Culinary Traditions.

In terms of Chinese food, it is popularly recognized that Chinese cuisine is world-famous for its perfect combination of “color, aroma, taste and appearance”. China’s unique culinary art owes itself to the country’s long history, vast territory and hospitable tradition. Chinese cuisine gives emphasis to the selection of raw material, the texture of food, the blending of seasonings, slicing techniques, and the art of laying out the food on the plate.

These four major varieties of Chinese food have been traditionally noted as “The light flavor of the south, the salty flavor of the north, the sweet flavor of the east and the spicy-hot flavor of the west.

MLA: Citation

China: Food for a Billion Plus. Films Media Group, 2002. Films On Demand. Web.08 December 2011. http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12207&xtid=35174. 

Chinese Food

  

The China food differs from one region to another, but with major differences found between the north and the south.  The spiciest cuisine in China is that found in Sichuan cooking.  They tend to use garlic and pepper in all of their dishes, while Cantonese cooking has less oil and spices in their vegetable, fish and seafood dishes. Beijing and Shandong cooking tends to use more cereal products (noodles, and pastry pouches either steamed or boiled) and use simple ingredients with spices and chili.  

However, a typical and common Chinese meal at home is quite different on composition from a Chinese banquet. At a daily home meal an adult may consume one or two small bowls of steamed rice, or a large bowl of noodles, accompanied by several meat or vegetable dishes, but not the other way round. For most Chinese, about 65 percent of an average meal’s calories come from grain sources instead of meat or vegetable dishes.

Visitors to china are often surprised when a typical dinner for a table of eight people consists of four courses of cold dishes, four courses of hot dishes, couple with soup and steamed rice; they consider this a lavish spread. But in the Chinese mind, a dinner prepare as above for guests in the minimum requirement. A standard banquet will consist of four to eight prepared cold dishes, eight hot dishes served one at s time, two or four whole-sized showpiece dishes, such as a whole fish or a whole suckling pig.

MLA: Citation

Food and Restaurants. Films Media Group, 2004. Films On Demand. Web. 08 December 2011. <http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12207&xtid=43458>.

http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=12207&xtid=43458