Biography on chinese food

Culinary traditions of China

"Chinese food" redirects here. For other uses, see Chinese food (disambiguation).

Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.

The world's earliest eating establishments recognizable as restaurants in the modern sense first emerged in Song dynasty China during the 11th and 12th centuries.Street food became an integral aspect of Chinese food culture during the Tang dynasty, and the street food culture of much of Southeast Asia was established by workers imported from China during the late 19th century.

The preferences for seasoning and cooking techniques in Chinese provinces depend on differences in social class, religion, historical background, and ethnic groups. Geographic features including mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts also have a strong effect on the locally available ingredients, considering that the climate of China varies from tropical in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial royal and noble preferences also play a role in the change of Chinese cuisine. Because of imperial expansion, immigration, and trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other cultures have been integrated into Chinese cuisines over time and Chinese culinary influences have spread worldwide.

There are numerous regional, religious, and ethnic styles of Chinese cuisine found within China and abroad. Chinese cuisine is highly diverse and most frequently categorised into provincial divisions, although these province-level classifications

Chinese cuisine is one of the world’s oldest and most diverse cuisines, comprising foods originating from China. Chinese meals include four main food groups — fruits, vegetables, grains and meat. These dishes don’t contain large amounts of dairy. Instead, they typically include calcium- and protein-rich alternatives like tofu and soymilk.

We can see that Chinese cuisine has greatly influenced many other foods throughout Asia and beyond. In addition to food, Chinese dining practices have also inspired the use of utensils like chopsticks and woks. Here’s your complete guide to Chinese cuisine, including origins, popular dishes and recipes.

Chinese Cuisine History

Chinese cuisine is one of the oldest in the world. It is believed to have originated in the central part of China and is one of three cuisines — the others being Turkish and French — that influenced dishes in countries throughout East Asia. 

China was one of the first Asian civilizations to accomplish regular growth and stability. It acquired a distinctive taste in cuisine, allowing its dishes to grow and evolve at an impressive pace. Several factors contribute to China’s high attention to culinary detail, diverse cuisines and mainstreaming of dishes, including:

• The Han culture’s rapid expansion from the Yellow River across China.
• The absorption of foreign cuisine traditions through trading and expansions.
• The popularization of merging herbal medicine with cooking for more balanced meals.
• The constantly shifting cooking trends demanded by Chinese elites and imperial courts.

Chinese Food Culture

Food is fundamental in Chinese culture and everyday life. The Chinese believe that eating good food fosters unity and togetherness among families, forging stronger relationships.

Chinese cooking involves shopping for fresh foods daily. That means selecting the freshest meats, in-season produce and live seafood. Chinese culture emphasi

The Chinese population in Europe increased significantly, but temporarily, during World War I when over 100,000 Chinese workers were recruited to the ‘British Chinese Labour Corps’. Although promised that they would not be on the front lines, Chinese recruits dug trenches and retrieved bodies from the Western Front. Chinese sailors also supported the British in World War II, but those that stayed behind – even those married to British women and with children – were forcibly deported in secret. But after World War II the British-Chinese community finally began to become established in greater numbers, and with that began the true rise of Chinese food in the UK.

Chinese workers brought with them Cantonese food which slowly became the foundation for what morphed into British-Chinese takeaways. The sweet and mild corn flour-thickened sauces which epitomise the British takeaway today are the product of necessity and ingenuity. Chinese chefs adapted what they could buy in the UK to what white British families would accept. According research by Fuchsia Dunlop for the FT, many Chinese families took over old fish and chip shops, which also led to the popularity of Chinese food being served with chips.

By the 1970s and 1980s Chinese cooking began to spread beyond the takeaway. More and more Chinese fine dining restaurants opened and gained recognition, particularly in London, and in 1974 Lee Ho Fok became the first Chinese restaurant in the UK to be awarded a Michelin star. 

Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine.

When the first Chinese labourers began to sojourn and settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake.

Yet Chinese food has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood.

For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication – but today that is beginning to change.

In this book, the James Beard Award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy and techniques of China’s rich and ancient culinary culture.

Each chapter examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a singular aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it’s the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.

Meeting local food producers, chefs, gourmets and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is made, cooked, eaten and considered in its homeland.

Weaving together historical scholarship, mouth-watering descriptions of food and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, Invitation to a Banquet is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.