Patriotic soup

According to local people from the Guangdong province,^[1] prior to the Battle of Yamen, the last emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Bing, and his regime's remnants, sought shelter in a monastery at Chaozhou. The monastery's monks served an impromptu vegetarian soup made of edible plants, edible mushrooms, vegetable broth and lard. The emperor loved the soup and named it "protect the country dish" or "soup for safeguarding the nation" (護國菜).^[2][3] A later generation named it in English "patriotic soup". After Zhao Bing died, the preparation of the soup became a way to honor the last Song emperor. The modern version of Hu Gog Chai may use other vegetables, such as spinach and water spinach.^[4]

The soup became a part of Teochew cuisine, and its recipe evolved over time. Although the Chinese since the Ming dynasty commonly use sweet potato leaves, other varieties include amaranth, spinach, ipomoea aquatica and other leafy greens; and alternative broths such as beef or chicken.^[5][6][7] Other ingredients are often added such as beaten eggs,^[8] shredded dry cured ham, tofu, cellophane noodles, etc. Guangdong Province's restaurants routinely decorate the soup in a taijitu diagram.^[9] However, Chinese restaurants in countries like the United States do not serve this soup because it is not exquisite to their patrons. The most authentic version of the soup typically is homemade and simply prepared just using leaf vegetable, edible mushrooms, and vegetable broth.^[10]