Porridge With a Past

Legend has it that zhou-also known as rice porridge or rice congee-is one of the great discoveries of the imperial household. One of the more plausible legends says that some time during the Western Zhou dynasty (11th century BCE-771 BCE) somebody mistakenly-or rather, by a stroke of luck-added too much water while making rice, resulting in rice porridge. An entry in the Book of Rites, dating back to centuries before the time of Christ, notes: "During the famine year, the Son of Heaven [the emperor] fed the hungry with zhou." You can see from this that Chinese people have been eating rice congee for at least 2000 or 3000 years.

It's the real thing

Zhou has been an inseparable part of Chinese life since ancient times, and it has often been cited in literature. The great Song dynasty literatus Su Dongpo (1036-1101), feeling very satiated after a congee dish made using Wuxi rice, penned the following lines: "I am so turned upside down that I don't know who I am, but I know that in this mundane world there is something genuinely good." A famous line by the poet Lu You (1125-1209), which asserts that eating zhou can make one an immortal, is frequently used in signs and advertisements. The Mahasamghika Vinaya, an ancient Buddhist text, cites among "the ten advantages of zhou" that it increases energy, helps achieve longevity, wets the tongue and throat, is easily digestible, and improves one's complexion.

The earliest rice porridge, white zhou, was very simple. However, as regional variations developed, by the Song dynasty there were no less than a hundred formally listed congee recipes, including ones for salty, sweet, and even medicinal zhou. Today there are many more, including Guangdong zhou, milkfish zhou, and so on. These are all popular as late-night snack foods among young and old alike in Taiwan.

Huang Hai-tai, the 103-year-old master of puppet theater in Taiwan, cites zhou as one of the secrets to his longevity. He says that when he was young and doing nonstop performances day and night, his wife would always prepare a pot of rice porridge, and when he came home late at night she would make egg drop soup using the water from the porridge. This not only stuck to his ribs, it quickly relieved the tension and stress built up through the day.

Duke of zhou

Over the many years of the Zhou Club, the member associated with the most stories about zhou has to be Liang Han-tsao, former chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation of China. Every time that Liang got a new executive position, he would treat everyone to a big pot of "Duke of Liang zhou," of which former vice president Hsieh Tung-min, one of the club members, once commented: "It leaves a delightful aftertaste and is a joy to eat."

There is a story behind Duke of Liang zhou. Once, Liang Han-tsao was at the home of a friend from Xinjiang playing mahjongg, when he suddenly had a strange urge to eat some zhou. On the spur of the moment he came up with a new recipe: First make a broth with three free-range chickens, and use this chicken broth to prepare rice congee. Then add mushrooms, peanuts, turnip, green veggies, and a small amount of salt and wine. Whatever you do, other commonly used congee ingredients like leeks, ginger, youtiao (oily bread stick) and hard-boiled eggs are strictly forbidden.

In fact, the zhou dishes at the world-famous Ta Sheng Kung restaurant in Taipei also have a long-standing connection to Liang Han-tsao and the Zhou Club. Before 1970, Chung Chien-sheng, an elderly gent from Guangdong, had a food stand next to National Taiwan University's side gate. Liang, also a native of Guangdong, was a frequent customer, and revealed the secret of Duke of Liang zhou to Chung. After Ta Sheng Kung opened, at every meeting of the Zhou Club there would be large pots of Duke of Liang zhou, all courtesy of Ta Sheng Kung.

Another recipe connected to the club is that of ruyi porridge, created by current club head Louis Lu, who is a collector of antiques including ruyi scepters. To make this, first prepare a broth using pig bones, and then add white rice and bean sprouts (which are shaped like ruyi scepters). The result is a light, invigorating, and tasty congee that also is auspicious in meaning.

The Dao of congee

Looking around at the members of the Zhou Club, one sees some people already over 100 years old, testifying to the benefits of eating rice congee. "There are two kinds of sustenance at the Zhou Club: one is rice porridge, the other is literature. With these two types of sustenance, one material and one spiritual, naturally one can live a long time," says Lu.

In fact, as long ago as the Song dynasty, Su Dongpo had identified three major advantages of eating zhou: "It brings peace of mind, which contributes to well-being, it is easy on the stomach, which contributes to physical energy, and it saves money, which contributes to becoming wealthy." He may not have known it, but Su would certainly have fit right in at the Zhou Club!