On Ancient Celebrities Eating Wild Vegetable 说说古代名人吃野菜

不光现代人对野菜情有独钟，古人也吃野菜，不但普通百姓食用，皇帝大臣、达官贵人也吃。有史料可查的吃过野菜的皇帝有李世民、朱元璋，还有清朝的雍正皇帝，不过他们大多是借吃野菜来标榜自己的爱民和节俭，没有真正吃出野菜味道。
Not only people in the modern society, but also ancient people, not only ordinary people, but also emperors and ministers have shown special preference to wild vegetable. Existing historical data showed that Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty ate wild vegetable. But they did so to boast they love the subjects and are thrifty, failing to taste the real flavor of potherb.
说到吃野菜，不能不提到晋朝人张翰，这位老兄在洛阳做官，身在千里之外却十分思念家乡的莼菜，于是索性辞了官归隐家乡，这样就可以酣畅淋漓地吃上莼菜了。莼菜是一种地道的野菜，其叶片浮于水面，叶的背面分泌一种类似琼脂的黏液，莼菜吃起来嫩滑爽口，可以烹制成羹，“饭稻以终日，羹莼将永年”是古人美餐莼羹后抒发的情怀。
When it comes to eating edible wild herbs, we cannot help but mentioning Zhang Han of the Jin Dynasty who worked as an official in Luoyang, but missed brasenia schreberi very much of his hometown thousand miles away. So he simply quitted his job and returned back to the hometown so that he could fully and delightfully enjoy brasenia schreberi, which is an authentic edible wild herb whose lamina is floating on water and back produces a kind of grume like agar. It is smooth and tasty and can be cooked to thick soup. The line that “eating rice every day will be bored while having brasenia schreberi soup throughout a year will not be enough” clearly pointed to the feeling of the ancients after enjoying brasenia schreberi soup.
荠菜是野菜中的上品，它性凉、味甘，若做菜吃带有一股清香味。宋代大诗人陆游就喜好荠菜，为此他还特地写过一首《食荠诗》。
Shepherd's purse is a top grade among wild vegetables. It is cool in nature and sweet and has a fresh scent if being cooked. Lu You, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, loved shepherd's purse very much and especially wrote “Verse of Eating Shepherd’s Purse”.
苏东坡不仅是文豪，也是一位美食家，他了解每一种食物的妙处，作为一方的父母官他自力更生，亲自掌厨。苏东坡非常爱吃春季里的野菜芦蒿（又名蒌蒿、藜蒿）。1084年苏东坡被宋神宗派往汝州任职，他特地取道今天的南京品尝芦蒿，后来苏大诗人多次路过南京时，只要有机会就去食芦蒿，他对这种香嫩鲜脆，具有清火化淤功效的野菜极为赞赏。
Su Dongpo was a literary giant and fine-food eater at the same time. He understood the beauty of every food. As the magistrate, he lived on the hump and cooked on his own. Su Dongpo liked artemisia selengensis turcz (also known as seleng wormood) in the spring. In 1084 when Su Dongpo was dispatched by Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty to take office in Ruzhou, he specially went to today’s Ninjing to savour artemisia selengensis turcz. Every time when he went by Nanjing and was available, he would go to eat artemisia selengensis turcz, speaking highly of the delicious, tender wild herb with the effect of getting away fever and defusing bruise.
说到底古代名人吃野菜大多不是为了果腹，人家吃野菜吃的是一种品位，如果真的沦落到靠野菜充饥，哪里还有闲情逸致去对野菜赋诗咏吟？在民间野菜千百年来仍被不少穷苦人家所食用，对于普天之下的布衣百姓，再怎么吃野菜，恐怕也吃不出名人的那种心境吧。
In the final analysis, ancient celebrities ate wild vegetable not to fill the stomach; rather, what they enjoyed is a kind of elegance. If they were really reduced to satisfying hunger by wild herb, they should not have had leisurely and carefree mood to inscribe a poem for wild herb. Over the centuries, wild herbs were eaten by many poor people. For them, no matter how they eat wild herb, it’s unlikely for them to have the mood like the celebrities.