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Chinese Food
Chinese food has a long history of four to five thousand years. It is composed of dishes from different areas of China, as well as from the Emperors¡¯ palaces from different dynasties. The unique food and the culture background that embedded in Chinese food have made it especially attractive to people all over the world. Chinese food can be divided into 4 different systems: Sichuan food (including food from Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan provinces); Lu food (including food from Shangdong, Beijing, Tianjing et al.); Cantonese food (including Canton, Fujian, Taiwan, Hainan et al.); and Su food (inlcuidng Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui et al.). Lu food is the earliest food system formed in China. Lu area was one of the centers of origin for ancient Chinese culture. As early as 2000 years ago, the cooking skills in that area were already highly developed. The historical record in the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn) period had lot of mentioning about food and recipes. When time came to Tang and Song dynasty (AD 618-907), Lu food had became a major representative of food for North China, and also spread to all over China. Lu food is famous for its noodles, flour buns and other dished made by flour, Lu food also use a lot of soy sauce and oil to cook Beijing food belongs to this system. The most famous Beijing dish is the Beijing duck. The chef first chooses a fat duck; cook it in the oven until it gets crispy golden skin, then cut the skin with a very very thin slice of meat. The restaurants serve the dish with fresh flour tortillas, together with sweet sauce and raw green onion slices. The Beijing duck is a traditional dish that is served at the National Dinners for visiting foreign leaders by the Chinese government. Su food includs food from Shanghai, Zhenjiang, Jinagsu provinces and the neighboring areas. Su food tastes more sweet than most of the other food in China. Most people in this area cook with sugar in every dish. Oyster sauce is also commonly used in Su cooking. Because of the availability of fresh fish and other seafood, Su style food includes a lot of fish dishes. Su food is also famous for its desserts, the cakes and rolls they make are very pretty and tasteful. Cooking is a sophisticated art form expressed in the Su desserts, and they are very delicate and beautiful in looking as well as tasting. Cantonese food, or Guangdong food, was originated in the Guangdong province of China. Guangdong is located at the south, near the sea. Since it is very convenient to travel to the sea from Guangdong, it had more contact with the world outside China. Guangdong food thus had some influence of western culture on its cooking. Cantonese food is usually steamed, boiled or stir-fried with small amount of oil, and thus is very healthy. It is also famous for its soup. Most families in Guangdong cook soup almost everyday, they can put chicken, pork, or seafood, with different vegetables in the soup. I also saw a Guangdong family cook pork with apples in the soup. Soup is a part of everyday life for most Guangdong families. Nowadays in the US, there are a lot of Dim Sun restaurants all over the nation, from Washionton D. C. to Chicago, to San Francisco. Dim Sun provides a good alternative for breakfast with affordable prices. Sichuan food was originated in Sichuan province, which is located in the Southwest of China, on the eat side of Tibet, or Xizang, as is called in Chinese. It is very famous for its spicy feature. Because of the geographic feature, Sichuan is located at the bottom of the Sichuan Basin, the weather is humid and cloudy most of the year, in most parts of Sichuan. Sichuan people say that the chili pepper can improve the blood circulation and help to cope with the problem associated with humidity; thus they eat a lot of peppers. One of the most famous Sichuan dish is Kung Pao (Gongbao) chicken, which cooks chicken with chili pepper and roasted peanuts. There are numerous famous Sichuan dishes, and numerous Sichuan style restaurants in the States. Most Chinese families cook their meals everyday, the breakfast can be steamed buns, soy milk, or sometimes be noodles. For lunch it is usually simple. People can buy rice with some dishes at school or work place cafeteria, or street vendors, some people may go to a restaurant. Dinner usually is the most important meal of the day. The family get together, the parents cook several dishes and enjoy the meal with the whole family. Food is a very important part of Chinese culture. Confucius once said, ¡°Eating is the utmost important thing in life for the people¡±. Chinese people do like to cook and eat, they can spend a lot of time go grocery everyday, for the freshest food; they then spend time preparing all the ingredients, and cook. Furthermore, as Jacques Gernet has stated, "there is no doubt that in this sphere China has shown a greater inventiveness than any other civilization¡±. Chinese food remains the leading role of one of the best foods in the world, and will be so in the future. |
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