Eight Dishes for the Eight Immortals

鹤庆-八大碗

Eight Dishes for the Eight Immortals, consisting of seven meat dishes and one vegetable dish, are often served at celebrations in Heqing. As the name suggests, the dishes are connected with the Eight Immortals .

在我国民间，每逢喜事节日宴宾会客。最是讲究用八仙桌上八大碗，七荤一素。而八仙桌与八大碗的由来，传说与蓬莱八仙有关。

Legend has it that when the Eight Immortals went across the East Sea, they accidentally offended the Dragon King , also known as the God of Rain. Being furious, he launched the war which lasted for hours. Since both sides could not win the battle, they, starved plus exhausted, decided to cease fight to search for food. Unfortunately, there seemed no chance finding food around the boundless sea. Disappointed, all of the immortals except Royal Uncle Cao decided to head home.

相传八仙过海时无意惹怒龙王，东海龙王便与之交战起来。因两边实力相当而久战难胜，劳累疲惫，退踞海滩稍憩，颇觉腹中空空，饥饿难忍，便分头寻食充饥，哪知一眼望去的海滩薄地，荒无人烟。除曹国舅一人未回，其余个个扫兴而归。

It turned out that Royal Uncle Cao traveled a great distance to the inland to search for food. When arriving at Heqing, he was fascinated by the pleasant flavor floating from a local house where mortal people were celebrating the 50th birthday of the host. Disguised as a farmer, he gazed around and found the inviting dishes were served one after another to the table seating eight. “Being the brother-in-law of the emperor, I have tasted all the splendid dishes in the imperial court, but I have never tried farm food. I must have a good taste of it. ” He murmured. But before doing so, it occurred to him that it was unfriendly to enjoy the dishes alone while other immortals were starved. Therefore, he decided to bring seven dishes for them. In addition, he suddenly realized that the only Goddess in the group, Immortal Woman He, was a vegetarian, so he took another dish just for her. Before leaving, he left a message to the locals: Royal Uncle Cao had borrowed eight dishes for the Eight Immortals and promised to pay back in the near future. Since then, in order to have an auspicious year, people in Heqing began to name the table “the table for Eight Immortals”, which could seat eight people with eight dishes served.

原来曹国舅一人不辞劳苦，远行至内地，忽闻一股奇香扑鼻，不觉垂涎三尺，立即寻香进入凡间一庄上，乔装农家村夫在庄主宅院窥视，只见四方桌上八人围座、诱人的菜肴一个接一个地上。国舅寻思道：我原乃朝廷国舅，宫廷菜肴我享用得发腻，农家菜肴我未曾见过，何不先让我大饱口福，忽想众仙友腹空我岂可独享，继而采带了七样菜肴，又想起仙姑不食荤，所以又为其独带了—素菜，计八大碗并留言：国舅为众仙借菜八碗，日后定当图报。