Bad Soup

Bad Soup

　　Bad Soup comes in sweet and savory varieties and is a dish that every household must eat on the 14th day of the Lunar New Year. The savory version mainly consists of over ten types of vegetables, meats, and seafood, all chopped into small pieces, stir-fried until half-cooked, and then mixed with rice flour paste or starch paste to create the soup.

　　This delicacy originated as food offered by local people to thank soldiers during General Qi Jiguang’s resistance against pirates. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, this small town was still just a fishing village, frequently plagued by pirate raids. At that time, there was a general named Yu Chigong who mobilized soldiers to build a city wall to defend against the pirates. The construction began on the 14th day of the first lunar month, coinciding with the traditional Lantern Festival. Pirates took advantage of the distraction to launch an attack. Upon hearing the news, Yu Chigong sent troops to fight them off while also speeding up the wall construction. That night, amid wind and snow, the townspeople gathered to discuss what kind of snacks they could prepare to reward the hardworking soldiers. Some suggested sending wine and dishes to help the soldiers ward off the cold. However, the general had strictly forbidden his soldiers from drinking alcohol. An elderly man came up with a solution that pleased everyone: he used wine with added ferment (called “zao”) as the liquid base, mixed it with shredded meat, shredded bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fried tofu skins, fermented black beans, and other ingredients, then combined it with flour to make a kind of “Bad Soup.” It was not only delicious but also helped keep the soldiers warm. The townspeople prepared the soup and delivered it to the builders. After eating the Bad Soup, the soldiers were filled with energy, and soon the city wall was completed. Since then, the custom of eating Bad Soup during the Lantern Festival has been passed down through generations in the town. The sweet version of the soup is typically made with rice cakes, fermented broad bean paste, candied orange peel, raisins, and small glutinous rice balls. Locals in old Linhai usually don’t use spoons when eating the soup but instead eat it with chopsticks—or even more uniquely, by holding a bowl of Bad Soup while squatting at their doorstep, using neither chopsticks nor spoon, simply rotating the bowl along the rim and taking a big sip to finish the whole bowl in one go.