Chinese Culture: Chinese Food
Introduction
Food has a special meaning to the Chinese people. The "waste not, want not" ethos means that a surprising range and variety of plants and animals, and every part of a plant or animal is used. This has given rise to a remarkable diversity in regional cuisine, but to westerners it can be overwhelming - surprising, fantastic, delicious, horrifying or disgusting - but above all unique.
The Art of Chinese Cooking
Chinese cooking embodies the dining culture tradition of the Chinese nation. Compared with the cooking of all other nations in the world, it has many distinctive features.
Firstly, it has many flavors. Because China has a vast territory and great differences in climate, products, customs and habits, it has developed many flavors in its cuisines over a long period of time. The old saying of rice in the south and noodles in the north is very true.
Flavors may be divided into sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the east and hot (spicy) in the west, and are usually categorized into the four flavors of Bashu (Sichuan), Qilu (Shandong), Huaiyang (Jiangsu) and Yuemin (Guangdong and Fujian).
Secondly, there are differences in over the four seasons. With four seasons in a year, people eat food according the seasons. Since antiquity, our country has always seasoned and matched food for the variation in seasons. Flavors are wholesome and thick in winter, while light and cool in summer.
The food are mostly braised, stewed, and simmered in winter, and served cold and dressed with sauce in summer. read more...
Eight distinct regional cuisine
Chinese food has many schools of cooking. Of them, the most influential, representative and acknowledged by the society are the culinary schools of Lu, Chuan, Yue, Min, Su, Zhe, Xiang and Hui, namely, the oft quoted "Eight Culinary Schools" of China.
The formation of a culinary school is inseparable from its long history and original cooking characteristics. It is also under the influence of physical geography, climatic conditions, resources, specialties and dieting habits of the area. Someone once described "The Eight Culinary Schools" with personalized analogy: the cuisines of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are compared to the delicate and pretty beauties of the Yangtze River Delta; those of Shandong and Anhui are compared to clumsy and simple, but sturdy men of the north; those of Guangdong and Fujian are compared to dissolute and elegant children; and those of Sichuan and Hunan are like someone with abundant and substantial ideas and varied accomplishments.
The cooking techniques of the "Eight Culinary Schools" have their own charm and the characteristics of dishes also have their own strong points.
Chinese Medical Food
Based on the theory of Chinese traditional medicine, the use of ‘medicinal food’ places an emphasis on the diagnosis of symptoms when selecting medicinal materials. Medicinal food is used for reinforcing ‘qi’, the Chinese concept of life force and energy distributed within the physical body, in the case of a deficiency of vital energy, and a different type of medicinal food for replenishing blood, in the case of a deficiency in blood. It helps if medicine and medicinal food supplement and complement each other as primary and auxiliary treatments.
The choice of food is based on the theory of Chinese medicine. Some foods are said to be ‘hot’ if they have the effect of raising blood temperature and ‘cold’ is they have the reverse effect. Food is chosen according to the characteristics of diseases. In case of febrile diseases, food is chosen with a ‘cold’ nature. For example, wax gourd, balsam pear and mung bean are used to prevent and cure heatstroke. In the case of ‘cold’ diseases, food is selected with a ‘warm or hot’ nature. For example, cassia bark and fennel are used when there is ‘cold’ and pain in the abdomen. read more...
Chinese New Year Food
Chinese New Year Foods are very important to Chinese people. All family members come together to eat at this time. Chinese New Year foods are not only delicious, but it is traditional to eat certain foods over this festival. Chinese dumplings, fish, spring rolls, and niangao (year cake) are usually seen as delicious and are eaten at this time.
Examples of traditional Chinese New Year food are: Chinese dumplings, fish, spring rolls and "niangao", a dish prepared of sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, Chinese dates and lotus leaves. read more...
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