What the Chinese eat for breakfast
- By Wei Jia
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 7, 2015
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Eight-treasure congee |
4. A future emperor saved by rats
Congee is frequently featured among breakfasts in China. Eight-treasure congee, or babaozhou, for example, is widely consumed across the country.
A legend about the origins of this congee involves Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Ming dynasty and protagonist of one of the most incredible rags-to-riches stories in Chinese history. Born to a poor family, Zhu had to herd cattle for a landlord when he was young. One of the cattle fell down a bridge and broke its leg one day. To punish Zhu, the landlord locked him up in a room and gave him no food. A starving Zhu saw a rat hole and found in it the rodent's food stash. He promptly cooked a life-saving congee with the grains, beans and fruits he found.
The sweet taste of the congee was so deeply etched on Zhu's memory that one day after becoming emperor, in a bout of nostalgia, he told his chefs to make a congee with a wide range of grains, beans and other mundane materials. The recipe subsequently spread to common households and eight-treasure congee is now among the most popular breakfast choices that energize Chinese for the day ahead.
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