My Dive into Dim Sum History
Okay, so I got curious about dim sum the other day. You know, those little tasty bites you get at Chinese places? I always just ate them, never really thought about where they came from. So, I decided to do a little digging, just poking around online and remembering stuff I might have read ages ago.
First thing I bumped into was how it’s all tied up with tea. Apparently, way back, these weren’t like main meals. They started in the south of China. People, especially travelers and traders needing a break, would stop at tea houses.
Then it got interesting. These tea houses started offering little snacks to go with the tea. Makes sense, right? Have some tea, have a little something to eat. It wasn’t about getting stuffed, just enjoying the moment, sharing food while chatting over tea.
I kept looking and found mentions of this going way back, like, really far back. Some stuff pointed towards the Southern Song Dynasty period. That’s like, 1127 to 1279, a super long time ago. Tea culture was apparently huge back then, so it fits together.
- Started with tea houses.
- People needed snacks with their tea.
- Travelers used them for breaks.
- Became a whole thing, especially in Southern China.
So yeah, that’s basically the trail I followed. It wasn’t some grand meal plan originally, more like the little bites, the “dim sum,” were just perfect companions for tea time along the road or in bustling tea houses. Pretty cool to think about next time I’m grabbing some siu mai or har gow.