Chinese Dishes and Their Stories ：Five-Willow-leaf Fish

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Many famous Chinese dishes have stories attached to them that are as enter-taining to diners as the dishes themselves are satisfying to the taste buds. Most of the stories involve noted figures in Chinese history.

Wuliu Fish or Five-Willow-leaf Fish is a popular traditional dish in South China’s Sichuan Province. It is said to have been invented by Du Fu,a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. That was in 760 when chaos overran the country and life was terribly hard. One day, an old friend came to pay him a visit. Du Fu was delighted as it had been a long time since they had last seen each other. But he was also worried that he could not afford a decent meal for his friend. By coincidence, a member of his family brought home a big carp caught in a nearby stream. Du Fu was overjoyed.He went to the kitchen and cooked the fish himself. At dinner,his friend was amazed by the delicious fish. He asked Du Fu what the dish was called. Du Fu examined the fish carefully and noticed the colorful lines running along its back. They looked like willow leaves, which gave him an idea for its name. “How about calling it Wuliu Fish?” His friend thought the name was very appropriate. Wuliu means five willow leaves. Later, When Du Fu became famous, the dish became popular in china.

杜甫与五柳鱼

五柳鱼是四川名菜，唐宋以来早已脍炙人口。说起“五柳鱼”来，它还和我国古代诗人杜甫有一段关系呢！

唐代杜甫，在年近五十的时候，遇上“安史之乱”，整个唐朝从这儿走了下坡路。唐明皇逃往四川，杨玉环在马嵬坡吊死。杜甫为了躲避这场战乱，也漂泊到西南方去。

他到了成都，在成都古郊找了一处风景优美的地方，叫浣花溪畔，亲手建了—座草堂，住了下来。并在这里写过不少诗。草堂茅屋有时还叫大风吹破。他这时生活十分清苦，由自己的遭遇和贫困处境，还时常想到天下的穷人寒士，寄予不少同情。他每日用素菜草果度日，当地都叫他“菜肚老人”。

相传，有一天他邀几个朋友在草堂上吟诗作赋，吟得高兴，不觉到了中午。他发起愁来，眼看要吃晌饭了，可是一无所有，拿什么款待这些客人呢！他正在着急，忽然见家人从浣花溪里钓上一条鱼来，喜出望外。心想，就请大家品尝这条鱼吧！

他走到灶前，亲手烹制起鱼来。朋友们见他去做鱼，个个都惊奇起来，有的带着怀疑的眼光说：“老杜，这可是新鲜事，你会作诗，还会烹鱼？”

杜甫笑笑说：“等着吧，我今天就要给你们烹烹看看。”他开膛把鱼洗好以后，加上佐料就放锅里蒸上。蒸熟以后，又把当地的甜面酱炒熟，加入四州泡菜里的辣椒、葱、姜和汤汁，和好淀扮，作成汁，趁热浇在鱼身上，再撤上香菜就做成了。

大伙欢坐一堂，见杜甫把鱼端了上来，伸筷一尝，果然好吃。

众朋友边说边吃，一会工夫，一条鱼吃得精光，可是这鱼还没有名字呢！于是大家就为这鱼想起名字来。有的说：“这鱼就叫浣溪鱼吧！”有的说：“叫老杜鱼才合适。”最后杜甫说：“陶渊明先生是我们敬佩的先贤，而这鱼背覆有五颜六色的丝，很象柳叶，就叫‘五柳鱼’吧！”说罢，大家十分赞成，觉得这个名字很有意思。五柳鱼就这样叫起来了，并成为一道四川名菜，一直流传了一千多年。

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