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Chinese cuisine comprises originating from Greater China, as well as from Overseas Chinese. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples like rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.
The world's earliest eating establishments recognizable as Restaurant in the modern sense first emerged in Song dynasty China during the 11th and 12th centuries. Street food became an integral aspect of Chinese food culture in the 7th century during the Tang dynasty, and the street food culture of much of Southeast Asia was established by workers imported from China during the late 19th century.
The preferences for seasoning and cooking techniques in Chinese provinces depend on differences in social class, religion, historical background, and ethnic groups. Geographic features including mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts also have a strong effect on the locally available ingredients, considering that the climate of China varies from tropical in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial royal and noble preferences also play a role in the change of Chinese cuisine. Because of imperial expansion, immigration, and trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other cultures have been integrated into Chinese cuisines over time and Chinese culinary influences have spread worldwide.
There are numerous regional, religious, and ethnic styles of Chinese cuisine found within China and abroad. Chinese cuisine is highly diverse and most frequently categorised into provincial divisions, although these province-level classifications consist of many more styles within themselves. During the Qing dynasty, the most praised Four Great Traditions in Chinese cuisine were Sichuan cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Yue, and Huaiyang cuisine, representing cuisines of West, North, South, and East China, respectively. In 1980, a modern grouping from Chinese journalist Wang Shaoquan's article published in the People's Daily newspaper identified the Eight Cuisines of China as Anhui cuisine (p=Huīcài), Guangdong (p=Yuècài), Fujian cuisine (p=Mǐncài), Hunan cuisine (p=Xiāngcài), Jiangsu cuisine (p=Sūcài), Shandong cuisine (p=Lǔcài), Sichuan cuisine (p=Chuāncài), and Zhejiang cuisine (p=Zhècài). "Fujian Cuisine. Beautyfujian.com . Accessed June 2011. Chinese cuisine is deeply intertwined with traditional Chinese medicine, such as in the practise of Chinese food therapy. Color, scent and taste are the three traditional aspects used to describe Chinese food,This standard starts from Tang dynasty in the 6th century by Bai Juyi from the Preface of Lychee Diagram: After leaving branch...for four and five days, the color, smell, and taste (of lychee) will be gone. (t=《荔枝圖序》：「若離本枝……四五日外，色、香、味盡去矣」。） as well as the meaning, appearance, and nutrition of the food. Cooking should be appraised with respect to the ingredients used, knife work, cooking time, and seasoning.
By the time of Confucius in the late Zhou, gastronomy had become a high art. Confucius discussed the principles of dining: The Lüshi chunqiu notes: "Only if one is chosen as the Son of Heaven will the tastiest delicacies be prepared for."
The Zhaohun (4–3rd c. BC) gives some examples: turtle ragout, honey cakes and beer (chilled with ice).
During Shi Huangdi's Qin dynasty, the empire expanded into the south. By the time of the Han dynasty, the different regions and cuisines of China's people were linked by major and leading to greater complexity in the different regional cuisines. Not only is food seen as giving "qi", energy, but the food is also about maintaining yin and yang. The philosophy behind it was rooted in the I Ching and Chinese traditional medicine: food was judged for color, aroma, taste, and texture and a good meal was expected to balance the Four Natures ('hot', warm, cool, and 'cold') and the Five Tastes (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). Salt was used as a preservative from early times, but in cooking was added in the form of soy sauce, and not at the table.
By the Later Han period (2nd century), writers frequently complained of lazy aristocrats who did nothing but sit around all day eating smoked meats and roasts.
During the Han dynasty, the Chinese developed methods of food preservation for military rations during campaigns such as drying meat into jerky and cooking, roasting, and drying grain. Chinese legends claim that the roasted, flat bread shaobing was brought back from the Western Regions (the Western Regions, a name for Central Asia) by the Han dynasty General Ban Chao, and that it was originally known as hubing (胡餅, lit. "barbarian bread"). The shaobing is believed to be descended from the hubing. Shaobing is believed to be related to the Persian tandoor bread and Central Asian tandyr nan, as well as the Middle Eastern pita. Foreign westerners made and sold sesame cakes in China during the Tang dynasty.
During the Southern and Northern dynasties non-Han people like the Xianbei of Northern Wei introduced their cuisine to northern China, and these influences continued up to the Tang dynasty, popularizing meat like mutton and dairy products like goat milk, yogurts, and Kumis among even Han people. It was during the Song dynasty that Han Chinese developed an aversion to dairy products and abandoned the dairy foods introduced earlier.
The Han Chinese rebel Wang Su who received asylum in the Xianbei Northern Wei after fleeing from Southern Qi, at first could not stand eating dairy products like goat's milk and meat like mutton and had to consume tea and fish instead, but after a few years he was able to eat yogurt and lamb, and the Xianbei Emperor asked him which of the foods of China (Zhongguo) he preferred, fish vs mutton and tea vs yogurt..
The Yuan dynasty and Qing dynasty dynasties introduced Mongolian and Manchu cuisine, warm northern dishes that popularized hot pot cooking. During the Yuan dynasty many Muslim Chinese emerged in China, who practiced a porkless cuisine now preserved by Hui restaurants throughout the country. Mongolian cuisine specially Mongolian beef, though popular globally, originated outside Mongolia. Mongolian beef was created in Taiwan in the 1950s, inspired by the rise of Mongolian barbecue-style cooking. Mongolian beef is a perfect example of fusion cuisine. Yunnan cuisine is unique in China for its cheeses like Rubing and Rushan cheese made by the Bai people, and its yogurt, the yogurt may have been due to a combination of Mongolian influence during the Yuan dynasty, the Central Asian settlement in Yunnan, and the proximity and influence of India and Tibet on Yunnan.
As part of the last leg of the Columbian Exchange, Spanish and Portuguese traders began introducing foods from the New World to China through the port cities of Guangzhou and Macau. Mexican became essential ingredients in Sichuan cuisine and calorically dense potatoes and corn became staple foods across the northern plains.
During the Qing dynasty, Chinese gastronomes such as Yuan Mei focused upon the primary goal of extracting the maximum flavour of each ingredient. As noted in his culinary work the Suiyuan shidan, however, the fashions of cuisine at the time were quite varied and in some cases were flamboyantly ostentatious, especially when the display served also a formal ceremonial purpose, as in the case of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.
As the pace of life increases in modern China, fast food like fried noodles, fried rice and gaifan (dish over rice) become more and more popular.
One style may favour the use of garlic and over chili and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats and fowl. Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing, while Sichuan cuisine employs baking. Zhejiang cuisine focuses more on serving fresh food, Fujian cuisine is famous for its seafood and soups and the use of spices, Hunan cuisine is famous for its hot and salty taste, Anhui cuisine incorporates wild ingredients for an unusual taste.
Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation and cultural differences, a variety of foods with different flavors and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.
In addition, the "rice theory" attempts to describe cultural differences between north and south China; in the north, noodles are more consumed due to wheat being widely grown whereas in the south, rice is more preferred as it has historically been more cultivated there.
There are many kinds of soybean products, including tofu skin, smoked tofu, dried tofu, and fried tofu.
Stinky tofu is fermented tofu. Like blue cheese or durian, it has a very distinct, potent and strong smell, and is an acquired taste. Hard stinky tofu is often deep-fried and paired with soy sauce or salty spice. Soft stinky tofu is usually used as a spread on steamed buns.
Doufuru is another type of fermented tofu that has a salty taste. Doufuru can be pickled together with soy beans, red yeast rice or chili to create different color and flavor. This is more of a pickled type of tofu and is not as strongly scented as stinky tofu. Doufuru has the consistency of slightly soft blue cheese, and a taste similar to Japanese miso paste, but less salty. Doufuru can be used as a spread on steamed buns, or paired with Congee.
Sufu is one other type of fermented tofu that goes through ageing process. The color (red, white, green) and flavor profile can determine the type of sufu it is. This kind of tofu is usually eaten alongside breakfast rice.
Soybean milk is soybean-based milk. It is a morning beverage, and it has many benefits to human health.
Because of different climate and soil conditions, cultivars of green beans, peas, and mushrooms can be found in rich variety.
A variety of dried or pickled vegetables are also processed, especially in drier or colder regions where fresh vegetables were hard to get out of season.
To add extra flavor to the dishes, many Chinese cuisines also contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimp, dried tangerine peel, and dried Sichuan chillies.
When it comes to , China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soybeans and wheat. A number of sauces are also based on fermented soybeans, including hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce. There are also different sauces preferred by regional cuisines, oyster sauce, fish sauce and furu (fermented tofu) are also widely used. Vinegar also has a variety with different flavors: clear rice vinegar, Chinkiang black rice vinegar, Shanxi vinegar, Henghe vinegar etc.
Dim sum (点心), originally means a small portion of food, can refer to dessert, or pastries. Later to avoid disambiguation, tian dian (甜点) and gao dian (糕点) are used to describe desserts and pastries.
Traditionally, Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, usually during the meal, or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine.
Besides being served as dim sum along with tea, pastries are used for celebration of traditional festivals. The most famous one is moon cake, used to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
A wide variety of Chinese desserts are available, mainly including steamed and boiled sweet snacks. Bing is an umbrella term for all breads in Chinese, also including pastries and sweets. These are baked wheat-flour-based confections, with different stuffings including red bean paste, jujube, and a variety of others. Su (酥) is another kind of pastry made with more amount of oil, making the confection more friable. Chinese candies and sweets, called táng (糖) "Chinese Desserts." Kaleidoscope - Cultural China . Accessed June 2011. are usually made with Sugarcane, malt sugar, honey, nuts, and fruit. Kueh are rice-based snacks that are typically steamed and may be made from glutinous or normal rice.
Another cold dessert is called baobing, which is shaved ice with sweet syrup. Chinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices. Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are flavoured with fruits, known as guodong (果冻), though gelatine based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts.
Chinese dessert soups are typically sweet and served hot.
European pastries are also seen in China, like mille-feuille, crème brûlée, and cheesecake, but they are generally not as popular because the Chinese preference of dessert is mildly sweet and less oily. Many types of street foods, which vary from region to region, can be eaten as snacks or light dinner. are an often-consumed snack in Southeast China.
Historically, many Chinese chefs tried not to use milk, because of the high rate of lactose intolerance among the Chinese population. However, today, dairy products are increasingly used in Chinese cuisine, such as the "double skin milk" dessert in Guangdong Province, the Rubing (milk cake) cheese in Yunnan, and yoghurt in Qinghai and Xinjiang. China has a wide variety of dairy desserts that are very popular.
vary from region to region. The most common sausage is made of pork and pork fat. The flavor is generally salty-sweet in Southern China. In other parts of China, sausages are salted to be preserved. Chinese sausage is prepared in many different ways, including oven-roasting, stir-frying, and steaming.
The different types of Chinese tea include Black tea (known as "black tea" outside of East Asia), White tea, Green tea, Yellow tea, oolong, and black (often called "dark tea" in English to differentiate it from "black tea"). Chinese tea is often classified into several different categories according to the variety of the tea plant from which it is sourced, the region in which it is grown, and the method of production used.
Flavored and scented teas originated in China. Jasmine, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, and ginseng are popular varieties.
Historically, compressed tea dominated and powdered tea known as matcha would be made from it. This was later supplanted by loose-leaf tea. Fermented tea drinks like kombucha originated in China, but kombucha is now better known outside of China than within the country.
There are four major tea plantation regions: Jiangbei, Jiangnan, South China and the southwestern region. Well known types of green tea include Longjing tea, Huangshan Maofeng, Bilochun, Putuofeng Cha, and Liu'an Guapian.Zonglin Chang Xukui Li. Aspect of Chinese Culture. 2006., . China is the world's largest exporter of green tea.
One of the most ubiquitous accessories in modern China, after a wallet or purse and an umbrella, is a double-walled insulated glass thermos with tea leaves in the top behind a strainer.
While fermented grain beverages have been brewed in China for over 9,000 years, it has been long overshadowed by stronger alcohol like Baijiu and Huangjiu.
In China, plum wine made from the Prunus mume is called méijiǔ (梅酒).
Nai lao or Beijing yogurt is a drinkable yogurt traditional to northern China.
across the world have been instrumental in shaping the national cuisines of their respective countries, such as the introduction of a street food culture to Thailand in Bangkok Chinatown. There are also a large number of forms of fusion cuisine, often popular in the country in question. Some, such as ramen (Japanese Chinese cuisine), which originated in Yokohama Chinatown, have become popular internationally.
Deep-fried meat combined with sweet and sour sauce as a cooking style receives an enormous preference outside of China. Therefore, many similar international Chinese cuisines are invented based on sweet and sour sauce, including Sweet and sour chicken (Europe and North America), Manchurian chicken (India) or tangsuyuk (South Korea). Apart from the host country, the dishes developed in overseas Chinese cuisines are heavily dependent on the cuisines derived from the origin of the Chinese immigrants. In Korean Chinese cuisine, the dishes derive primarily from Shandong cuisine while Filipino Chinese cuisine is strongly influenced by Fujian cuisine. American Chinese cuisine has distinctive dishes (such as chop suey) originally based on Cantonese cuisine, which are more popular among non-Chinese Americans than with Chinese Americans themselves.Andrew Coe, Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States (2009)Yong Chen, Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America (2014)
Chinese culture has guidelines in how and when food are eaten. Chinese people typically eat three meals a day, consisting of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is served around 6–9am, lunch is served around 12–2pm, and dinner is served around 6–9pm. A late night, fourth meal of the day is known as siu yeh and served from 9pm-4am, which is similar to the Western concept of supper. Within the Chinese culture, families do follow different traditions. In some families, the elderly members and youngsters get their meal first, then the mother and father, and then the children and teenagers. Other families have the male and female eat separately at different seating area. Whatever tradition the family decide to follow, it is intended to show respect to members of the family.
The Kaifeng Jews in Henan province once had their own Chinese Jewish cuisine but the community has largely died out in the modern era and not much is known about the specifics of their cuisine but they did influence foods eaten in their region and some of their dishes remain. Kaifeng, Capital and Culinary , Flavor and Fortune Chinese dishes with purported Kaifeng Jewish roots include Kaifeng xiao long bao, Mayuxing bucket-shaped chicken, Chrysanthemum hot pot, and Four Treasures.
Food also plays a role in daily life. The formality of the meal setting can signify what kind of relationship people have with one another, and the type of food can indicate ones' social status and their country of origin. In a formal setting, up to sixteen of any combination of hot and cold dishes would be served to respect the guests. On the other hand, in a casual setting, people would eat inexpensive meals such as at food stalls or homemade food. The typical disparity in food in the Chinese society between the wealthy and everyone below that group lies in the rarity and cost of the food or ingredient, such as shark fins and bear paws.
Depending on whether one chooses to have rice or a meal that is made of wheat flour such as bread or noodles as their main source of food, people within a similar culture or of a different background can make an assumption of the other's country of origin from the south or north of China. Different foods have different symbolic meanings. and are symbolic of the Mid-autumn festival and the Spring Festival, respectively. Pear symbolizes bad luck due to its similarity in pronunciation of 'away' in the native language and noodle means living a long life for its length.
In Chinese philosophy, food frequently conveys a message. A Chinese philosophy I Ching says, "Gentlemen use eating as a way to attain happiness. They should be aware of what they say, and refrain from eating too much."labels=no
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