The Variations of Chinese Cuisine

In recent years, China has become one of the most popular sources of just about any cuisine. This paved way for Chinese food to be renowned across the globe particularly countries like United States, UK, Australia and Western Europe. What many westerners usually do is they tend to group the dishes all together despite its regional variation. Different traditions have developed around different areas in China and this is mainly due to climatic conditions as well as ethnic make up. As China continues influencing the West, it worked as a win-win situation on both sides. This brought the establishment of various fast food chains along the streets of China encouraging an even freer economy.

Despite the differences of each region, what keeps them bonded together is the idea that meals should be kept pleasing to the eye, healthily balanced as well as contain the best and freshest ingredients available. As a tradition, dishes are served along with a hot tea or hot water since this is believed to aid digestion. However, beers and soft drinks have taken over and has become people's favorite in recent years. Meat like chicken and pork has become in demand and has been a huge part of working people's daily diet. Also, beef is consumed and comes in very thin slices. Vegetables, as always, are a mainstay in many Chinese cuisines and it comes in a wide array of choices.

One of the most in demand menu choices is the Sweet and Sour Pork. Dishes that contain beef as the main ingredient are usually cooked with noodles together with black bean sauce or cashews. Recipes that make use of chicken include Lemon Chicken, Honey Chili Chicken and also Chicken with Lychees. In general, Chinese food dishes are typically served accompanied with bowls of rice or noodles. Vegetables are spared from being overcooked to make it taste crispy and fresh. The most common vegetables being used are green beans, eggplant, zucchini, mung bean sprouts and mushrooms. Also, included are Chinese cabbage, Chinese broccoli as well as bok choy.

Coastal areas in China have their own traditional cuisine with seafood as the main ingredient. This includes both freshwater as well as deep-sea fish dishes. Prawns, crab, squid, shark fin and scallops are all favorite ingredients.

Chinese food dishes are never complete without a steaming hot bowl of soup. It is especially welcome during cold weather especially Chinese winters and is a great way of using up leftovers. Stock, as it is called, is often made out of meat, chicken or vegetables. Sweet Corn Soup has become a favorite among Westerners the same as Szechwan Soup, which is made from pork, ham, mushrooms, red pepper, prawns as well as chicken stock.

When talking about cuisines per region, one of the most internationally in-demand is the Cantonese cuisine. These dishes are typically made up of meat or chicken but also include Shark Fin Soup and Steamed Sea Bass. Generally, Cantonese cooks prefer to stir fry, saute, steam or deep fry. What makes Chinese food unique from other kind of dishes as it make use of soy sauce, rice vinegar or oyster sauce instead of spices to give flavor.

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The History of Chinese Cuisine

In China, food and its preparation has been developed so highly that it has reached the status of an art form. Rich and poor, the Chinese people consider that delicious and nutritious food is a basic necessity. There is an old Chinese saying "Food is the first necessity of the people".

This art has been cultivated and refined over hundreds of years. Legend has it that the culture of Chinese cuisine originated in the 15th century BC during the Shang dynasty and was originally introduced by Yi Yin, its first Prime Minister.

The two dominant philosophies of Chinese culture both had extreme influences on the political and economic history of the country but it is less well known that they also influenced the development of the culinary arts.

Confucius emphasised the artistic and social aspects of cookery and eating. The Chinese don't gather together without involving food - it is considered to be poor etiquette to invite friends to your home without providing appropriate food.

Confucius established standards of cooking and table etiquette, most of which remain to this day. The most obvious example of this is the cutting of bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables during the course of the food preparation in the kitchen, rather than using a knife at the table which is not considered to be good manners.

Confucius also encouraged the blending of ingredients and flavourings to become a cohesive dish, rather than tasting the individual components. Harmony was his priority. He believed and taught that without harmony of ingredients there could be no taste. He also emphasised the importance of presentation and the use of colour, texture and decoration of a dish. Most importantly, cooking became an art rather than a task to be endured and certainly he was instrumental in promulgating the philosophy of "live to eat" rather than "eat to live".

On the other hand, Tao encouraged research into the nourishment aspects of food and cookery. Rather than concentrating on taste and appearance, Taoists were more interested in the life-giving properties of food.

Centuries on, the Chinese have discovered the health-giving properties of all sorts of roots, herbs, fungus and plants. They have taught the world that the nutritional value of vegetables is destroyed by over-cooking (particularly boiling) and in addition have found that things with a great flavour also have medicinal value.

Home cooked Chinese food is extremely healthy, even though much of it is fried. This is due to the use of polyunsaturated oils (used only once and discarded) and the exclusion of dairy products. In addition the inclusion of animal fat is minimal because portions of meat are small.

Liz Canham

As well as a love of Asian cooking as demonstrated in her Asian Food and Cookery website, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

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