Chinese Food by Area
There is no such simple concept as so called “Chinese food." In fact within China there is a variety of distinctive cuisines. It is usually agreed that there are four principal culinary regions in China, which are Shandong (山东), Sichuan (Szechewan, 四川), Guangdong (Canton, 广东) and Yangzhou (扬州) which may also be referred to as Huaiyang (淮扬), Weiyang (维扬) or Jiangsu (江苏) style. Some experts prefer to break it down into eight schools of Chinese food which include the previous 4 along with Zhejiang (浙江), Hunan (湖南), Anhui (安徽) and Fujian (福建).
The Four Culinary Regions
Shandong cuisine, which is representative of northern China’s cooking, is generally salty, and commonly prepared with strong spices including onion and garlic. In northern China rice is far less commonly grown, so wheat and corn are the major grains consumed. One of northern China's most famous dishes is certainly Peking (Beijing) roast duck.
Sichuan cuisine features a wide range of materials, various seasonings and different cooking techniques. With a rich variety of strong flavors, Sichuan food is famous for peppery and chili flavors and best known for being spicy-hot. A famous representative is “Ma Po Dou Fu”, which is a dish of tofu that is both "la" (spicy) and "ma" (tingly). Kung Pao (Gong Bao) Chicken is another notable Sichuan dish. It is naturally loaded with spicy peppers and always features peanuts as one of its main ingredients.
Cantonese cuisine is the hardest to categorize. The cuisine emphasizes light cooking with a seemingly limitless range of ingredients. There is a saying in China that people in Beijing (in the north) will say anything, people in Shanghai (east) will wear anything and people in Guangzhou (south) will eat anything. Rats, bugs, dogs, you name it, they eat it. Cantonese soup may also include various kinds of herbal medicines added for health reasons. To many foreigners dim sum is representative of Cantonese Cooking.
Yangzhou cuisine is based largely on the three local cooking styles of Yangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou, 3 cities in Jiangsu province. The cuisine pleasantly emphasizes visual value. The dishes' artistic shape and bright colours add more ornamental value. Compared to other Chinese food, Yangzhou cuisine seems a little bit sweet. Yangzhou fried rice and Yangzhou steamed meat dumpling are known throughout China.
The characteristic flavors of China’s four major cuisines can be summed up in the following expression: “light Southern (Canton) cuisine, salty Northern (Shandong) cuisine, sweet Eastern (Yangzhou) cuisine and spicy Western (Sichuan) cuisine.”
East vs. West
Besides the four major culinary regions, there are also noticeable differences between Eastern and Western food. In the Easten part of China, especially in the cities along the east coast, fresh seafood is very popular. Shrimp, fish, crab, crayfish, lobster, oysters and many other varieties of seafood can be found in abundance. In the Western parts of China such as Xinjiang (新疆) and Tibet (西藏), barbecued mutton and beefsteak are popular. Migrants from Xinjiang province have brought their Islamic influenced cuisine to many Chinese cities.
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