Food in Chinese Culture市鹏

饭 (fan) Starch Stable

Source of Starch such as:

Rice ( 北方人）Noodles ( 南方人）Mantou (Steamed Buns)

菜 (cai) “Vegetable”

Can be vegetable, fish, meat, etc..Mushrooms

Cabbage

Pork

Beef

Chicken

Snapper

Walleye

No Dairy Products Used

Preparation

The meal needs to have a good balance between 饭和菜。 When being prepared, the majority of ingredients are

diced into small pieces. In modern days rice is cooked in a 饭堡 or rice cooker

Meats and vegetables are cooking together in a 炒锅 or a wok.

Cuisines

Eight Regional Cuisines Hui: Anhui

Yue (Cantonese): Guangdong

Min: Fujian

Xiang: Hunan (Can include Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi styles)

Su (aka Huaiyang Cuisine): Jiangsu

Lu: Shandong (Include Jinan, Jiaodong styles, etc.)

Chuan: Sichuan

Zhe: Zhejiang (Can include Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing styles)

HUI: ANHUI

Derived from the Native cooking of the Huangshan Mountains

Similar to Jiangsu Cuisine but focuses more on local herbs and vegetables and not as much on seafood as Jiangsu Cuisine does.

Staple Foods: Fresh Bamboo and Mushroom Caps

Yue (Cantonese): Guangdong

Known for Dim Sum (Touch your heart) – small dishes

rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns

Combination of the Central Plains and Southern Cuisine

Min: Fujian

Known for the use of hundreds of different kinds of fish, shellfish, and Turtles.

Staple Ingredients: Seafood, Bamboo Shoots, and Edible Wild Mushrooms

Cooking Methods: Stewing, Braising, Steaming and Boiling

Food usually served in some type of broth or form of soup.

Xiang: Hunan

Known for its hot, spicy flavor, fresh flavor and deep color.

Cooking Methods: stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking.

Very Large Agricultural Region makes for many various ingredients.

Su (aka Huaiyang Cuisine): Jiangsu

World Famous Cuisine Region for its flavors. Includes cuisine from Yangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and Zhenjiang.

Especially popular in the lower part of the Yangtze River.

Typical Dishes:

Jinling salted dried duck (Nanjing's most famous dish)

Yangzhou steamed Jerky strips (dried tofu, chicken, ham and pea leaves)

Farewell My Concubine (soft-shelled turtle stewed with many other ingredients such as chicken, mushrooms and wine).

Lu: Shandong

Very popular in Northern China, but not liked in South China or Shanghai.

Known for various cooking techniques and seafood.

Typical menu items:

Braised Abalone

Sweet and sour carp

Dezhou Chicken

Chuan: Sichuan

Known for its Bold and Spicy flavors from using plenty of garlic and chili peppers and also the unique flavor Sichuan Peppercorns.

Other Staple Ingredients

Peanuts

Sesame Paste

Ginger

Zhe: Zhejiang

Known for its fresh, soft flavor with a mellow fragrance

The cuisine consists of at least three styles, each of which originates from different cities in the province:

Hangzhou style, characterized by rich variations and the use of bamboo shoots

Shaoxing style, specializing in poultry and freshwater fish

Ningbo style, specializing in seafood

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Other Staple Ingredients

Ingredients have been imported into China over time. Wheat and sheep and goats were possibly introduced from western Asia in prehistoric times, many fruits and vegetables came in from central Asia during the Han and the T'ang periods, and peanuts and sweet potatoes from coastal traders during the Ming period.

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Symbolic New Years Dishes

Jiaozi- meaning wealth and prosperity because of the crescent shape looks like the ancient Chinese money.

Steamed Whole Fish – First “yu” itself sounds like the word for wish and abundance. Serving a fish at the end of the meal symbolizes the wish for abundance in the coming year. A whole fish with the head and tail symbolizes the end and the beginning of a new year.

China New Year Salad – Usually eaten on the 7th day of Spring Festival , symbolizing “everyone’s birthday”. The Tradition is to toss the salad and high you can toss it the greater your luck and prosperity will be in the New Year.