Chinese food and cuisine

China has a great and rich culinary tradition and Chinese food has a very long history.
Because of the size of China and of the variety within its territory in terms of climate and Chinese food image landscape, there is not only one Chinese cuisine, but in reality there are many.
In general though, a typical Chinese meal is made up of carbohydrates (rice, noodles or bread), a bowl of soup, tea (usually jasmine green tea) or hot water for drinking and between four and ten main dishes (which are usually served in communal plates and shared by diners) made of vegetables and meat or fish. Chinese people use chopsticks to eat solid food and flat-bottomed spoons for soups. There is never any need to use a knife at the table, as all food is already served in small pieces. Actually, using knives at the table is considered bad manners as the knife is seen as a weapon.

Chinese food varieties

Within Chinese food a first rough distinction can be made according to the areas:

Northern plans (including Beijing): wheat (used to make noodles and bread), millet, barley and soybean are more widely used than rice, which does not grow well in northern colder and drier climates; mutton and lamb are usually preferred to pork because of the Muslim influence in some areas of northern China
West (Szechuan and Huan): Chinese food from the west is mainly hot and spicy
The fertile east: it is called the land of fish and rice, of which its cuisine abounds.
South (including Cantonese cuisine): this area of China has a warm and humid climate, so its cuisine has a lot of different flavours, abundance of different fruit and vegetables and it uses a lot of rice.

Chinese eight great traditional cuisines

In addition to a rough division by geographical areas, Chinese cuisine is divided into eight main traditional Chinese cuisines:

Fujian cuisine – it is famous for its fine cutting techniques, its fresh seafood and the sweet and sour flavours.
Jangsu cuisine – this type of Chinese cuisine uses braising and stewing as main cooking techniques and it is famous for its duck and fish dishes.
Zhejian cuisine – it uses, as cooking techniques, mainly frying and stir-frying as well as braising and steaming. Its dishes are renown for their tenderness, smoothness and mellow fragrance.
Hunan cuisine – this culinary tradition is characterised by the crispness and tenderness of its dishes and by its pungent flavours.
Anhui cuisine – its chefs prefer stewing and braising rather than frying. Sometimes ham or candied sugar is added to Anhui dishes to increase flavour.
Shandong cuisine – its chefs are good at frying (pan-frying, stir-frying, deep-frying). In this type of Chinese cuisine soups are very important and shallots and garlic are used a lot.
Sichuan (or Szechwan) cuisine – this is one of the most famous varieties of Chinese food in the west. Sichuan cuisine involves the use of a lot of chillies and is quite spicy. Its main cooking techniques include frying, pickling and braising.
Guangdong cuisine (which includes Cantonese food) – this type of Chinese cuisine is also very popular in the west. It includes a big variety of ingredients and dishes and it uses many different cooking techniques, such as stir-frying, deep-frying, roasting, braising and steaming. Guangdong chefs pay great attention to the presentation of their dishes.