Enyuan Beidu Fish (originally published in "Chinese Food Geography")

It is difficult to find Beidu on the map.

However, among Jianghu dishes, Beidu and Beidu Fish are well-known names.

Beidu is located in Qijiang County under the jurisdiction of Chongqing City. Qijiang, in the past, I only knew that it produced coal, but I didn’t know what other products it had. Later, what made me remember Qijiang again was the collapse of the Rainbow Bridge in 1998.

Now, Beidu Fish has entered my mouth, and Qijiang has deepened its impression in my mind.

highway.

Through the car window, I looked at the outside scene of the fresh rain. I never expected that the scenery along the way was so beautiful. Mountains and mountains unfold toward our eyes in turn. Mountain fog surrounds the mountainside, and we can vaguely see the villages in the valleys. Some mountains are covered with patches of pine trees, which are both spectacular and charming. I wanted to stop and take some pictures of the scenery, but unfortunately the light was weak, so I planned to take them on the way back.

It only took more than thirty minutes to arrive at Qijiang County. If you just look at the street, you can easily see the restaurant about Beidu Fish. Local residents said that the relatively large-scale Beidu fish restaurants here include Qihechun and Yuxiangchun. A truck driver knew that we were here to interview Beidu Fish and said very enthusiastically that Beidu is only 16 kilometers away from the county seat. After crossing the bridge, go right and the road conditions are not bad. We thanked the master and continued our journey to the north.

Beidu is a small town with charming scenery. A bridge connects the two sides of Beidu, and the Qihe River flows under the bridge.

I have been to many towns with rivers, bridges, and delicious food, such as Tai'an, such as Qiuxi, such as Laifeng, such as Yuxi, such as Jiangkou, such as Suji... Beidu in front of me It has similarities with them, but also has distinct differences. It is quiet, clean, and rarely polluted. There is neither sediment nor dead pigs or cats on the river. There is a fisherman's trap set up by the river. There are square nets and fishermen’s fishing rods with beautiful curves can be seen under the shade of trees by the river. Both sides of the shore are covered with lush trees and bamboo forests, as well as endless green mountains, and the empty sky is distant and blurry.

What interests me very much is that Beidu Bridge is the dividing point between Qijiang and Jiangjin. On this side is Beidu Township in Qijiang County, and on the opposite side is Pengqiao Township, which belongs to Guangxing Town in Jiangjin County. Before the bridge was repaired, it had to rely on a pier to ferry people to and from the bridge. The so-called Beidu got its name from this. Although Pengqiao belongs to Jiangjin and Guangxing, it is 20 miles away from Guangxing. Whether it is production, trading or daily life, it is not as convenient as Beidu across the river. Even Qijiang County is far away from Pengqiao than Guangxing. The bridge is even closer, only 14 miles away. Therefore, Pengqiao people sometimes feel that they are more like Qijiang people, or simply Beidu people. So much so that the Jianghu dish first created in Pengqiao was named "Beidu Fish" by diners, and they accepted it happily without making any arguments.

So far, there is no famous Beidu fish restaurant in Beidu Township. But the people in Beidu are hospitable, answer all questions, and are not vague in giving directions. At Qiaotou in Qijiang, I asked a man selling cigarettes where the earliest Beidu fish restaurant was. The enthusiastic man pointed to the other side and said, in Pengqiao, the old one is Qihe Chun, and Yingfenglou, Yuxiangchun.

The man’s guidance made us feel as if we had stepped into the artistic conception of an ancient poem: “Ask where the restaurant is, the shepherd boy pointed to the apricot blossom spring.”

On Pengqiao Road, a man named Beidu Fish’s signature fish shops are everywhere, with various names, but the themes all prove that they are the oldest, most authentic, first and so on. Needless to say, there has long been a battle to rectify the name here. Just like many places where quacks were invented that I have visited, everyone was mixed up in chaos.

In the catering industry, place names and fish names cannot be registered as trademarks, so it is difficult for a new dish combining place names and fish names to be legally protected. Fortunately, as long as the founder does not leave the place and does not fail the business, the local place will give the founder a title to confirm who is the first and who is the most authentic. The people do not use the tactic of calling a deer a horse. The people speak according to their conscience and justice.

It's a pity that if an outsider passes by this place, how much time and energy does he have to investigate who is the first?

⒉In Pengqiao, we met a local cook by chance

While asking the local aborigines who was the founder of Beidu Fish, we found a family holding a festival on the street Funeral.

A huge plastic sheet was set up as a tent, with more than a dozen tables of banquets placed underneath. The country cook and his men were busy cooking the nine bowls they were best at - the most simple country feast in China. . This kind of original folk food activity is rare. We immediately decided to interview and photograph the activities of the local cooks.

Just as we were setting up our cameras to take pictures, an energetic old man came over to us and asked us if we were reporters from a food magazine. In fact, he asked knowingly, because he had already seen the words "Chinese Food Geography" printed on our T-shirts. I said that we came to Beidu to interview the inventor of Beidu Fish. The old man said enthusiastically that he was the inventor of Beidu Fish and his shop was nearby, called Yingfeng Building.

I said, no, some people say that Qihechun is the founder of Beidu Fish.

The old man was a little excited, but he quickly controlled his emotions. He said: "Well, you can interview here first. I am a relative of this family. I will go and talk to the host's family so that you can start your work. When you finish the interview, please come to my store, okay?"

I remember a month ago, we conducted an interview in Gaomiao, Hongya Ancient Town, Sichuan. There we met a middle-aged man in his fifties. When we asked him what days were the busiest in Gaomiao, his answer shocked us for a moment. He said that the busiest days are when people die, especially when local respected people die, which is busier than any other festival. Because people have died, neighbors, relatives and friends will gather together, and everyone can communicate and communicate together.

It turns out that in towns and rural areas, people often regard weddings and weddings as a simple social activity. It does not pay as much attention to formality and deliberate mourning as the people in the city. Even if the relatives of the deceased are still immersed in grief, they will not look coldly on the smiling guests who make punches and guess the rules at their own funerals. The family we saw doing the funeral today did not interfere with the people in the funeral shed who were making a lot of noise and guessing.

I walked up to an old man at the wine table and asked him to take us to the place where the country chef cooks food. The old man enthusiastically took us to the kitchen of the family next door, where the country cook's operation room was. There were mostly women in the kitchen. After asking around, I found out that the chef was a woman, and there were four other cooks, all women. Everyone was doing their own thing in an orderly manner under the command of the chef. When a dish was finished and packaged, the men and women who helped cook used a rectangular wooden table with a shallow mouth to bring the dish to the table in the funeral shed. According to the chef, they are preparing a big feast for the family for three days. They will prepare 26 tables at noon on the first day, 24 tables in the evening, 30 tables at noon on the second day, 24 tables in the evening, and 24 tables at noon on the third day. We do 15 tables, but we don’t do it at night. The dishes are what everyone calls nine bowls, namely the first bowl of sugar-stewed pork, the second bowl of rice with wine, the third bowl of stuffed pork, the fourth bowl of roasted pork, the fifth bowl of stewed bones or the stewed fragrant bowl (glutinous rice kneaded into cakes, fried, and Cut into small pieces and steam), six bowls of dumplings, seven bowls of crispy pork, eight bowls of cold dishes, and nine bowls of stews.

After interviewing the local cook, we went to the mourning hall to interview the master who performed the rituals. They are the kind of people we often see in Hong Kong movies who dance with wooden swords, throw paper money, and draw magic charms. We encountered some difficulties because they thought reporters were opposed to engaging in feudal superstition and were afraid that we would be exposed. It took me a long time to squeeze some information out of their mouths like toothpaste. There is a group of five people who perform the ritual here. The leader is named Yan, and people call him "the main altar". Yan Zhutan has been doing this kind of thing of saving the dead for more than ten years, and he learned it from his fathers. Their ritual equipment includes Sichuan gongs, Sichuan drums, cymbals, conches, swordsmen, tokens, and Taoist hats. Since the deceased had already been laid to rest when we arrived here, we did not have the opportunity to see their practices on the spot. In addition, Yan Zhutan had concerns, so the interview could not go further.

At this time, a man with a red face from drinking came out from under the funeral shed. He said loudly to us: "Journalist friends, you interviewed the chef and the main altar, why didn't you interview Li Long? Where is the pole?"

We were confused: "What is the dragon pole?"

The people around us laughed in unison when they heard our question. Someone said: "The dragon pole bearers are the ones who carry the coffin to the cemetery, and the songs they sing are so beautiful.

"

In the funeral shed, there were eight strong men sitting at the table of the Eight Immortals, all of them red and swollen from drinking. They were the ones who carried the dragon pole. On the way to carry the deceased to the cemetery, they had to carry the dragon pole while carrying it. Singing while walking, one of them sang the lead, and the others sang along, so that the coffin could be carried more effectively. One man of medium height said that he was the lead singer, and the other seven all sang along, probably to prove that what he said was true. The man started singing. Before we could hear what he was singing, the seven men next to him started singing along.

The lead singer was high-pitched and the chorus was majestic. The singing of these eight people shocked us. , Unexpectedly, their chorus is so shocking to the eardrums

This group of simple men are still a little shy in front of the camera, but their voices always maintain the original tone and high pitch, and their voices are not distorted by shyness. One point discount. To be honest, I thought they could only sing for a few minutes, but I never expected that this song would last for forty minutes. Although I really like this kind of original folk sound that is rarely heard, it’s a pity that they didn’t even have a single lyric. None of them understood it. But we respect these men. They started and finished. They sang the song for a long time when carrying the coffin to the cemetery, and they still sang it for us without any compromise. This is not only a sign of respect for us, but also reflects a kind of respect. The most simple professionalism among the people

⒊Grudges in Jianghu, Wu Wenchao and Wu Rongwen

When we came to Yingfeng Building, the old man Wu Wenchao who took the initiative to greet us in the funeral shed had already arrived. Several bamboo chairs were prepared outside the store, waiting for us to interview him.

That was twenty-five years ago─

In 1980, Jiangjin City. The Industrial and Commercial Bureau issued a non-staple food and catering collective license to Guangxing. Wu Wenchao, who was a barefoot veterinarian in Pengqiao Village at the time, volunteered to get the license from the township and paid less than 100 yuan in management fees to the township every year. A small shop opened on the roadside, selling non-staple food and snacks. It was named "Pengqiao Road Food Shop". The name of the shop was very simple, and the signboard was correspondingly very simple. It was made of a two-square-meter piece of cow felt sandwiched between two pieces of wood. It was eye-catching with white characters on a black background. Soon, Wu Wenchao noticed that there were more people passing by, so he added home-cooked vegetables and wild river fish to the snacks. The business in Qihe was booming day by day. There was no pollution yet, and there were many types and quantities of wild fish, such as grass carp, catfish, carp, crucian carp, yellow pepper, and the rare clam shell at that time (this is a very delicious fish, as long as a hairtail) (The head is as sharp as a mouse, and the scales are as thin as silver carp). When making fish dishes for the first time, Wu Wenchao followed the most traditional method: braised whole fish, home-style flavor and bean paste flavor, both of which are salty, spicy and spicy. Long-distance bus drivers asked for more exciting flavors, so Wu Wenchao launched spicy fish with a typical Jianghu cuisine style. What is extremely interesting is that Wu did not stop there. After most Jianghu restaurants have a main flavor, It would take at least five years to launch other flavors and gradually form a series. But Wu Wenchao felt from the beginning that there should be more flavors for diners to choose from. In addition to home-style fish, watercress fish, and spicy fish, he also We also insist on making traditional flavors such as tile fish, crispy fish, and tofu fish.

There were more and more diners, and Wu Wenchao, who was very happy, did a simple thing: he put up a ladder and added a in the blank space next to the words "Pengqiao Crossing Restaurant" The big word "fish". Who would have thought that this simple move would establish "Beidu Fish"'s unshakable status in the world for more than 20 years? It was not until 1989, when Wu Wenchao built a new building, that his son Wu Weixing took the current position. The name of the store "Yingfeng Building" sounds very relaxed.

In 1984, Wu Wenchao and Zou Kaixi each came up with pickled fish. In 1988, he launched Tomato Fish. So far, his Beidu fish is mainly flavored with spicy, pickled cabbage, and tomato, and one fish can be eaten three times, that is, one fish (must weigh more than two kilograms) with three flavors. This is so different from the unique flavor style of most Jianghu cuisine that when I first met Wu Wenchao, I was very surprised by the way a large bunch of fish was prepared on the business card he handed over - there was even Tai'an fish. Wu Wenchao said that as long as the diners want to eat, he can make it. But I thought, who would come to Pengqiao to eat Tai'an fish?

As for the name "Beidu Fish", Wu and his son both said that they were called out by diners in 1983. Mainly long-distance bus drivers, they often say: "Let's go to Beidu and eat Beidu fish." And Pengqiao people don't think there is anything wrong with it.

Except for the self-perception of Pengqiao people, everyone feels that since it is a fish, it is better to have the word "cross" than "bridge", which reminds people of Chongqing's famous wharf culture. "Beidu Fish" is definitely louder than "Pengqiao Fish". Therefore, all the fish sellers in Pengqiao only compete for who can be the first, and no one comes to clear their name between Beidu and Pengqiao. ──This is very different from the territorial dispute between Qiu Xi and Yu Xi. In Erxi, people not only compete for stores, but also for land.

Wu Wenchao’s eyes were bright as he recalled the great fishing scene in Beidu from 1986 to 1998. He said that at that time, there were more than 20 fishermen who provided him with fresh fish. Every day, there were more than 20 fishing boats moored by the Beidu River behind his Yingfeng Building. He signed a "life and death" contract for the supply.

I asked, why was the business of Beidu Fish booming at that time, but today no one came to eat fish? Wu shook his head and said: "Beidu is the only place that must pass through Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou. In the past, Buses from Sichuan and Chongqing to Guizhou, and buses from Guizhou to Sichuan, must go through Beidu. The fish I cook is delicious and comes in many varieties, such as watercress fish, crispy fish, spicy fish, pickled fish, tomato fish, and boiled fish. The fish, every fish dish is delicious, and the wild fish newly caught in the Beidu River are used, so the business is very good. However, in 1998, the year the Qijiang Rainbow Bridge collapsed, the expressway from Chongqing to Guizhou was opened to traffic. There are very few cars coming and going on Laochuan-Guizhou Road here, and business has plummeted."

In response to our suggestions, every shop here has the slogan "The First Beidu Fish" or "Authentic Beidu Fish". With the signs of "Duyu" and "Old Store Beiduyu", Yingfeng Building inevitably hangs a "First Store" sign. What do you think of this phenomenon? The old man was a little excited: "Others want to be like that." There is nothing I can do about it, but there is a company called Qihechun who actually makes small moves in the countryside and uses unfair means to bribe some township cadres to give him certificates to prove that he is the first time-honored brand in Beiduyu, and also spends money Ask a Chinese teacher to write him the 'official history' of Beidouyu." At this point, the old man got up angrily and went to his bedroom. He brought back a piece of paper full of words and showed it to us. On it was the certificate issued by the township. , talking about the authentic Yingfenglou...

Wu said that in 1982, his neighbor Wu Rongwen, who was also his elder, saw that his fish restaurant was booming, so he proposed to the village that he was willing to sell it to the village. You must pay the management fee and obtain a license from him. The township agreed and divided the license into two: Wu Wenchao was the first store and Wu Rongwen was the second store. Wu Wenchao is older than Wu Rongwen, but has a lower generation. Wu Rongwen first started a handmade candy business and made little money, so he followed Wu Wenchao to learn the art of making fish. In 1983, Wu Rongwen's restaurant opened. Because there is a round door in front of the store, it is called "Round Door Restaurant". (The next year, the name was changed to Qihe Chun. This is a story later.) After the business opened, Wu Wenchao often went to help. Not only did he occasionally donate some food money to the other party, he also taught him how to cook fish. As the saying goes, "Teach a man to fish." "It's better to teach people how to fish." From that time onwards, Er Wu was at the forefront of Pengqiao's business, making Beidu Fish a prosperous business. The locals were envious when they saw the long queue of people and cars parking outside his house to eat fish, and they also broke through the wall and opened shops to sell fish.

In February 1991, both Yingfenglou and Qihechun changed from collective to private. It was said that both businesses were doing well and they should be in peace. Unexpectedly, the world was in turmoil, and thunder broke out from the ground. One day in the 1990s, someone invited a friend of Wu Wenchao to Qihechun to eat fish. During the dinner, Wu Rongwen showed the guest a history of Pengqiao Township, which clearly stated that he was the founder of Beidu Fish. The friend was shocked and told Wu Wenchao about the situation after the meal. Wu Wenchao didn't hesitate, and immediately went to the countryside to argue, preparing to make a big fuss. It turned out that the history of this township had just been printed and had not yet been distributed. Because it involved Wu Rongwen, he was given a sample book first. According to Xiangshang's explanation, the person who wrote the part about Bei Du Yu was a former teacher of Wu Rongwen. Later, at Wu Wenchao's request, after an investigation, the township admitted that the book was untrue, and the publication of this township history, which had been printed in thousands of copies, was canceled.

"Wu Rongwen opened the shop in 1983, and I opened the shop in 1980. In 1983, I taught him how to cook fish on the stove step by step, and I even gave him money and food when he opened the shop. How could he do this? Is it the first Beidu Fish? If Wu Rongwen dares to say that he is the founder of Beidu Fish and says that I am pretending to be the first, it must be a lie and I will bear all legal responsibility for what I said. " After speaking, Wu Wenchao signed his name in our interview book to prove that he was telling the truth.

Wu Wenchao is 72 years old this year. He is now retired and no longer works with a shovel on the stove. I have two sons and two daughters. My son opened a shop in Nanping, Chongqing, and my two daughters once opened a shop in Deyang. Due to some reasons, the Deyang store lost more than 900,000 yuan in just one year and has closed. Currently, there are 8 direct-operated stores and 16 franchise stores under the old man, located in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Zhejiang.

Before leaving Pengqiao, we went to Beidu Bridge to take pictures of the scenery. At this time, a young man came over and asked us to interview Yu Xiangchun. He said that Yu Xiangchun was the first Beidu Fish store. Unexpectedly, an old villager came when he said this. He interrupted the young man: "Who said that Yuxiangchun is the first family? Not even Qihechun, let alone Yuxiangchun! The first family of Beiduyu is Wu Wenchao! Who doesn’t know this?”

The young man was a little angry and started to quarrel with the old man. The simple old man raised his voice loudly while arguing with the young man, and the blood on his neck bulged. We put an end to their quarrel, fearing that it would damage their harmony.

The most regrettable thing is that Wu Rongwen himself was unable to be contacted several times, and many doubts could not be confirmed.

⒋The Decline of Beidu Fish: The Story of Red-billed Carp

In the most popular years of Beidu Fish, from 1986 to 1988, Qijiang City and Pengqiao Township, to the north There are dozens of restaurants selling fish for fish, among which Pengqiao is the most spectacular: from Xiaohebian at the end of the town to Zhaba area at the mouth of Qiaoxi, there are a row of roadside restaurants and a row of Beidu fish. Most of the diners are drivers. National Highway 210 leads from here to Guizhou, Guangzhou, and Guangxi, and is the main access route to Beihai. In those years, although drivers worked hard, their income was not low. Moreover, they were often accompanied by buyers from the cargo owners, and from time to time they could be treated to meals and drinks by richer buyers. In order to compete with established fish restaurants, some new fish restaurants have taken advantage of their drivers. Most of these shops are concentrated at the end of the street. They put a few benches in front of the shop and let some "ladies" in red and green sit on them, waiting for passing cars. Once they come, they get up and block them in the name of soliciting business. . The drivers didn't expect to be accompanied by drinks, so they happily took their seats. After the meal, the lady hinted that they could go upstairs to "rest". There are always drivers who can't stand the loneliness of the journey and inevitably take a "rest", at the cost of extremely high meals. That's fine, but I didn't expect that one day, when a driver was about to "take a break" after getting up, the boss and a waiter broke in and said they had molested the boss's girlfriend. As a result, there were fights, knives, and killings, but the foreign drivers were no match for the Xiaohe people. They responded with hoes, poles, and steel pipes. One time, a truckload of people from the Qijiang Electric Power Plant came to fight, but they failed. Bei Du Yu began to be known as a black shop, and all passing cars knew that Xiaohe Bian was not allowed to park.

It is said that the black shop began in Laifeng Town, Bishan County, the hometown of Laifengyu. Many Laifengyu restaurants that followed the trend were located at the beginning and end of the town, forcing traffic to have a meal. Because of their heavy lipstick, the girls recruited by their bosses were called "red-mouthed carps." What if the boss said to you: Whether you eat red-mouthed carp or not, it will weigh seven or eight taels per catty? This means: The ladies here are all seventeen or eighteen years old. Both Laifeng and Beidu produce fish, which has led to this strange situation that makes regular fish restaurants sad.

The driver no longer stopped, but the ladies began to take the initiative under the command of the boss. If you don't stop, I will stop you. They divided their forces into three groups: they first stopped a few people in front of the car, then stood two people on the pedals by the right window, hung two people from the left window, and even used their hands to snatch away the steering wheel. Finally one day, a driver's heart changed, his eyes closed, and he honked his horn and rushed forward: I don't believe you really won't get out of the way... Another time, on the bridge of the small river ditch in Pengjiawan, several girls were hoisted into the car. , forced to move the steering wheel, and ended up flipping the car into a ditch...

After so many people died, the retribution of the illegal shop owners finally came. With the arrest of several leaders, those black shops also disappeared. However, Beiduyu's reputation was hard to shake off for a while.

On the morning when we were going from Chongqing to Qijiang, when we were about to pass the Nanping toll station and get on the Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway, we found that the car was low on gas, so we asked the toll collector where we could refuel. You can refuel at Nanquan, four kilometers away. After arriving in Nanquan, we found that the Nanquan gas station was not on the side of the highway. We had to exit the highway to refuel, which cost us an extra 15 yuan in Chongqing urban road and bridge tolls. The person at the gas station said that there are no gas stations in the Chongqing section of the Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway. We would like to remind self-driving friends that if you drive on the Chongqing-Guizhou Expressway, it is best to fill up your tank before entering the Nanping Toll Station, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.