Chinese cuisine

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Chinese cuisine
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Wikibooks: Cookbook

Chinese cuisine is widely seen as representing one of the richest and most diverse culinary cuisines and heritages in the world. It originated from different regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world — from East Asia to North America, Australasia and Western Europe.

Contents

[edit] Overview

A meal in Chinese culture is typically seen as consisting of two or more general components: (1) a carbohydrate source or starch, known as 主食 in the Chinese language, (zhǔshí Pinyin , lit. "main food", staple) — typically rice, noodles, or mantou (steamed buns), and (2) accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat, fish, or other items, known as 菜 (càiPinyin , lit. "vegetable") in the Chinese language. This cultural conceptualization is in some ways in contrast to cuisines of Northern Europe and the USA, where meat or animal protein is often considered the main dish, and analogous to the one of most Mediterranean cuisines, based typically on wheat-derived components like pasta or cous cous.

As is well known throughout the world, rice is a critical part of much of Chinese cuisine. However, in many parts of China, particularly northern China, wheat-based products including noodles and steamed buns (mantou饅頭) predominate, in contrast to southern China where rice is dominant. Despite the importance of rice in Chinese cuisine, at extremely formal occasions, it is sometimes the case that no rice at all will be served; in such a case, rice would only be provided when no other dishes remained, or as a token dish at the end of the meal. Soup is usually served at the start of a meal and at the end of a meal in Southern China..

Chopsticks are the primary eating utensil in Chinese culture for solid foods, while soups and other liquids are enjoyed [1] with a wide, flat-bottomed spoon (traditionally made of ceramic). It is reported that wooden chopsticks are losing their dominance due to recent logging shortfalls in China and East Asia; many Chinese eating establishments are considering a switch to a more environmentally sustainable eating utensil, such as plastic or bamboo chopsticks. More expensive materials used in the past included ivory and silver. On the other hand, disposable chopsticks made of wood/bamboo have all but replaced reusable ones in small restaurants.

In most dishes in Chinese cuisine, food is prepared in bite-sized pieces (e.g. vegetable, meat, doufu), ready for direct picking up and eating. Traditionally, Chinese culture considered using knives and forks at the table "barbaric" due to fact that these implements are regarded as weapons. It was also considered ungracious to have guests work at cutting their own food. Fish are usually cooked and served whole, with diners directly pulling pieces from the fish with chopsticks to eat, unlike in some other cuisines where they are first filleted. This is because it is desired for fish to be served as fresh as possible.

In a Chinese meal, each individual diner is given his or her own bowl of rice while the accompanying dishes are served in communal plates (or bowls) that are shared by everyone sitting at the table, a communal service known as "family style" in Western nations. In the Chinese meal, each diner picks food out of the communal plates on a bite-by-bite basis with their chopsticks. This is in contrast to western meals where it is customary to dole out individual servings of the dishes at the beginning of the meal. Many non-Chinese are uncomfortable with allowing a person's individual utensils (which might have traces of saliva) to touch the communal plates; for this hygienic reason, additional serving spoons or chopsticks (公筷, lit. common/public/shared chopsticks) may be made available. The food selected is often eaten together with some rice either in one bite or in alternation.

Vegetarianism is not uncommon or unusual in China, though, as is the case in the West, is only practiced by a relatively small proportion of the population. The Chinese vegetarian does not eat a lot of tofu, unlike the stereotypical impression in the West. Most Chinese vegetarians are Buddhists. Non-Chinese eating Chinese cuisine will note that a large number of popular vegetable dishes may actually contain meat (usually pork), as meat chunks or bits have been traditionally used to flavor dishes. Chinese Buddhist cuisine has many true vegetarian dishes that contain no meat at all.

A sweet dish is usually served at the end of a formal dinner, such as sliced fruits or a sweet soup (糖水, lit. sweet water) which is served warm.

In traditional Chinese culture, cold beverages are believed to be harmful to digestion of hot food, so items like ice-cold water or soft drinks are traditionally not served at meal-time. Besides soup, if any other beverages are served, they would most likely be hot tea or hot water. Tea is believed to help in the digestion of greasy foods.

Often, Chinese food found outside China can range from the authentic, or food that has been adapted for local tastes, to something that is newly created. For example, chop suey does not exist in Chinese restaurants in China.

[edit] Typical dishes

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A Chinese meal in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, with bowls of white rice, shrimp, eggplant, fermented tofu, vegetable stir-fries, vegetarian duck, and a central dish with meat and bamboo. There are 6 bowls of rice, one for each person.
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A Chinese meal in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, with bowls of white rice, shrimp, eggplant, fermented tofu, vegetable stir-fries, vegetarian duck, and a central dish with meat and bamboo. There are 6 bowls of rice, one for each person.

Starches

Other

  • Century egg (皮蛋; pi2 dan4; lit. leather egg): thousand-year old egg, or preserved egg
  • Mooncake Special cake eaten at Mid-Autumn Festival

[edit] Other East Asian cuisines

China shares much with the culinary heritage of other regions of East Asia, in addition to some contrasts; compare Japanese cuisine, Korean cuisine, among others.

[edit] Overseas Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine has developed into distinct varieties within Chinese communities outside of Asia.

American Chinese cuisine in the United States and Canadian Chinese cuisine in Canada are highly developed. The cuisine of Hawaii, especially, includes many Chinese ingredients and influences, due to the high number of Chinese and Asian immigrants. These Chinese elements are often combined with those of other cuisines in novel ways.

In Peru it has also grown to be independent both from traditional Chinese cuisine and from other forms of Peruvian cuisine, this "sinoperuvian" variety is referred to as "Chifa" in Spanish.

Chinese cuisine is also highly developed in Western Europe.

[edit] Contemporary health trends

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates for 2000-02, 11% of the population of the People's Republic of China were undernourished. [1] The number of undernourished people in the country has fallen from 386.6 million in 1969-71 to 142.1 million in 2000-02. [2] The country still receives international food aid, but the World Food Program notes that the country achieved its goal of national agricultural self-sufficiency in the mid 1990s. The WFP says hunger is concentrated in rural, resource-poor areas of northern, northwestern, and southwestern China. [3]

A typical Chinese peasant before industrialization would have eaten meat rarely and most meals would have consisted of rice accompanied with green vegetables, with protein coming from foods like peanuts. Fats and sugar were luxuries not eaten on a regular basis by most of the population. In Chinese traditional culture, being overweight was a sign of prosperity and wealth as only the wealthy could afford fatty or sweet foods or even buy enough food to become fat. With increasing wealth, Chinese diets have become richer with more meats, fats, and sugar being consumed.

While economic change has significantly reduced undernourishment, new health problems related to overconsumption and poor dietary choices have increased significantly. The incidence of nutrition-related disease and overweightness, including obesity (especially among children) has risen dramatically in mainland China over the last 10-15 years. [4] Health advocates put some of the blame on the increased popularity of Western foods, especially fast food, and other culinary products and habits. Many Western, especially American, fast food chains have appeared in China, and are highly successful economically. These include McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

An extensive epidemiological study called the China Project is being conducted to observe the relationship of disease patterns to diet, particularly the move from the traditional Chinese diet to one which incorporates rich Western foods. Controversially, Professor T. Colin Campbell has implicated the increased consumption of animal protein in particular as having a strong correlation with cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other diseases that, while common in developed countries, were considered rare in China. He suggests that even a small increase in the consumption of animal protein can dramatically raise the risk of the aforementioned diseases.

[edit] Note

  1. ^ Note: In most varieties or dialects of Chinese, the verb for consuming soup is actually translatable literally as "drink".

[edit] See also

Wikibooks

[edit] Reference

How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, Buwei Yang Chao, first ed. 1945.

[edit] External links

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