Chapter VII · The History · Section 3: In Tang context — reading “晏子婴相齐景公时食脱粟之饭炙三弋五卵茗菜而已”

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Thesis

“晏子婴相齐景公时食脱粟之饭炙三弋五卵茗菜而已” only becomes legible inside Tang tribute tea, monastery tea and literati life.

Text

“Yan Ying, when minister to Duke Jing of Qi, ate only husked-rice meals, with three roast game birds, five eggs, and tea-leaf vegetable.”

Context

记晏婴生活俭朴，吃的只是粗米饭、烤肉与茶菜。

Evidence

• Collation: "茗菜"各本一致，指以茶为菜；“炙三弋"有版本作"炙三戈”，"弋"指射得的野禽，今从通行本。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出："茗菜"说明春秋时茶尚作菜蔬食用，与"茶之为饮"并行——茶从"吃"到"喝"的演进，在晏婴这里留下了珍贵的一笔。

Analysis

The largest gap between Tang and now is that tea was simultaneously medicine, tribute and everyday practice. 吴觉农指出："茗菜"说明春秋时茶尚作菜蔬食用，与"茶之为饮"并行——茶从"吃"到"喝"的演进，在晏婴这里留下了珍贵的一笔。 Without that, the chapter collapses into botany.

Conclusion

The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.

Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter VII · The History, section 3; the original is in the public domain.

Water and fire magnify the difference. The same leaf at a higher temperature or a longer steep changes the sweet-bitter balance; the text only becomes operational at the brewing stage.

Modern tea science would split the sentence into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农指出："茗菜"说明春秋时茶尚作菜蔬食用，与"茶之为饮"并行——茶从"吃"到"喝"的演进，在晏婴这里留下了珍贵的一笔。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. "茗菜"各本一致，指以茶为菜；“炙三弋"有版本作"炙三戈”，"弋"指射得的野禽，今从通行本。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.