Betel nut chews harder and harder. You can make friends and play on the garden platform to avoid plague, stimulate appetite and relieve greasy. "This is a folk song circulating in the streets of Xiangtan, which vividly reflects the indissoluble bond between betel nut and Xiangtan people and Xiangtan food culture. As a kind of food, betel nut has been rooted and developed in Xiangtan for more than 300 years. According to the records of Xiangtan city, in the first month of 1650 (the sixth year of Shunzhi), the Qing army slaughtered Xiangtan for nine days, with a population of tens of thousands, and there were no more than twenty or thirty households, less than 100 people. An Anhui businessman named Cheng learned that an old monk chewed betel nuts to avoid the epidemic and collected the body. Since then, the habit of chewing betel nut has continued. 1779 (forty-four years of Qianlong), Xiangtan residents suffered from abdominal distension. Bai Jing, the county magistrate, chewed the medicinal betel nut for the patient, and the abdominal distension disappeared. Later, the original patients often chewed, so that patients stopped chewing. After a long time, it became a habit. Thus, Xiangtan betel nut was gradually developed. With the development of betel nut in Xiangtan, betel nut culture came into being. In some places, ancient operas, "Praise the Earth", wedding celebrations and other folk packages are praised by betel nuts. For example, "Tanzhou Zhi Zhu Ci" wrote: "The romantic drama is strong, and the beauty is elegant; A string of throat songs and beads turned around, and someone threw betel nuts under the stage. "The close relationship between Xiangtan betel nut and local culture and art is vividly outlined. This just shows that Xiangtan betel nut culture is the product of Xiangtan betel nut development. This reflects from one side that the development of economy breeds the emergence of superstructure (culture and art), which in turn promotes the rapid development of economy, which is a universal law. Of course, from the perspective of the whole betel nut culture, a beautiful and rich folk song "Picking Betel Nuts" expresses people's special feelings for betel nuts in an artistic form.

In the development history of Xiangtan Areca nut for hundreds of years, it has experienced a process from primary, decentralized and small-scale to advanced, centralized and large-scale development. It can be roughly divided into three stages:

The first stage: Before liberation to the early 1970s, the betel nut processing in Xiangtan was a traditional workshop style, with more than 100 households in the city, mainly represented by Liu Ji, the ninth general manager of Xiangtan, and Li Ji Betel nut Store.

The second stage: from 198 1 to 199 1, Xiangtan betel nut, as a productive force, has made breakthrough development under the promotion of reform and opening up. There are more than 4,000 betel nut processing operators in the city, with an annual sales volume of more than 700 tons and a sales amount of about 50 million yuan. The main representatives are China Everbright, Zhang Xinfa and other betel nut shops.

The third stage: 1993 is the take-off period of Xiangtan betel nut. A group of new betel nut owners, such as Haojue, Wangye, Binzhilang, Yipintang, Xiangnan, Laoye, Ai Xiang, Hai Shun, Pangge, Wang Xiaolong and Xiangqiong, all live in Xiangtan. During this period, the quality, variety, packaging, sales, market and other aspects of Xiangtan betel nut have appeared unprecedented situation, showing the following six characteristics:

First, from the form of production and processing, it began to break through the traditional small workshop style and gradually formed a scale operation. Several large betel nut processing enterprises employ more than 100 temporary workers, and the highest daily sales amount is more than 40,000 yuan.

Second, private joint-stock limited liability companies, such as Binzhilang Food Co., Ltd., Wangye Betel nut Co., Ltd., Haojue Food Co., Ltd. and Yipintang Food Co., Ltd., began to appear from the management system, which introduced a new mechanism for Xiangtan Betel nut to meet the needs of the development of socialist market economy.

Thirdly, it is a variety of betel nuts processed to meet the tastes of all kinds of people, introducing sesame, osmanthus, mint, cream, dried betel nuts, wet betel nuts and other flavors. Several large betel nut processing factories in the city began to organize on-site betel nut processing according to the requirements of the "Edible Betel Nut Standard" issued by Hunan Provincial Bureau of Standards, which greatly improved the production level and product quality of Xiangtan betel nut. Xiangtan people have a growing habit of chewing betel nuts. "Hang your hands, walk the streets, chew betel nuts and make friends." At present, the number of people who love to chew betel nuts in this city has increased to about 30% of the city's total population.

Fourth, there are two kinds of packaging, inner packaging and outer packaging. The inner packaging includes vacuum packaging and pillow packaging. The outer packaging is more dazzling and has its own characteristics, which has written a new chapter for betel nut culture.

Fifth, it began to rush out of Xiangtan from the betel nut business channel and go to the whole province. Now a group of Xiangtan people are making authentic Xiangtan betel nuts in Changsha, Zhuzhou, Shaoyang, Yiyang, Changde, Hengyang and other places, which has promoted the vigorous development of betel nut processing in the province and become an industrial army of food industry that cannot be underestimated. According to rough statistics, the number of people engaged in betel nut processing and operation in the city has exceeded 1 10,000 (including seasonal temporary workers). The annual sales of betel nut processing is about 200 million yuan. Especially with the establishment and development of the socialist market economic system, the competition of betel nut processing industry in our city is becoming increasingly fierce, and many betel nut processing households have continuously introduced various sales methods, which has brought about the continuous activity of our city's economy, and new sales phenomena such as "lottery to buy betel nuts", "special car delivery" and "delivery to the counter" have appeared.

6. People engaged in betel nut production and management are far beyond the scope of ordinary citizens and idlers in history. A group of young people with economic mind and modern management knowledge (including people with lofty ideals from Shanghai and Changsha) joined the betel nut industry, which not only changed the cultural quality of the betel nut industry in Xiangtan, but also created a new talent team for the prosperity of the betel nut industry and the development of the betel nut culture in the city.

After hundreds of years of gradual development, Xiangtan betel nut has now spread all over Tanzhou urban and rural areas, streets and alleys, entered thousands of households, and has played an important role in Xiangtan's economic development. (Written by Simone)

References:

China betel nut food network