Qin Sheng is a food blogger. Compared with other food bloggers, she has few followers, low views, and few comments, and she barely makes enough to support herself.
With her income steadily declining, Qin Sheng decides to cut costs and make home-style food from scratch. Unexpectedly, the change brings a huge spike in views.
[Today, we're talking about beans, including soybeans and other legumes. For centuries, they've provided us with hundreds of foods for the table. Today, we'll start our exploration of Chinese cuisine with a tofu feast~]
[Dumplings, steamed buns, wontons, wonton soup, shaomai, stuffed flatbread, roujiamo... No matter the region, people are especially fond of putting fillings inside dough. Noodles and other flour-based dishes fill us up and satisfy our appetites, and they're also a shared understanding between people from different places, reached without ever meeting.]
[Does meat taste different after being pounded? Chaoshan beef balls, Fuding meat slices, meat-filled wonton wrappers, and Northeastern sweet-and-sour pork: all these extraordinary dishes are created with the power of a pounding fist.]
[We are the home of tea culture. The milk tea, other drinks, and fruit teas that are all the rage today would not seem novel to people in ancient times. Isn't the art of making a drink that's both beautiful and delicious a refinement of modern life?]
The sky screen's image of a world beyond their own lets people of ancient times glimpse the appetites of those who will come after them, while giving ordinary folk a way to earn a living. From then on, tofu sellers get up early to grind beans in Chang'an; milk tea and fruit tea are served at feasts in Xudu and Yexia; refined scholars in Jiankang embrace the unconventional flavors of stinky river snail rice noodles and stinky tofu; the streets of Bianliang fill with the aroma of food; and vendors carrying baskets on their backs flock to the Imperial College gates to sell breakfast dishes from the future...
People of Qin: "Life in our Qin is so hard!!"
People of Han: "Marquis Bowang was a good one. He brought us grapes, sesame, and cucumbers."
People of Jin: "A true gentleman has his own style. I want something different. Bring me stinky mandarin fish, stinky tofu, and river snail rice noodles!!"
People of Tang: "How do the girls of the future eat so much and stay so thin? That's not beautiful, not beautiful at all!"
People of Song: "Even our emperor doesn't eat as well as people in the future. My second uncle says he's going to sell the emperor's lamb pies by the palace wall!"
People of Ming: "We may not be able to afford a decent life, but we can always afford to eat! Madam, before I go to court today, I must eat food from the future. It may be my last meal!"
Written on February 6, 2026
Message: Make the most of every day, and enjoy every meal!
