Interesting facts about Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine is an essential part of Chinese culture. Chinese people are crazy about food. Every weekend families, friends, business partners spend their time in restaurants. They order a lot of food, so nobody will stay hungry. A lot of Chinese proverbs have a food theme. For example, “to eat vinegar” means “to be jealous”, “to eat ice-cream with your eyes” means “to look at the opposite sex”.

Mostly all the dishes in China consist of several ingredients. All of them are carefully mixed and create a whole unit of different aromas and tastes. There are a lot of kinds of vegetables in China. That’s definitely a big advantage of this country. Many people are amazed at the great variety of vegetables in the markets. The names of some of them can’t be even translated into other languages.

There are a lot of methods of cooking in China, 38, to be exact. Frying, stewing, baking, drying, steaming, boiling and so on.

Chinese staple foods

Rice

China is the largest rice producer in the world. It is one of the main staple foods for Chinese people. They usually eat it boiled or fried. Rice can be also used for rice bread and noodles. However, the Chinese never eat only white rice. Rice is an alternative for bread that a lot of people eat in other countries. They also serve it with vegetables, fish and meat.

Noodles

Noodles are one more essential part of Chinese cuisine. It was first mentioned in the documents of Han dynasty. During Song dynasty noodles became very famous. There are a lot of methods of cooking noodles: fried, in soup, with vegetables, meat, thin and wide. The only thing that can’t be changed is its length. Chinese believe the longer a noodle is, the longer life the person will have. So they try not to cut it in small pieces and always leave it very long.

Myth or Fact

Chinese people eat everything that moves - MYTH

In the streets of China at night markets it’s not so hard to find a stall with different cockroaches, scorpions, insects and other bugs. The first tourist’s reaction is usually: “Ew! Can one eat that?” However, after some time adventurous tourists decide to try it for fun or to test themselves. That’s exactly what the sellers want from foreigners. So most of such stalls with BBQ bugs are for tourists only. Not every Chinese dares to have a bite.

All Chinese eat dogs, bats, and other wildlife - MYTH

Recent events are making this topic more and more popular. Nowadays, the alleged cause of the virus COVID-19 is a market of wildlife in Wuhan city, China. In this market there was everything starting from bats and ending with tiger cubs. However, the existence of such markets does not prove that such food is popular among Chinese. Its regular customers are rich people who are tired of the usual food or the restaurants that cook it for these people. The average person doesn’t approve of this.

The Chinese eat only rice - MYTH

Don’t even think that the Chinese eat only white rice without anything else. Rice is usually served with something like vegetables, meat or fish. In addition, rice is a staple food for the South of China, whereas in the North they prefer to eat noodles.

Chinese food is very spicy and oily - MYTH

Chinese cuisine is very diverse. Each province has its own cuisine. For example, spicy food is in Sichuan province. In Guangdong province though, a lot of dishes have a slightly sweet taste.

The Chinese eat all the body parts of animals including skin, blood, fat and innards - FACT

Many Chinese dishes include innards. The most favourite Chinese snack is chicken feet.

Street food is not fresh and is cooked in non-sterile conditions - MYTH

Street markets are not only for tourists. It’s a popular place among Chinese young people. They go there every weekend at night with their friends to eat until they can’t move. And if the Chinese eat there then you can enjoy it for sure. Moreover, there is street food in every corner, so the stalls have to compete for their customers. So they can't neglect the quality of the food and its popularity doesn’t let the ingredients stay for a long time.

Chinese people don’t drink milk - MYTH

Till recently the Chinese didn’t drink milk. However, every year more and more Chinese mothers put cartons of milk in their children’s school bags. So now drinking milk is increasingly viewed as healthy, especially for kids, and has caught on with an increasingly affluent of the middle class.

Chinese cooking styles

There is a variety of cooking styles in China. Food in the North of China can differ a lot from the South. That’s why there are 8 main regional cuisines classified by Chinese chefs:

• Shandong cuisine
• Sichuan cuisine
• Hunan cuisine
• Guangdong (Cantonese) cuisine
• Zhejiang cuisine
• Jiangsu cuisine
• Anhui cuisine
• Fujian cuisine

If you are as much in love with Chinese cuisine as us then our managers are always happy to show you the best Chinese restaurants in Foshan. So coming to China for furniture sourcing you will not only find everything for your house but also experience Chinese cuisine. Click here to contact us.