Empress Dowager Cixi eats hundreds of delicious seafood every day and still has 2 dishes that she doesn't dare touch with her chopsticks, why?

Empress Dowager Cixi is famous for being a gourmet. Every day, even though she only eats alone, the chef has to make hundreds of different dishes. However, there are two dishes that the Queen Mother absolutely did not touch, making many people curious.

If we talk about famous female monarchs in feudal China, of course we cannot help but mention Wu Zetian. However, in addition to the female Martial Empress, there is another woman who is equally famous in the feudal history of this country, which is Empress Dowager Tu Hy (November 29, 1835 - November 15, 2015). 1908) Qing Dynasty.

She is the Queen Mother with the most power, the most luxury, and many mysterious and mysterious things in her lifestyle that to this day, many people are still surprised to know. And among all those mysteries, her daily eating and drinking habits are also researched with quite fascinating and thrilling details...

During the Qing Dynasty, every meal of the Royal Family was provided by the Department of Internal Affairs. People of the home affairs office are in charge of the kitchen, tea room, cake room, food and beverage warehouse... Servants in this position are selected very strictly.

During the time of Empress Dowager Tu Hy, she also built a private kitchen in the Forbidden City, called the Western Kitchen. The Western kitchen is divided into 5 rooms, specializing in making savory, vegetarian dishes, rice - dumplings - noodles, breakfast and cakes.

Chefs at Bep Tay know how to make more than 400 types of cakes and 4,000 different dishes, including rare dishes such as bird's nest, fish fins, and bear paws.

According to the book Empress Dowager Cixi by author Tu Triet, a scholar and expert in research on the Qing Dynasty, at each meal Empress Dowager Cixi was served 120 different dishes. However, she only ate a few dishes, one to two bites of each dish, for fear of giving up her medicine.

It can be said that there is no dish that Empress Dowager Tu Hy has never tasted before. The variety of dishes makes people tongue-tied, so rich that even if you watch the entire culinary series "A Bite of China" it cannot be compared.

Empress Dowager Cixi has eaten many delicious dishes like this, but there are two relatively common types of meat that you will not find in her list of dishes: beef and dog meat.

Empress Dowager Tu Hy did not eat dog meat, not because she was a dog lover and kept dogs as pets and could not bear to eat them, but because the Manchu people had a custom of not eating dog meat. Legend has it that the Qing Dynasty considered dog meat a taboo dish, which is related to the story of Emperor Nurhaci.

In the past, Nurhaci was chased and killed by the Ming Dynasty army led by Ly Thanh Luong and was forced to hide in a patch of reeds. The Ming army set fire to the place and burned it to the ground. Nurhaci thought it would be difficult to escape this time, but he didn't expect a dog to come running from nowhere, covered in water, lingering around him for a long time. Thanks to that dog, Nurhaci was able to escape the fire. Since then, the Manchu people have had the custom of abstaining from eating dog meat and not using dog skin as clothes or hats.

Not only that, the Manchu tribe was originally a tribe specializing in hunting. During their hunts, dogs act as a tool for sniffing, tracking, chasing, reporting... For the people of this tribe, that animal is like a close friend. Other tribes in the Northeast such as the Xi Bo ethnic group, the Ngac Luan Xuan ethnic group, the Ngac On Khac ethnic group... all have the custom of abstaining from eating dog meat.

According to the story, Tu Hy did not eat beef because she criticized beef as "fishy and hard", but in reality that was not the case. The real reason why Empress Dowager Ci Xi does not eat beef is because during the Ming Dynasty in Chinese history there was a ban on using beef as food.

During the Ming Dynasty, agricultural production mainly relied on iron plows and cattle raising technology. Cattle are an extremely important production tool in agriculture, and agriculture is closely related to the development and stability of the country. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited the trading and slaughter of livestock. With this lesson in mind, the early Qing Dynasty stipulated that outside of major sacrificial activities, animal slaughter was not allowed.

The second reason is that the Manchus believe in Taoism. In the Qing Dynasty in particular, buffaloes were only used as sacrifices on important days. However, the buffalo/cow for sacrifice will not be eaten but will be sold. Empress Dowager Cixi always followed her ancestors' teachings, respected livestock and never used them as food.

Even though she doesn't eat this species' meat, Tu Hy drinks milk tea every morning made from cow's milk and human milk. So what is the reason why the Lao Buddha family likes to have the habit of drinking this special milk tea? Because, Tu Hy was originally a woman who was "crazy" about beauty. During her lifetime, she left behind an immortal saying: "If a woman does not know how to dress herself, there is no meaning to her life."

Therefore, every day Tu Hy drinks milk tea containing a portion of human milk to improve her beauty and prolong her life. This habit was maintained by Queen Mother Tay for 50 years. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the age of 70, the Queen Mother's skin is still very admirable.

In order to be able to provide the Lao Buddha family with the best quality milk, the Qing Dynasty palace in the past often selected two young, beautiful girls at the same time, and fed them delicious delicacies every day to turn them into "grandmothers". breasts" literally. Tu Hy's milk tea is not supplied by Ngu Thien room but is directly prepared by Tieu Tien at Tru Tu Cung according to her needs.

In the last years of her life, Empress Dowager Tu Xi liked to do 3 things, 1 thing that terrified the servants Châu Anh6 months agoEmpress Dowager Cixi was the ruler of the imperial court during the late Qing Dynasty for half a century. According to historical data, Empress Dowager Cixi enjoyed doing these three things the most during her later years.