Eight Style of Distinct Regional Cuisine
There are eight styles of distinct regional cooking in China. Of them, the most influential and representative ones are the culinary styles of Lu, Chuan, Yue, Min, Su, Zhe, Xiang and Hui.
Each culinary style is inseparable from its long history and influenced by geography, climate, resources, specialties and dining habits of each area. Some descriptions of the eight culinary schools are: the cuisines of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been compared to delicate beauties of the Yangtze River Delta; those of Shandong and Anhui have been compared to simple but sturdy men of the north; those of Guangdong and Fujian are compared to elegant nobles; those of Sichuan and Hunan are likened to people with substantial and varied accomplishments.
The cooking techniques of each of the Chinese culinary schools are unique and the dishes have their own distinguished characteristics.
Sichuan Cuisine/Chuan Cuisine
Among the eight major schools of China’s culinary art, Sichuan Cuisine is perhaps the most popular one. It is well-known for its hot and pungent flavoring. Sichuan dishes boat a variety of flavors and different methods of cooking. It can be hot, sweet, sour salty or tongue-numbing.
Hunan Cuisine/Xiang Cuisine
Characteristics of Hunan Cuisine are: a great vareity of ingredients, shiny and strong colors, hot and spicy tastes, smoked and pickled flavors.
Guangdong Cuisine/Cantonese Food
Guangdong dishes are fresh, tender, and lightly seasoned. The raw material for Guangdong cuisine is very rich, which includes snake, cat and pangolin.
Shandong Cuisine
Shandong Cuisine includes many famous seafood dishes. The dishes are usually fresh, tasty, but not greasy.
Jiangsu Cuisine
Jiangsu Cuisine is popular in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is characteristically sweet.
Zhejiang Cuisine
Developed from the local food of the four cities in Zhejiang Province: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou. Zhejiang Cuisine makes crisp, tender, light and fresh dishes.
Fujian Cuisine
Fujian Cuisine is developed from the local food of the three cities of Fujian Province: Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen. This region is very close the sea and sea food making is, of course, the chef’s culinary art. They are good at steaming, frying, braising the food, partcularly good at pickling the ingredients before cooking.
Anhui Cuisine
Characteristics of Anhui cuisine are natural ingredients selected; temperature and timing of cooking closely observed; original color and flavor preserved. Deep-frying, roadting, simmering and steaming are the usual cooking techniques applied.
Tags: China Cuisine, China Facts, China Food
November 27th, 2009 at 8:01 am
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