When we think of Chinese food, the two most common things that come in our mind are: oodles and chopsticks. But these two names does not completely describes the Chinese food, rather these are just two names in the group of hundreds things which serves the staple and regional taste in Chinese food.
Chinese food defines many styles originating from regions of china which is not only famous under those regions but also the parts f asia, America, western Europe and southern Africa are the parts of the regions which serves the famous regional and staple taste of Chinese food. The Chinese food was originated from the major traditions of china which mainly as: Anhui, Vantonese, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan and Zhejiang cuisines. The major traditions of Chinese food talks about three important things, they are: colour, aroma and taste of the food.
Not going deep into the major traditions of china, the Chinese food majorly describes the regional and staple food which typically describes their specific style of Chinese cuisine. Let’s discuss about the regional cuisines first:
The major regional cuisines of china are described as follows:
Chuan (Szechuan): Chaun is a style of Chinese food originated from south-western part of china which aims on bold flavours specially the pungency and spiciness that each of its recipe contains with perfect mixing of peanuts, sesame paste, chilli peppers, facing heaven pepper and garlic in each of its dish.
Hui (Anhui): The huangshan mountains region of china serves the name behind the origination of the Hui regional style of Chinese food. This regional cuisine emphasizes more on local herbs and vegetables used in the cuisine along with fresh bamboo and mushroom crops into the dish.
Lu (Fujian): The Fujian coastal region of china serves the Lu regional cuisine which specifically emphasize on the cooking techniques of braising, stewing, steaming and boiling. The Fujian cuisine is made to give texture and aroma to the sea food in particular.
Su (Jiangsu, Huaiyang cuisine): Su serves one major component in the Chinese food which is famous worldwide because of its unique and distinctive style and taste. The major dishes of this region are mainly: jingling salted dried duck, crystal meat, clear crab shell meatballs, triple combo duck, dried duck and farewell my concubine.
Yue (Guangdong): Yue is one such regional cuisine which offers bite sized portions of food which mainly includes the process of frying, steaming, stewing and baking of food. The main aim to originate small heart dishes was to enable the people to taste variety of taste under one dish. Some of the famous yui dishes are: rice balls, lotus leaf rice, buns, stir fried green vegetables, soups and many more. One can experience variety of taste, texture and aroma under one dish.
Hiang (Hunan): The main component which describes the Hiang cuisine is: fresh aroma, deep colour and hot spicy flavour.
Zhe (Zhejiang): this regional cuisine is derived from the region of Zhejiang of china whose dishes offers less greasy, fresh and soft flavour of dishes with mellow and soothing fragrance. The Zhe regional cuisine itself offers the variety of regional dishes with itself mainly including: rich variation and use of bamboo shoots, poultry and freshwater fish, seafood and Zhe styles of texture.
More the complex is to spell the name of the regional cuisines; the more complex is to guess the amazing taste and aroma of their Chinese food. But undoubted is the heritage behind the recipe of every Chinese food which involves love and culture of china which includes immense and unique taste in its each dish.
It’s not just the regional cuisines of china which makes it a title of distinctive and unique. The staple foods of china also offer their unique attributes and textures to the Chinese food. The major components of staple foods of china include rice, noodles, soybeans, wheat, vegetables and herbs. If we talk about drinks in Chinese food, the most important component is Chinese drinks in a tea. The regions of china offers the rich textured and healthy varieties of tea which are not only famous worldwide but rather considered as one of the best and healthy teas in the world.
One thing is still missing. Guessed is right. Its Chinese soups. The origination of soup was serves by the regions of china itself which offers the pleasing taste of drink along with rich textured food components in it.
The entire package of Chinese food as mentioned is enjoyed with various overseas variations which add on to the overseas styling of food along with Chinese cuisine. Some of them are mainly: American Chinese food, Caribbean Chinese food, Indian Chinese food, Japanese Chinese food, Korean Chinese food, Indonesian Chinese food and many more.
The overseas variations of Chinese food talks about its success in its own shell. The Chinese food offers the unique textures and aroma to the style of food which became of the significant reasons of its international variations.
The Chinese food may look very simple, but the process behind the origination of the recipe is nowhere imaginable by the international audience. And this is what makes the Chinese food so famous worldwide.