Unravel the mystery of food's origin (2)

College of Life Sciences, Nanchang Normal University Liang Lei Shen Chenghui

Nowadays, people are becoming more and more diverse, but do you know where the food you eat comes from? As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancestors cultivated crops such as apricots, peaches, pears, plums, rice, millet, and anthracite
.
With the opening of the Silk Road, grapes, walnuts, pomegranates, watermelons, cantaloupe, etc.
came
from the Western Regions.
After the great geographical discovery of Europe, crops such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
from the Americas came to China
across the sea.
The continuous discovery and cultivation of food, as well as global communication and exchange, paint our colorful gastronomic life
today.

Chinese cabbage (knotted cabbage)

Chinese cabbage is a cruciferous herbaceous plant in the family Brassica, and the origin theory is more complicated
.
One theory is that it is a natural hybrid of northern turnip and southern cabbage, and the other is that it is differentiated from non-knotting cabbage
.
Chinese cabbage appeared much later than small cabbage, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that knotted cabbage
appeared.

spinach

Spinach is a cultivated variety in the genus Spinach of the family Chenopodaceae, an annual or biennial herb, and is one of
the most important vegetable crops in China.
Spinach originated in Persia, and in the second year of Tang Zhenguan (628), spinach seeds were introduced to China
from Nepal as a tribute.

amaranth

Amaranth is an annual herbaceous plant in the amaranth family, native to India, and it is also believed that the Americas are also one of
the places of origin.

lettuce

Lettuce is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant in the genus Asteraceae lettuce, which is a worldwide vegetable crop that is widely cultivated around the world, especially in temperate and subtropical regions
.
Among them, China's output accounts for 56%
of the world.
It is now believed that lettuce originated in the Two Rivers Valley of the Fertile Crescent and was introduced to ancient Egypt
from southwestern Asia 4,500 years ago.
Leaf lettuce was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty or Sui and Tang Dynasties, and later derived stem lettuce (i.
e.
lettuce).

Artemisia

Artemisia annua, also known as chrysanthemum cauliflower, is a yearly or biennial herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean coast
of southern Europe.
In the 5th century AD, the Arabs brought it to Guangdong
, China.

celery

Celery is an annual or biennial herb of the genus Apiaceae, native to the Mediterranean coast of Europe, introduced to China
in the 15th century AD.
In ancient times, celery was considered a medicinal herb, hence the name "medicinal celery"
.

Yellow cauliflower

Yellow cauliflower, also known as enoki, daylilies, forget-me-nots, etc.
, belongs to the lily family Daylily herbs, native to China, has a cultivation history of more than 2,000 years, first seen in the Book of Poetry
.
Fresh yellow cauliflower stamen contains colchicine, which is easy to cause poisoning
.

pumpkin

Pumpkin is an annual herb of the genus Pumpkin in the family Cucurbitaceae, originating in Mexico and Central and South America
.
After the opening of the new route, it was introduced into Southeast Asia by sea, and it was introduced into the southern region of China at the beginning of the 16th century, so it was called pumpkin
.
The "Records of Funing Prefecture" in the seventeenth year of Ming Jiajing (1538) is recorded
.

Cucumber

Cucumber is an annual creeping or climbing herb of the genus Cucurbitaceae, native to India and cultivated back 5,000 years, making it one of the
oldest vegetables grown by humans.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions to bring cucumbers back to the Central Plains, which were called "courgettes"
at the time.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms, Emperor Shi Le of Later Zhao tabooed the character "hu" and changed it to "cucumber"
.
Today, China's cucumber production accounts for about 78%
of global production.

wax gourd

Winter melon is an annual vine or rack herb of the genus Cucurbitaceae, native to the East India region and southern China, and is now widely distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of Asia
.

loofah

Loofah is an annual climbing vine of the genus Loofah of the Cucurbitaceae family, which originated in tropical Asia, that is, the East India region, and has been cultivated for
more than 2,000 years.
There are records
of loofah cultivation in China since the Song Dynasty.

Momordica charantia

Bitter melon is an herbaceous plant of the family Cucurbitaceae, native to India, and is generally believed to have been brought back by Zheng He during the Ming Dynasty
.

tomato

Tomatoes, also known as tomatoes, are annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the genus Solanaceae, native to the Americas
.
After Columbus discovered the New World, he brought tomatoes back, and it was subsequently spread
around the world.
It was introduced to China
around the time of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
Originally cultivated as an ornamental plant, the spread was slow, and tomatoes
were grown in only a few areas in the late Qing Dynasty and early People's Dynasty.
It was not until the 30s of the 20th century that tomatoes began to be grown in Northeast, North and Central China; In the 50s of the 20th century, tomatoes were widely cultivated
.

eggplant

Eggplant is an herbaceous plant of the nightshade family, which is generally believed to have been domesticated in ancient India and introduced into China
in the 4th-5th centuries AD.
Our country is considered the secondary center of origin of eggplant
.

kidney bean

Phaseolus vulgaris, also known as green bean and kidney bean, is an annual winding or nearly erect herbaceous plant in the legume family Phaseolus that originated in Central America and the Andes
.
In the late Ming Dynasty, beans were introduced into China
.

cowpea

Cowpea, also known as carob, is an annual, herbaceous vine or nearly erect herbaceous plant in the legume family
.
It originated in southern Africa from 3000 BC to 1500 BC and was domesticated as food
.
In 300 BC (some people believe that it was 1500-1000 BC), it was introduced to India and then introduced to China
.
It was domesticated into vegetables in India and China, diverging into short pod cowpea (short bean) and long pod cowpea (long bean).

China is the secondary origin center
of cowpea.

sword bean

Knife bean is an annual winding herb of the legume genus Knife Bean, native to South America, and later introduced to China
.
It is cultivated
in the Yangtze River Basin and all provinces and regions south of China.

water caltrop

Water chestnut is the fruit of the annual herbaceous aquatic plant of the rhombus family, native to Eurasia
.
As early as 7,000 years ago, people in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China began to cultivate water chestnut
.

okra

Okra, also known as okra, is an annual herb of the genus Okra of the mallow family, which is generally believed to have originated in Africa and was introduced to China
in the early 20th century.

apple

Apple is a woody plant of the apple subfamily Rosaceae, native to central and southeastern Europe, Central Asia, West Asia and Xinjiang region of China
.
Since the introduction of cultivated apples into China in 1871, traditional cultivars such as Chinese apples (cotton apples) and sand fruits have been gradually replaced
by new varieties.

pear

Pear is a woody plant
in the subfamily Rosaceae Apple.
The original species of pear originated in the mountainous areas of western or southwestern China during the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era, and later gradually evolved into two major systems of eastern pear and western pear, and formed the three major origin centers of the world's cultivated pear - China center, Central Asia center and Near East center
.

hawthorn

Hawthorn is a woody plant
in the subfamily Hawthorn of the Rosaceae subfamily Apples.
Hawthorn plants originated in the Mesozoic Cretaceous or Cenozoic Tertiary period
.
The place of origin is disputed and is generally believed to have originated in East Asia or South America
.
Yunnan hawthorn and Mexican hawthorn are ancestral species of hawthorn, which are genetically exchanged
through the Bering Strait in Eurasia and North America.
The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Bohai Bay region of China are one of the earliest cultivation centers of hawthorn, and during the two Jin dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty (266-618 AD), it entered the semi-cultivated state from the wild; During the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties (618-1368 AD), hawthorn cultivation entered the initial stage of development
.

loquat

Loquat is a woody plant of the apple subfamily Rosaceae, which originated in China, and the specific place of origin needs further research, and it is generally believed that the middle and lower reaches of the Dadu River on the southeast slope of Gongga Mountain in Sichuan may be the origin center
of loquat.
As early as the Western Han Dynasty, loquat was mentioned
in the literary scholar Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu".

apricot

Apricot is a woody plant of the subfamily Apricot of the Rosaceae family, which originated in the west or north of China and has a cultivation history
of 4,000 years.

peach

Peach is a woody plant of the subfamily Peachaceae, which originated in the western region of China and was recognized and eaten
by humans 4,000 years ago.
Before the time of Emperor Wudi of Han, people had exported peaches to Persia and other places, and then spread to Europe
.

plum

Prunus is a woody plant in the subfamily Prunus of the Rosaceae family, mainly cultivared in Chinese Prunus and European Prunus
.
Chinese plum originated in the Yangtze River basin of China; The origin of European plum is complex and varied, some believe that it is native to the European Caucasus, while others believe that it is native to Asia Minor and Syria in western Asia, and may be a hybrid or evolved variety
of cherry plum, black spiny plum, etc.
The black plum introduced by the United States is transliterated as "black bulin"
.

cherry

Cherry is a collective name for cherry plants in the subfamily Lyceae, commonly cultivated Chinese cherry and European sweet cherry (cherry).

Chinese cherry, also known as cherry, originated in the southwest region of China and later spread
along the Yangtze River basin.
Cherry cultivation has a long history, and the history of growth and domestication in China is at least 3,000 years
.
European sweet cherries originated in western Asia and southeastern Europe (near the Caspian Sea and Black Sea) and were domesticated
4,000-5,000 years ago.

jujube

Jujube is a woody plant of the genus Jujube of the Rhamnaceae family, native to China
.
Fossils found in Xinmi, Henan Province, prove that jujube trees have been cultivated for more than 7,000 years in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River
.

China Food News (November 18, 2022, version 06).

(Responsible editor: Wang Ning)