readx; The history of vegetarian cuisine can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty. According to legend www.biquge.info Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, invented tofu and made great contributions to the development of vegetarian cuisine. Tofu is not only an important ingredient in vegetarian dishes, but also a high-quality protein in vegetarian dishes. Therefore, the invention of tofu not only greatly enriched the connotation of vegetarian dishes, but also made vegetarianism more convincing in terms of nutrition.

According to research, the Northern Wei Dynasty's "Qi Min Yaoshu" has a special chapter on vegetarian dishes, introducing 11 kinds of vegetarian food, which is the earliest vegetarian recipe found in China.

Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty advocated Buddhism, lived a vegetarian diet, and advocated vegetarianism, which greatly promoted the development of Chinese vegetarian culture. Since then, according to the records of "Tokyo Menghualu" and "Menglianglu", there were vegetarian restaurants specializing in vegetarian dishes in the markets of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty and Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty. For the first time, it is also recorded in the "Shan Jia Qing Offering" that there were "fake fried fish", "sheng meat clips" and "vegetarian steamed chicken" and other "vegetarian meat dishes" at that time

During the Song Dynasty, there was Lin Hong's "Shanjia Qing Offering", which contained more than 100 kinds of food, most of which were vegetarian, including flowers, medicines, fruits, and soy products. In addition, there is Tan Tat-suo's "Ben Xin Zhai Shu Cookbook", which records 20 vegetarian foods made with vegetables and fruits.

In the three dynasties of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the development of vegetarian cuisine became more and more prosperous, and the records of vegetarian cuisine in various documents are also very rich. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Xue Baochen had a vegetarian monograph "Vegetarian Theory", which described more than 200 kinds of vegetarian food;

It is generally believed that there are three major schools of vegetarian cuisine and two major directions. The so-called three major schools refer to: court vegetarian cuisine, temple vegetarian cuisine and folk vegetarian cuisine; The so-called two major directions are: 'vegan school' and 'meat to support vegetarian school'. The vegan school is mainly represented by the temple's vegetarian dishes, and does not use the 'five meats' such as eggs and onions and garlic. The meat and vegetarian pie is mainly represented by folk vegetarian dishes, and the 'five meats' and eggs are not taboo, and even seafood and animal fat and broth are used.

The vegetarian culture of Buddhism is unique to Mahayana Buddhism. The purpose of Buddhism to eat a vegetarian diet is naturally to abstain from killing and protecting students, and to develop a Buddha nature of great compassion. The Bodhisattva vows in the Sanskrit Sutra say: 'If the son of the Buddha eats meat--- all sentient beings must not eat meat. The flesh-eater breaks off the seed of great compassion and Buddha-nature, and all sentient beings see it and give it up. Therefore, all bodhisattvas are not allowed to eat the flesh of all living beings, and eating meat is immeasurably sinful. If he eats it, he is guilty of a misdemeanor. ‘

The palace vegetarian dish is a fine dish among the vegetarian dishes. In the imperial court, there was a special 'vegetarian bureau' in the imperial dining room, which was responsible for the emperor's 'fasting' vegetarian food, which could prepare hundreds of kinds of vegetarian dishes. When the emperor sacrifices to his ancestors or encounters major events, he must bathe for several days in advance, change his clothes and live alone, abstain from alcohol and vegetarianism, and make his heart pure and sincere. Emperor Xiao Yan of the Southern Dynasty, who was the emperor for 48 years, was good at literature, music, calligraphy, believed in Buddhism, vegetarian for life, advocated for the world, and sacrificed himself to Tongtai Temple four times, all of which were redeemed by the state.