Royal Meal

Symbol of the folk people’s culinary culture

The culture is the soul of a nation created by its own people to serve as standards for the behavior in all activities of the society, including the royal culinary culture playing as norm for the people to follow.  In order to understand the culinary culture of the people, therefore, we may try to understand the royal meal of the Nguyễn emperors of the old days.

Today, the influence of the royal meal is no longer deep like in the past but it still can be fairly felt in the people’s culinary culture, just like we often tell each other:

• When you eat cooked duck meat don’t forget to have it dipped in gingered fish sauce (meaning to have a balanced combination of the cold yin chi of duck meat and the hot yang chi of ginger)
• When seeing that her grandchildren eat a lot of durian, longan, the grandmother, having experience in culinary culture, will say: “Be careful You’ll be getting hot” (meaning that these two kinds of fruit are very yang-wise, i.e., containing much hot yang chi; eating too much of them will worsen those internal diseases caused by hot yang chi such as hemorrhoids, loss of sleep…).

When we try to understand the royal meal, we will encounter several instances of the influence of these above-mentioned food chi.  After the lesson on the royal meal, therefore, together we will try to understand the following things:

• The method of identifying the Yin-Yang chi in foods,
• The hot or cold chi in internal body organs,
• Organizing the dishes into “prescriptions” having the capability to balance the Yin-Yang chi for disease prevention.

Royal Meal

(Ngự thiện)

In Sino-Vietnamese, the Royal Meal is called « Ngự Thiện » (御 ngự : relating to the king, 善 thiện : the meal).  In the Royal Meal, we see:

• The tangible culture through the culinary art of the highly talented royal cooking team and through the grouping of all kinds of delicious foods offered to the king by the people from all over the country.
• The intangible aspect of the Vietnamese culinary culture exercised by the royal physicians, making the royal meal turn into some kind of prescription for disease prevention by achieving the yin-yang balance between the foods and the chi of the king’s internal organs.

1. Organization of the Royal Meal

 The preparation of the royal meal was taken care of by the cook team called Nội Trù thuyền (in 1802), and then Tư Thiện đội (1808) and finally Thượng Thiện đội under the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng^[12].   In 1886, Dr. Hocquard^[13] was allowed to visit the royal palace including the royal kitchen manned by a large group of 100 royal cooks.  «Everyday, each person received 30 quan and went to market to buy foods needed to prepare one dish… In addition to the cooking team, there were 500 persons responsible for hunting the animals, 50 persons for shooting the birds, 50 persons for fishing, 50 persons for getting the swallow’s nests, 50 persons for preparing tea^[14]…»

Under the Nguyễn Dynasty, the term used to describe the meal eating of the emperor was “Ngài ngự thiện” and the one describing the royal meal was “Ngự Thiện,” (御 ngự: of the king; 膳 thiện: meal) which consisted of 35 courses⁵ called “Phẩm Vị” (品 phẩm: meal; 味 vị: taste) prepared by the Thượng Thiện đội (上 thượng: above, top; 膳 thiện: meal), which included 50 members, each one specializing in one kind of dish.  When the meal’s preparation is done, and after having heard the bell ring, the chef team put everything into the ornate crimson gold-plated covered trays and delivered them to the royal guards. The royal guards would transfer these trays to the eunuchs, who, in turn, transferred them to the ladies-in-waiting, who served meal to the emperor.

When the emperor sat down for his meal, all bowls, plates, chopsticks must be well placed, even the piece of fried fish, or the rounds of ground pork sausage must be squarely cut. Except for Emperors Duy Tân and Bảo Đại, the emperor always ate meal by himself. Sometimes, a mandarin could be assigned to be there to maintain a conversation with the emperor; this situation was called “chầu thiện.” Some other times, a mandarin could be assigned to have meal with the emperor but on a separate table; this situation was called “ban thiện.”

2. Tangible Culture: Food Ingredients

In addition to the ingredients ued to prepare the dishes for the Royal Meal, such as all kinds of special sea foods, swallow nests, shark fins, deer tendons, abalones, we have to mention all kinds of special foods offered to the emperor by the people from all over the country^[15]. Today, these royally-offered special foods can still be found in some  regions, for example:

Animals 

Đông Tảo chickens (Đông Cảo), also called royally-offered chickens, were special products of the village of Đông Tảo, district of Khoái Châu, province of Hưng Yên, with their feet having big scales (dragon scales) to prepare special dishes.

Nine-spurred roosters were offered to the king since the Hùng Vương era (according to the legend). The village of Xuân Sơn of the mountainous area, district of Tân Sơn, province of Phú Thọ was believed to be the original birthplace of these nine-spurred roosters^[16] in the legend of Sơn Tinh (Mountain God) – Thuỷ Tinh (Water God).

Fulica Atra (Sâm Cầm), a kind of migrating birds, of the Rallidae family, from the West Lake area, Hà Nội, was considered as a special product offered to the king, and, thus, we had this saying: «Cá rô Đầm Sét^[17] (Anabas of Đầm Sét, sâm cầm Hồ Tây (Fulica Atra of West Lake).»

Semilabeo Notabilis (Cá Anh Vũ), was a special kind of fish that had thick-cartilage lips that could suck on the rocks, and that only ate algae in places having strong currents. The home ground of Anh vũ fish was the upper basin of Red River, Kỳ Cùng River, Lam River (provinces of Yên Bái, Phú Thọ, Hòa Bình, Lạng Sơn). According to the legend, the custom of offering tributes to the king has existed since the Hùng Vương era.

Vegetables and fruit

Hạc Trì persimmons, originally from the village of Bạch Hạc (City of Việt Trì, province of Phú Thọ.),

Longan of phố Hiến (Province of Hưng Yên), well-known from the 16th century,

Rice flakes of the village of Vòng, a special product used as food tribute to the king; Vòng village is about 5-6 km from downtown Hà Nội, currently, ward of Dịch Vọng, district of Cầu Giấy, Hà Nội,

Tribute banana from province of Nam Định, thus, people used to say: «Đọc thơ Tú Xương ăn chuối ngự » (Reading Tú Xương’s poems while eating tribute banana),

Kim Tân sugar cane, from province of Thanh Hóa, long-time well-known food tribute to the king every year,

Mango of Đá Trắng Pagoda, province of Phú Yên, the mango tree is now over 200-year old,

Thiều Lychee, from Lục Ngạn, province of Bắc Giang.

Rice

De Rice from An Cựu (Huế), Tám Xoan Rice from Hải Hậu (Nam Định). The cooked rice was prepared with Ngự Túc rice (御 ngự: of the king; 粟 túc: rice), provided by the Ministry of Public Works, usually the rice called “gạo de” grown in the fields of An Cựu^[18] located inside the capital city of Huế.

The volume of rice eaten by the emperor everyday was weighted very accurately. When the emperor did not have appetite, the Royal Physician was called in and prepared some medication, which he tested right in front of the emperor before he did take by the emperor. The rice for the emperor’s meal must be very white and each grain was carefully selected; after the cooking is done, the cooking pot was destroyed.

Water

The water used in the food cooking in the imperial palace was taken from the Hàm Long wells of Bảo Quốc Pagoda, or from the Cam Lồ wells at the foot of Thủy Vân Mountain, or from the upper basin of Hương River. The emperor only drank the water that had already been carefully steamed or some kind of alcohol made of well-spiced lotus nuts.   

3. Intangible Culture in the Royal Meal

The characterization of the culinary culture of the Royal Meal is also based on the concept of culture of UNESCO, which includes the two following parts:

• The tangible culture is expressed in the most special foods of the country offered to the emperor, and the most delicious dishes prepared by the talented royal chef team.
• The intangible culture is the organization of he Royal Meal based on the two invisible factors : the yin chi and yang chi in the foods.

In the old days, just like the peoples of other countries in the Far Eastern cultural zone, the Vietnamese people’s behaviour was based on the science of observation, for example, in the culinary art, they observed that some foods (e.g., cinnamon, ginger, alcohol…) created heat in the body and called them yang foods, and for the other foods, creating some coldness in the body, they called them yin foods.^[19]  Based on this knowledge from the observatiion of the yin chi (fresh, cold) and yang chi (warm, hot) of foods, handed down for thousand years within the Far Eastern culture zone, the Đội Thượng Thiện (Royal Chef Team) and the mandarins called Thái Y (Royal Physicians) organized the Royal Meal with nutrition and disease prevention in mind.  In the royal palace, therefore, the culinary art was not solely the sophisticated preparation of the Royal Meal from selected precious and delicious foods but the most important thing of the meal was that each dish needed to be considered as a medication to balance the yin chi and yang chi.

Prescription-meal

Each Royal Meal is a «prescription» aimed at preserving health, preventing or treating disease for the emperor by keeping the yin-yang balance between the foods and between the foods with the emperor’s potential chi (cold or hot).  This duty was carried out by:

• The Royal Chef Team should pay attention to several “taboos” in order to guarantee the safety of the emperor’s eating and drinking, and would be placed under the control of the Institute of Royal Physicians,^[20]
• The Institute of Royal Physicians^[21] was responsible for organizing the dishes of each meal to become a « prescription» for both nutrition and disease prevention.

This disease treating method by balancing the yin-yang chi was almost unchanged from the past to the present, i.e., what the Royal Physicians of the old days did were exactly the same practices of the oriental-medicine doctors of today   Its basic principle is following the yin-yang theory: the chi of foods must be balanced with one another, and with the chi (cold, hot) of the consumers’ internal organs. 

In order to turn the Royal Meal into a «prescripion,» in addition to their knowledge of medicine-pharmacy, the Royal Physicians must also understand very clearly the following things:

1. Identification of the yang foods and the yin foods:

The yang foods creating heat like cinnamon, ginger, pepper, longan, lychee, mango, jackfruit, pineapple; the yin foods having cold chi like abalone, jellyfish, sea cucumber, turtle, shrimp, fish…  With this knowledge, the Royal Physicians will:

Balance the yin-yang chi in the foods.  For example: Longan sweet soup   (lotus nuts stuffed in longans, both of them having yang chi), abalone, duck meat (yin chi) dipped into ginger fish sauce (high yang chi).

Balance the food chi with the weather of each season.  In summer, when the temperature was very high, a royal meal prepared with yang foods like red pepper, black pepper, ginger, goat meat, alcohol … would cause more heat in the emperor’s body and make him feeling uneasy and losing sleep. Therefore, in summer the royal chefs must offer the emperor fresh, cold foods like vegetables or fruit, or lotus nut sweet soup …

2. Understanding the chi of the emperor’s internal organ

The human body possesses two principal states of the chi that we need to know: the hot chi state and the cold chi state.

• The hot chi state makes the skin reddened, lips cracked, nose bleeding, sweating; internally there are symptoms of yin chi exhaustion like constipation, thirsty,
• The cold chi state is expresed by ageing, too much sex, leasing to serious diseases.

From the observation of the chi state of the emperor (cold or hot), knowing which internal organ is weakened, the Royal Physician will select beforehand which meal ingredients (yin or yang) to make the “prescription-meal” appropriate for the emperor’s chi state, and for the cold or hot weather of the time… For example:

If already having hot chi state with symptoms like swollen and reddened lips and tongue, constipation, loss of sleep, nose bleeding, hemorrhoids, red pimples, pustule acne … and the emperor continued to eat and drink hot foods like alcohol, cinnamon, mango, longan these diseases would worsen. The Royal Physician, therefore, had to select yin foods like green vegetables, fresh fruit, and stop or lessen usage of yang foods and spices like pepper (both red and black) and alcohol …

If having observed that the emperor has the cold chi state caused by the kidney chi being weakened by ageing or by excessive sexual activities, the Royal Physician would improve the emperor’s kidney chi state by giving him ginseng drink, medicated alcohol, warm water, but with just enough quantities appropriate for his body.

It is the author’s hope that the culinary culture of the Royal Meal would make us think again after we had seen our family doctors, and had good results in the blood, uninary, feces tests, and had properly nutritional meals in accordance with our doctors’ advices but still had this or that disease symtom.  If that happens, do not just think that «I’ve eaten well in accordance with the nutrition science, and I’ve regularly rexercised in accordane with my doctor’s advice.»   You’ve got to think about the yin-yang chi in your daily meals and try to understand specifically the yin-yang chi in your foods (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), and the issue of your internal organs’ chi (Chapter 5).

— 

 [1] Bên cạnh đội Thượng Thiện  có :

– viện Thượng Trà chuyên trách việc cung cấp đồ uống cho vua .

– Đội Phụng Thiện lo ẩm thực của Hoàng Thái Hậu, mẹ vua tại cung Từ Thọ (Diên Thọ),

– Ty Lý thiện  chuyên lo việc yến tiệc, kỵ giỗ của hoàng gia.

[2] Charles Edouard Hocquard, Une campagne au Tonkin, Arlea tr. 605-607

[3] Năm 1886, Hocquard và Baille được vào thăm viếng Hoàng cung đưa ra những con số khác nhau vì được hướng dẫn bởi hai người khác nhau.

[4] Đầu tháng 5 năm 1886, Frédéric Baille cùng Khâm sứ Vial vào Hoàng cung chào mẹ vua Đồng Khánh và kể lại rằng mỗi bữa ăn có 50 món khác nhau do 50 đầu bếp nấu.

[5] Năm 2008, dựa trên các tư liệu lịch sử, Trung tâm Bảo tồn Di tích Cố đô Huế đã xây dựng kịch bản tổ chức tái hiện lễ Cung tiến thanh trà. Theo kịch bản, lễ cung tiến sẽ gồm các bước sau:

– Lễ cáo được cử hành tại đình Lương Quán,

– Lễ rước từ đình Lương Quán xuống bến Phủ ở sông Hương (7 thuyền chở hoa quả và người dân có sản phẩm cung tiến) và 1 thuyền chở ban tổ chức.

– Lễ tiếp nhận diễn ra ngay tại cửa Ngọ Môn  gồm các lễ sau: Lễ thướng hương, Lễ thướng tửu, Lễ thướng quả, Lễ nhận quả, Minh biểu thành tâm (Lễ đáp lòng thành)

[6] Gà chín cựa được nhắc đến trong truyền thuyết Sơn Tinh – Thủy Tinh như là một sính lễ mà Vua Hùng đòi hỏi để cầu hôn nàng Mỵ Nương cùng với voi chín ngà và ngựa chín hồng mao.[1] “Voi 9 ngà, Gà 9 cựa, Ngựa 9 hồng mao”

[7] Cá rô Đầm Sét, xã Xuân Thiên, h. Thọ Xuân, t. Thanh Hóa cũng là món tiến vua xưa kia

[8] Tôm càng bóc vỏ bó đuôi, Gạo de An Cựu em nuôi mẹ già. Kim Luông tươi tốt vườn chè, Gạo de An Cựu, đĩa muối mè cũng theo nhau

[9] Quan sát khí âm dương bắt nguồn tư Kinh Dịch Cách đây khoảng 5000 năm, các cao nhân quan sát vũ trụ bao quanh mà nhận xét thấy có hiện tượng khí từ trên trời đi xuống như ánh sáng, gió… và khí từ đất bốc lên như hơi nước. Hai luồng khí lên xuống giao nhau không ngừng nghỉ mà sanh ra các hiện tượng vật chất hữu hình trên thế giới. Các cao nhân vẽ một gạch thẳng  tượng trưng cho khí dương từ trời đáp xuống, một gạch đứt đoạn  biểu tượng khí âm đi lên từ đất. Hai gạch âm dương tác động lên nhau mà sanh ra các hiện tượng mà ta quan sát được trong vũ trụ.  Và cũng từ hai gạch âm dương mà các cao nhân đã viết nên quyển Kinh Dịch không chữ viết diễn tả tiến trình của đời người trong đại vũ trụ. Nay, muốn tìm hiểu phần vô hình tức khí của thực phẩm, chúng ta phải dùng phương pháp tìm hiểu âm dương của người xưa là QUAN SÁT rồi CẢM NHẬN

[10] Chiều ngày 26.4.2018, tại vườn Thiệu Phương – Đại Nội, Huế, triển lãm “Thái Y Viện triều Nguyễn giới thiệu gần 50 phiên bản Châu bản, Mộc bản triều Nguyễn nhằm cung cấp những thông tin giá trị liên quan đến Thái Y Viện triều Nguyễn

[11] Những biện pháp dự phòng và những hình phạt xử lý: “Phàm việc pha chế thuốc của vua, mà làm không đúng phương thức và gói lại đề chữ sai lầm, thầy thuốc (làm việc ấy) phải phạt 100 trượng, dùng dược liệu lựa chọn không tinh phải phạt 60 trượng. Nếu làm cơm cho vua lầm thức gì phải kiêng, thì người nhà bếp phải phạt 100 trượng. Những thức ăn uống làm không sạch sẽ, phải phạt 80 trượng; chọn lầm không được tinh tường, phải phạt 60 trượng; (người sắc thuốc, làm cơm cho vua) không nếm trước các thứ ấy, phải phạt 50 roi; các quan giám lâm, đề điệu đều được giảm nhẹ hơn người làm thuốc, người đầu bếp 2 bậc. Nếu quan giám lâm, đề điệu và người nấu bếp lầm lỡ đem các vị thuốc đến nơi làm cơm của vua, thì phải phạt 100 trượng, đem những vị thuốc ấy bắt phải uống”

3. Working next to the đội Thượng Thiện there were:

– viện Thượng Trà responsible for provision of beverages for the emperor,

– Đội Phụng Thiện lresponsible for the meals of the Queen Mother, residing at Từ Thọ (Diên Thọ) Palace,

– Ty Lý thiện responsible for feasts, death anniversary meals of the royal family.

4. Charles Edouard Hocquard, Une campagne au Tonkin, Arlea, pp. 605-607.
5. In 1886, Hocquard and Baille were allowed to visit the royal palace but reported different statistics since they were guided by two different persons.
6. In 2008, based on historical documents, the Centre for the Preservation of Historical Vestiges of the Ancient Capital City of Huế recreated the ceremony of tribute of loquat, which included the following steps:

– Ceremony of announcement at Lương Quán community hall,

– Ceremony of procession from Lương Quán community hall to Phủ dock on the bank of Hương River (7 boats carrying people with the tribute fruit, and 1 boat carrying the organizing committee),

– Ceremony of reception at Ngọ Môn Gate including the following smaller ceremonies: ceremony of incense offering, ceremony of alcohol offering, ceremony of fruit offering, ceremony of fruit accepting, and ceremony of Minh biểu thành tâm (responding ceremony with warm heart)

7. Nine-spurred roosters were mentioned in the legend Sơn Tinh – Thủy Tinh as a gift requested by Hùng Vương in Mỵ Nương’s wedding, together with nine-tusked elephants, and nine-red haired horses.
8. Anabas of Đầm Sét, village of Xuân Thiên, district of Thọ Xuân, province of Thanh Hóa was also among the special products used to be tributes to the king.
9. Tôm càng bóc vỏ bỏ đuôi, (With shell-less and tailless tiger shrimps), Gạo de An Cựu em nuôi mẹ già. (and with An Cựu “de” rice, I nourish my old mother.). Kim Luông tươi tốt vườn chè, (The tea plantations in Kim Luông are all green and nice,) Gạo de An Cựu, đĩa muối mè cũng theo nhau. (With An Cựu “de” rice, despite of only a dish of salt and sesame as food, we’ll stay together.).
10. The observation of the yin chi and the yang chi originated from the I Ching. About 5,000 years ago, the wise men observed phenomena in the universe and discovered that there were chi phenomena going down from the sky to the earth, such as light, wind … and there were also chi phenomena going up from the earth to the sky like steam. These two chi phenomena flowing up and down without interruption and created all the visible physical phenomena of the world.  The wise men drew an unbroken bar    to symbolize the yang chi going down from the sky, and a broken bar    to symbolize the yin chi going up from the earth.  The two yin and yang bars interacted and created all the phenomena that we could observe in the universe.  And from these two yin and yang bars the wise men have written the I Ching, which, without any word, expressed the life process of men in the great universe.  At the present, in order to understand the invisible part, i e., the chi, of foods, we must apply the method used by people in the old days in understanding yin-yang, and that is OBSERVE and FEEL.
11. In the afternoon of April 26, 2018, in the garden of Thiệu Phương – Imperial Palace, Huế, the exhibition “Thái Y Viện triều Nguyễn» (i.e., Institute of Royal Physicians of the Nguyễn Dynasty) introduced almost 50 copies of the royal records (Châu bản, Mộc bản) of the Nguyễn Dynasty, providing valuable information about the Institute of Royal Physicians of the Nguyễn Dynasty.
12. Prevention measures and punlishments: “Making mistakes in the preparation of drugs for the emperor, making mistakes in markting the package of drugs, the responsible physician will be subject to 100 strokes; inappropriate using of selected drugs will be subject to 60 strokes. Using forbidden foods in preparing the royal meal, the responsible chef will be subject to 100 strokes.  For unclean foods, the punishment will be 80 strokes, making mistakes in selecting appropriate foods will be subject to 60 strokes.  After having prepared the foods or drugs, forgetting to test them will be subject to 50 whips; the mandrins called «giám lâm, đề điệu » will receive punishments that were two levels below the ones received by the chef or the physician.  If these mandrins and the chef brought these ingredients by mistake to the place where the royal meal was prepared, they will be subject to 100 strokes, and will be forced to drink them.