Chinese cuisine insights

Chinese
cuisine insights

Food tips you can trust

Chinese
cuisine insights

The two pillars of
Chinese cooking philosophy

Harmony

Chinese cuisine stresses a harmonious blending of foods - a dynamic balance between sweet and sour, rich and lean, bright-colored and neutral, smooth and crunchy.

Preparation

Skilled Chinese chefs and knowledgeable diners insist that each food ingredient should be at its peak of flavor and quality - and seasoned, cooked, and sauced properly.

Traditional Chinese
family dinners

Communal dishes

They equal the number of diners at the table.

Dish positioning

All dishes are set in the middle of the table at the same time.

Serving

The diners help themselves, using chopsticks to transfer small morsels from the communal serving dishes to the top of their rice in their individual rice bowls.

Pseudo Chinese food

Several preparations known as "Chinese" beyond China's borders are not Chinese. These include fortune cookies and Chop Suey (both invented in America).

And some preparations have been so bastardized in Chinese restaurants in America and Europe that the residents of China would hardly recognize the dishes.

Major cooking ingredients

Rice

In south China, rice is the main food. In north China, cereal grains, such as wheat (in the form of noodles, dumplings and steamed buns) reign in the north.

Meat

Pork and chicken are the two leading meats in China, though in the north, lamb is very popular.

Vegetarian

Buddhist monks, forbidden to eat meat, evolved a rich and diversified vegetarian cuisine. They developed recipes for bean curd and wheat gluten (developed from wheat flour). These mimic meat or simply provide variety.

Seasonings

Chinese cooks makes use of comparatively few herbs. Spices, condiments and dried foods are used more frequently.