My opinion is that food in China is pretty great, as you may have gathered from my previous posts and my near-constant comments on this fact. While good Chinese food can be found in the US, it's much more difficult, and the food you find is generally either Cantonese, Sichuanese, or perhaps Beijingese (these adjectives really do not work very well in English...). The best part about eating in a large Chinese city like Beijing, then, is that you have access to restaurants from every province in the country. And there's a fair amount of variety between the provinces. And, of course, every province believes that they have the best food in China.
Here are some quick facts to help you differentiate among the different cuisines of China:
1. Northern China eats wheat-based products as their staple food (big doughy dumplings (包子/bāozi) and noodles), whereas Southern China eats mainly rice. Of course, rice is common in Northern China too, but not to the extent it is in Southern China.
2. Beijing, of course, is famous for 北京烤鸭 (běijīngkǎoyā) / Beijing roast duck, also known as Peking duck. It's also similar to most northern food, featuring more beef, lamb, and wheat products than one would find in the south. Additionally, vinegar is a major condiment up here, present on all tables, whereas soy sauce is rarely present (I believe I've seen it in one restaurant).
2. Sichuan and Hunan (as well as Chongqing, an enormous city near Sichuan) are renowned for their spicy cuisine, and it's generally the land-locked muggy places where you'll find spicy food. Sichuan cuisine also features the Sichuan peppercorn or prickly ash, which is not related to either peppers or peppercorns but is absolutely wonderful. It has a delicious floral aroma and a numbing effect on your mouth. When paired with chile pepper, as it often is, it's a lovely combination that can literally leave your mouth and lips buzzing.
3. People from Guangdong, the province that Guangzhou is the capital of, are known for eating everything. There's a saying that goes: everything that flies except for airplanes, everything with four legs except for tables, and everything with two legs except for humans, people from Guangdong will eat. Needless to say, I'm very excited to go there and see for myself how true this is. Additionally, their cuisine features a lot of seafood and Guangdong was the birth place of dimsum, known in Mandarin as 点心/diǎnxīn.
4. Shanghai food also features seafood, but tends towards sweet.
5. Shanxi and Shaanxi, both in north central China, are famous for their noodle dishes and have fairly similar cuisines, though there are important differences. Or so I'm told, I have yet to eat enough Shaanxi food to assess that statement's veracity. Though I regularly eat a type of Shanxi noodle known as 刀削面 (dāoxiāomiàn) or "knife-shaved noodled", which are these large doughy noodles, a little irregular in shape, and absolutely delicious. Both provinces, like most of north and especially north-western China, feature lamb heavily.
6. Xinjiang, in the far north-west of the country, is the home of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, and so their restaurants are always 清真 (qīngzhēn)/ halal, and feature lamb, cumin, and breads fairly heavily. Not as much of the chile spicy that you see in central China, but still pretty strongly spiced.
7. Yunnan, in the south center of China, right next to Tibet and bordering Burma/Myanmar, is one of the most ethnically diverse of China's provinces, featuring a large number of many different minority groups. Its food is definitely different than the rest of China, and been greatly influenced by South-east Asia, so you often see papayas, pineapples, and other fruits showing up. Additionally, they are incredibly famous for their mushrooms. Of every variety. And they're lovely. Porcinis, criminis, enokis, and many mushrooms that I have not seen in the States and am not even sure if we have a good English name for, are featured heavily. It's great. Last night I went to a Yunnan restaurant and tonight I did the same. It's delicious. Here's a picture of last night's dinner.
From left to right, you have: a bottle of bamboo alcohol, much stronger than anticipated at 54% and so poured into shots; a dish of thinly sliced beef prepared with lemon; stir fried 茶树菇 (cháshùgú), literally tea-tree mushrooms, apparently known in English as willow mushrooms, served with peppers; a dish of papaya and chicken; and cheese! That's 乳饼 (rǔbǐng), a type of cheese served in Yunnan that is absolutely great, lightly spiced. It tastes fairly similar to halloumi to me, a mild cheese that you sautee lightly. The meal, all in all, was delicious, and quite different from most of the meals we've been having so far. I didn't take ay pictures of my dinner tonight (for shame!), but it was a similar feast of mushrooms and good veggies, though this meal featured mint in several dishes, including a fantastic mint salad that was just mint topped with a slightly spicy vinegar-based dressing and was delicious.
So that's an overly simple overview of some of the big differences among various Chinese regional cuisines, at least the ones that I've been eating. As I eat more of the various foods from across the provinces, more details will certainly be forthcoming.
Here are some quick facts to help you differentiate among the different cuisines of China:
1. Northern China eats wheat-based products as their staple food (big doughy dumplings (包子/bāozi) and noodles), whereas Southern China eats mainly rice. Of course, rice is common in Northern China too, but not to the extent it is in Southern China.
2. Beijing, of course, is famous for 北京烤鸭 (běijīngkǎoyā) / Beijing roast duck, also known as Peking duck. It's also similar to most northern food, featuring more beef, lamb, and wheat products than one would find in the south. Additionally, vinegar is a major condiment up here, present on all tables, whereas soy sauce is rarely present (I believe I've seen it in one restaurant).
2. Sichuan and Hunan (as well as Chongqing, an enormous city near Sichuan) are renowned for their spicy cuisine, and it's generally the land-locked muggy places where you'll find spicy food. Sichuan cuisine also features the Sichuan peppercorn or prickly ash, which is not related to either peppers or peppercorns but is absolutely wonderful. It has a delicious floral aroma and a numbing effect on your mouth. When paired with chile pepper, as it often is, it's a lovely combination that can literally leave your mouth and lips buzzing.
3. People from Guangdong, the province that Guangzhou is the capital of, are known for eating everything. There's a saying that goes: everything that flies except for airplanes, everything with four legs except for tables, and everything with two legs except for humans, people from Guangdong will eat. Needless to say, I'm very excited to go there and see for myself how true this is. Additionally, their cuisine features a lot of seafood and Guangdong was the birth place of dimsum, known in Mandarin as 点心/diǎnxīn.
4. Shanghai food also features seafood, but tends towards sweet.
5. Shanxi and Shaanxi, both in north central China, are famous for their noodle dishes and have fairly similar cuisines, though there are important differences. Or so I'm told, I have yet to eat enough Shaanxi food to assess that statement's veracity. Though I regularly eat a type of Shanxi noodle known as 刀削面 (dāoxiāomiàn) or "knife-shaved noodled", which are these large doughy noodles, a little irregular in shape, and absolutely delicious. Both provinces, like most of north and especially north-western China, feature lamb heavily.
6. Xinjiang, in the far north-west of the country, is the home of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, and so their restaurants are always 清真 (qīngzhēn)/ halal, and feature lamb, cumin, and breads fairly heavily. Not as much of the chile spicy that you see in central China, but still pretty strongly spiced.
7. Yunnan, in the south center of China, right next to Tibet and bordering Burma/Myanmar, is one of the most ethnically diverse of China's provinces, featuring a large number of many different minority groups. Its food is definitely different than the rest of China, and been greatly influenced by South-east Asia, so you often see papayas, pineapples, and other fruits showing up. Additionally, they are incredibly famous for their mushrooms. Of every variety. And they're lovely. Porcinis, criminis, enokis, and many mushrooms that I have not seen in the States and am not even sure if we have a good English name for, are featured heavily. It's great. Last night I went to a Yunnan restaurant and tonight I did the same. It's delicious. Here's a picture of last night's dinner.
From left to right, you have: a bottle of bamboo alcohol, much stronger than anticipated at 54% and so poured into shots; a dish of thinly sliced beef prepared with lemon; stir fried 茶树菇 (cháshùgú), literally tea-tree mushrooms, apparently known in English as willow mushrooms, served with peppers; a dish of papaya and chicken; and cheese! That's 乳饼 (rǔbǐng), a type of cheese served in Yunnan that is absolutely great, lightly spiced. It tastes fairly similar to halloumi to me, a mild cheese that you sautee lightly. The meal, all in all, was delicious, and quite different from most of the meals we've been having so far. I didn't take ay pictures of my dinner tonight (for shame!), but it was a similar feast of mushrooms and good veggies, though this meal featured mint in several dishes, including a fantastic mint salad that was just mint topped with a slightly spicy vinegar-based dressing and was delicious.
So that's an overly simple overview of some of the big differences among various Chinese regional cuisines, at least the ones that I've been eating. As I eat more of the various foods from across the provinces, more details will certainly be forthcoming.
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