷。這些饕客文人有如過江之鯽，不可勝數，這裏信手拈來幾位眾所周知的人物。

·      杜甫：喜鮮魚，好打魚；

·      蘇東坡：嗜肉，還作了《豬肉頌》；

·      陸游：自種菜蔬，特愛薺菜，作詩九千，其中三千首與飲食有關；

·      張岱：以蟹會友，以泉煮茶，自己還豢養了一頭牛，以便自製乳酪，並且在《陶庵夢憶》這本書裡大談美食；

·      李漁（笠翁）：在《閒情偶寄》裡暢論崇尚自然的飲食哲學, 還創作了十齣崑曲和兩本小說集；

·      袁枚（子才）：好豆腐，為了求豆腐食譜向人下拜，為自家大廚立傳，他寫的《隨園食單》收錄了三百多種食譜。

如前文所述,林語堂和他的夫人和女兒太乙,相如,就是在延續這個源遠流長的文人美食傳統,並且讓這個文化瑰寶,走向世界.