Citing a passage in the Water Margin, literary giant Hsia Yuan-yu hasshown that mutton was a high-class food in the society of Sung China. At one point Li Ta enters a wine shop, and the waiter eyes him disdainfully before saying: "We sell mutton here, not beef!"
文壇老蓋仙夏元瑜曾舉水滸傳中的一段，印證至少在宋朝以前羊肉是上層社會的食物：一次李逵上酒館，小二瞧一瞧他，開口就說：「我們這兒只賣羊肉，不賣牛肉！」