CHINESE REGIONAL FOOD

Dimsum

There are few people in my circle of friends and acquaintance who don’t absolutely love Chinese food. Not everyone understands where Chinese dishes began apart from the obvious Bejing Duck or Chicken with Cashew Nuts and outside of China itself, who knows how many recipes served in Chinese restaurants have stuck to the original?

The vast area that is China is a varied land mass with over a billion people, diverse in its cultures as well as its history, China through the centuries has managed to feed its populace and its varied peoples have nearly always eaten home grown food and produce. Each area has its own part in history and its peoples and each has its own type of cuisine. Through the Chinese moving to foreign lands over many centuries, Chinese cuisine can be found globally, sometimes with a mixture of the local cuisine as well.

Yin and yang, the two elements that stemmed from their philosophy, play as much their part in the Chinese kitchen as in the temple. The soft, dark, yielding, feminine Yin is opposite to the masculine Yang, hard bright and vigorous. Whether Wok, hotpot or steamer, both combine and complement each other, the sweet contrasting with sour, and the two most basic ingredients of stir-fry are ginger and spring onions, yang and yin.

Tea is the favourite drink of China and yet its origins are lost in the mists of time. Teahouses are still in demand throughout China although the ceremony relating to its origins are no longer practised in China, but more in Japan. Although coffee is now widely used in the UK, there are still millions who put a high price on the “cuppa”. Probably not as the Chinese would drink tea, but certainly appreciated as a beverage

Rice crepe

There is such a rich culinary history in China that it would be pretentious to try and fit it all into a few paragraphs, but there are some excellent books available that explain the history and culinary regions of China.* The capital of Beijing is known for its classical court cooking, but the food prepared by housewives of farmers in hamlets dotted around the countryside around the capital is more rustic and solid and is said to be equally delicious.

Northern China has a brief, but hot summer and surprising amounts of vegetables fill the markets there. There are enormous tomatoes, cauliflowers, zucchini, melons, marrows, sweet potatoes, (originating from the Shandong province) eggplants and pumpkins, all generous enough in size and shape to spur envy in many a local English County Fair participant and exhibitor. When the summer is over, hardy vegetables appear along with millet and meat for stews and the addition of spices.

Roast duck

Duck is the dish for celebrations in Beijing and is eaten in various forms throughout China. Chicken is also favoured and especially plump heavy birds that are considered more flavourful. The chicken soup prepared by Chinese grandmothers is considered to be a cure-all. Now where else in the world have I heard the claim that grandma’s soup is the cure-all? Especially for a cold. Whatever way, chicken soup is good.

The wide Yangtze River rushes to the East China Sea and tributaries and creeks, rivers and lakes, ponds and marshland weave and thread their ways allowing the residents of Shanghai a plethora of fish, with Carp being raised in countless ponds, being among the favourites. The Land of Fish and Rice as the area to the north of the Yangtze river is known, a land of lakes, is the province of Jiangsu, probably one of the richest in China.

Shanghai food is based on braised or slow cooking rather than stir fry and seafood and fish are in abundance in their cuisine. They also use a lot of pork and chicken. With its reliance on fresh vegetables and fresh fish, it is considered one of the healthiest diets in the world. The addition of wine (mostly Shaoxing wine) soy sauce and vinegar make some of the tastiest dishes, some of which have spilled over to Western culinary tastes.

The Guangshou province, or the jagged Coast, runs some 1600 kilometres in a huge arc between China’s two major islands, Taiwan and Hainan. This rich coastline provides the basis for one of China’s best known cuisines, Cantonese food. The local markets display ranges of fresh fish rushed to them daily and the simplest restaurant will cook live fish, crabs, prawns, lobsters and eels all displayed live in tanks so that customers can choose what to eat.

Dim sum is a Cantonese term for small hearty dishes. Bite sized, these portions are usually prepared by frying, steaming, stewing and baking. The idea is that one person may taste a variety of dishes and flavours. Perhaps consisting of rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, dumplings and stir fried green vegetables. Fortunately, more and more Dim sum restaurants are appearing in the UK to the delight of many.

The huge natural bowl of Sichuan sits in the geographical heartland of China. Surrounded by mountainous ranges, the Yangtze river slashing through its lowlands, Sichuan is known as “the spicy basin” and the seven flavours used in cooking consist of sweet from honey or sugar, sour from vinegar, salty from salt or soy, fragrant from garlic and ginger, bitter from spring onions or leeks, nutty from sesame seeds or oil and more importantly hot from the red chilli.

Bamboo shoots are included in many dishes and the locals have enormous pride in their land being home to the Panda. Mushrooms and funghi add to the variety of the cuisine, whereas the Yangtze river provide fish, freshwater crabs and eels are raised in many fishponds, canals and irrigation ditches. There is also a tendency to eat frogs, snakes and turtles making an interesting change from fish whereas ducks are raised by farmers for the kitchens.

In the Southwest of China lies the province of Yunnan and neighbouring Guizhou. The mighty Mekong runs through Yunnan and the area is populated by dozens of varying cultures where minorities are in the majority. This Ethnic mixture creates a varied cuisine in this place known as “Below the Clouds” or Yunnan. Borrowing from neighbouring countries that border this area plus its long history ensures that this province has some of the best and tastiest dishes.

The wonderful terracing that farmers created to obtain the best from their crops, is from the air like some enormous patchwork pattern, beautifully displayed they show how intricate and extremely clever these terraces are interlaced and naturally provide rice, vegetables and other foods for the kitchens of these regions.

I find China a fascinating mix of history and culture, rich from every angle, whether it be language, art, or food. Perhaps one of the richest countries in the world as far as history goes, a mixture of cultures and peoples all intermingling under the one umbrella that is China. Enjoying its varied cuisines can only be an adventure. It makes my mouth water just to think of some of the dishes prepared over centuries and yet still fresh today.

*”China, the beautiful cookbook” (text by Kevin Sinclair)is still available from Amazon.