Mandarin Monday: Where Did Chinese Get Their Spicy Kicks Before the Chili Pepper？

Mandarin Monday is a weekly column where we help you improve your Chinese by detailing learning tips, fun and practical phrases, and trends.

What is the most iconic Chinese food? Americans might say 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng Kung Pao chicken, while Japanese insist that 麻婆豆腐 má pó dòufu Ma Po Tofu is king. Even within mainland China, most answers will be quite predictable, such as 水煮鱼 shuǐ zhǔ yú water boiled fish, 麻辣小龙虾 málà xiǎo lóngxiā spicy crawfish, or 大盘鸡 dàpán jī Big Plate Chicken.

Notice any similarities? It seems that the red and spicy chili pepper – the very same pepper that will be featured at this year's Hot & Spicy Festival – is the throughline that makes many Chinese dishes immediately recognizable. However, if you were paying attention in your history classes, you'll know that the chilies we eat today are not a native species of China. So the question is, what did ancient Chinese use in their kitchen to add that pinch of flavor to spice things up?

Before we get there, however, let’s take a look at how ancient Chinese categorize all the flavors you may encounter in the country's cuisine. Just like the Five Elements known as 五行 wǔxíng in Chinese philosophy, the flavors are divided into five patterns as well, which are 酸 suān sour, 苦 kǔ bitter, 甘 gān sweet, 咸 xián salty, and 辛 xīn spicy.

The character 辛 xīn includes all pungent flavors such as the one produced by raw garlic, onion, wasabi, peppercorn, and others. The character itself also comports with a certain punishment that involves hanging people upside down, revealing a time-honored association between spiciness and pain. The word people frequently use today to describe the spicy taste is 辣 là instead of 辛 xin, but look closely enough and you will notice that the radical of 辣 is a slightly tilted 辛, while the other half of it comes from the word that means cluster 束 shù, which emphasizes that 辣 là is a concentrated 辛. The world 辣 is therefore used to describe a more intense, untamable spiciness flavor. 

However, this character was invented long before 辣椒 làjiāo chili peppers were introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty, and only started appearing on Chinese tables around the end of that era due to famine caused by warfare. 

Then, what ingredients were 辣 là referring to before the Ming Dynasty? Actually, there are quite a few candidates. 

食茱萸 shí zhūyú Zanthoxylum ailanthoides – Use of this fruit for its spicy flavor dates back to the Zhou Dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago. In the recipe for 鱼鲊 yú zhǎ fermented marinated fish was combined with rice in what is believed to be the prototype of sushi. In later documentation, people also added 茱萸 zhūyú to alcoholic drinks, ultimately enhancing the fragrance of their libations – if you want an idea of what it would have tasted like, imagine drinking an anise-flavored liqueur. Interestingly, 茱萸 zhūyú was popular in 蜀地 shǔ dì, which is now modern-day Sichuan, a province well known for their love of everything spicy.

芥末 jièmò mustard – If you don’t believe mustard can be spicy enough to make your eyes water, then you might consider trying a traditional Beijing dish called 芥末墩 jièmò dūn mustard mound, which is a pile of quick-boiled Chinese cabbage covered with mustard. It's doubtful you'll be able to take a bit without wailing, “这也太辣了吧 zhè yě tài làle ba“ “It is way too spicy!”

花椒 huājiāo Zanthoxylum – This spice will open up a whole new sensation for you. In fact, the tingling feeling and numbness you'll feel after tasting it are quite addictive. More than one-third of the recipes recorded in the Tang Dynasty include Zanthoxylum.

Besides these, there are many other spices that are believed to be 辣 là spicy, including but not limited to, 胡椒 hújiāo pepper, 姜 jiāng ginger, 蒜 suàn garlic and more.

Even though – technically speaking – all of these fall into the vegan category, for traditional Chinese Buddhists there are five that are as off-limits as meat; 蒜 suàn garlic, 葱 cōng green onion/leek, 韭菜 jiǔcài green chives, 藠头 jiào tóu Chinese allium, and 兴渠 xìng qú Chinese Asafoetida (usually replaced by the 洋葱 yángcōng onion in nowadays). This Buddhist sect believes that consuming food containing these spices will make your mouth foul, stirring up unwanted emotions, dispelling the Buddha, and alluring devils... Although all of that may just be their way of saying 你嘴好臭 nǐ zuǐ hǎo chòu “Your breath stinks.” 

Read: Return of the Spice: Hot & Spicy 2020 is Back On!

Images: Kepuchina, Suiis, Shuhua5000