Food has a special meaning to Chinese people. The "waste not, want not" philosophy means that a surprising range and variety of plants and animals, and every part of a plant or animal is used. This has given rise to a remarkable diversity in the regional cuisine, but to westerners it can be overwhelming - surprising, delicious, horrifying or disgusting - and above all, different.
There are eight main culinary schools throughout the nation, each of which boasts its characteristic way of cooking and unique taste:
Among the eight major schools of China's culinary art, Sichuan Cuisine/Chuan Cuisine is perhaps the most popular one. Sichuan food is famous for its many flavors, and almost every dish has its own unique taste. This is because many flavorings and seasonings are produced in Sichuan Province. When flavoring foods, sometimes two or more flavorings are combined, and sometimes a hot fire is used to concentrate the extract from the dish to increase the intensity of the flavor, preserve the primary taste of the dish, remove unpleasant flavors, and increase pleasant flavors. The dishes can be hot, sweet, sour, salty or tongue-numbing.
Hunan cooks spend more time on the appearance of a dish than their Suchuan counterparts. The food is characterized by a great variety of ingredients, shiny and strong colors, hot and spicy taste, smoked and pickled flavors. Hunan's culinary repertoire consists of more than 4,000 dishes, including Dong'an Chicken, Crispy Duck, Orange Beef, and Spicy Frog's Legs.
Cantonese food is best known of the 8 culinary schools in the western world; when people in the West speak of Chinese food, they usually mean Cantonese food. Cantonese dishes are fresh, tender and lightly seasoned. The raw material for Cantonese food is very rich, which includes snake, cat and pangolin. Beef with Oyster Sauce is a typical Cantonese dish, as are Fried Rice and Steamed Chicken. Steamed sea bass, stir-fried grouper, and Lobster Cantonese are all well-known Cantonese dishes. Vegetable dishes reflect the wide variety and seasonality of what is available.
Shandong Cuisine is considered the most influential in Chinese cuisine, with a majority of the culinary styles in China having developed from it. Modern day schools of cuisine in North China, such as those of Beijing, Tianjin, and Northeast, are all branches of Shandong Cuisine. Also, the typical dishes in most North China households' meals are prepared in simplified Shandong methods. Shandong Cuisine includes many famous seafood dishes. The dishes are usually fresh, tasty but not greasy.
Jiangsu Cuisine developed from the local in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Its main cooking techniques are braising and stewing, thereby enhancing the original flavor and sauce. The elegant color, novel sculpts, with salt and sweet taste will soothe most peoples stomach.
Zhejiang Cuisine is developed from the local food of the four cities in Zhejiang Province: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou. Zhejiang Cuisine makes crisp, tender, light and fresh dishes.
Fujian Cuisine is developed from the local food of the three cities of Fujian Province: Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen. This region is close to the sea and sea food is a main ingredient. They are good at steaming, frying and braising the food, particularly well at pickling the ingredients before cooking.
Characteristics of Anhui Cuisine are natural ingredients selected; temperature and timing of cooking closely observed; original color and flavor preserved. Deep-frying, simmering and steaming are the usual cooking techniques applied.
