Chinese food 101

When we think of China, and Chinese food, we tend to think of a few dishes commonly found in North America. Sweet and sour pork, ginger beef, chow mein, and fried rice are the most common dishes, with a handful of sauces that can be used interchangeably. This is largely due to the North American palate, which is far from adventurous. What we don't realize, and I am excited to explore, is that China's culinary diversity is more similar to Europe than it is to North America.

The diversity of China's cuisine is impossible to summarize in this blog post, but briefly, there are four main regions of cooking.

The North: While we tend to think of rice when we think of Chinese food, rice paddies are only seen in the south of the country. In China's vast Northern Territory, wheat, maize, barley are much more common. Flat breads, noodles, and dumplings are characteristic of Northern style cooking. A sub-category of Northern cooking is the imperial style, which is found in China's capital Beijing. Traditionally the imperial style uses ingredients from all over China that make its way to the capital. The most famous imperial style dish is Peking duck, tender duck served in a pancake like piece of bread, with a number of toppings. Other influences in Northern cooking come from Mongolian, and Muslim groups. Mongolian hot pot, and lamb or beef kebabs from China's muslim population add a distinct flavour to China's North.

The Southern school of Chinese cooking is one we are much more accustomed to. This is due to the large number of Cantonese people that have immigrated to North America, and founded "Chinatowns" in cities all over North America. However, there is more to South China cooking than what we are familiar with. Dim sum, and it's dishes, are probably the most famous of Cantonese food. Often served with rice, South China cooking is distinguished by it's attention to freshness, and tend to have less salt, and flavour than other Chinese regions. That's not to say it is any less tasty, as anyone who has had good Dim sum can attest to.

Western China cuisine has been heavily influence by China's minority populations. While ~92% of Chinese people are of Han descent, a large portion of China's minority ethnic populations live in the Western provinces. Sichuan, and it's fiery flavour, is often what people think of when they refer to Western style Chinese food. One unique aspect of Sicuanese food is the use of huajiao, a "flower pepper", which actually numbs your tongue, and leaves your mouth tingling. I admit I was a little freaked out when I had huajiao for the first time. Another popular dish is Sichuanese style hot pot, comprised of meat and vegetables added to boiling water, which, of course, is also spicy.

The final region is the East. The dishes of this area often involve fish and rice, and tend to be more oily and sweet. Shanghai is the major city in the East, and is famous for its fried fish, and hairy crab, which are abundant from October to December. China's best soy sauce is also produced in this area, who's flavour is commonly found in stir-fried dishes.

While I've had some of these regional dishes. I'm sure the restaurants in Canada will fail in comparison to anything I have in China. My lovely personal tour guide, Bingqing, and I will be travelling from Beijing, working our way West to Xi'an, and south on to Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guanxi provinces before making it to our final destination of Hong Kong. I'm going to be blogging during the trip, mostly about food, to keep people informed, mostly my mother, about my whereabouts.

Food is central to Chinese culture, and I'm so excited to have a chance to explore the great culinary diversity, in such a vast country.