Chinese Diet

All Chinese chefs, whether it be at home or in professional employment, strive for harmony of sight, smell, taste and texture so that each individual dish has its unique features and flavours highlighted. However many dishes the meal consists of, in Chinese cuisine the flavours must not overpower one another, though they must be subtle enough to satisfy the tastes of those dining.

As part of a Chinese diet, once the meal has been cooked it is served all at once, food is eaten with chopsticks and soup, which also acts as a beverage, is drunk with a large ladle like spoon.

A typical meal includes rice, noodles, bread or pancakes, a meat dish, a vegetable dish and a soup. Eating Chinese style is well established in the West and is a rewarding way to eat for many reasons. For one thing eating together really does mean sharing food since all diners eat cai (roughly translated as vegetables) from communal bowls, making it much more of a social event than the Western style of eating. Also, people can eat as much or as little as they want from each bowl, according to their own taste.

Due to the diversity of the climate, products and customs of the people, in Chinese diets there are vastly different food styles and tastes depending on the region. Rice is the main source of nutrition in China as it is the best way to intake a source of nutritionally balanced calories to help sustain the appetite during the day.

According to Nationmaster statistics, obesity is not a concern for China as it does not register in the top 29 countries with the highest obesity rates. Considering the overwhelming size of China ’s population in relation to their obesity rate, it would seem we could benefit greatly from incorporating elements of the Chinese diet into our own eating habits.

Northern Chinese Cuisine

In northern china wheat or millet is traditionally eaten as apposed to fan (rice). Possibly the most famous Chinese dish, the Beijing duck, is served with typical northern ingredients including: wheat pancakes, spring onions and fermented bean paste. The variation of cai (vegetables) is limited in the north, therefore fresh water, fish and chicken are the main substitutes.

The most common cooking style in the north of China is explode-frying, this is mainly due to the introduction of the peanut which thrives in the north and is one of their main sources of oil. The northern style of food has developed a reputation of being bland and unsophisticated, however it is suited to the cold Northern Chinese climate as it is filling.

Northern Chinese Diet Example

• Chicken wrapped in lotus leaf
• Steamed crab with roe and shrimp
• Steamed shrimp, chicken and dried scallops
• Stir fried pork tenderloin with coriander
• Spicy braised pig’s intestine
• Sweet and crispy deep-fried apple

Eastern Chinese Cuisine

The eastern region is a subtropical climate rich with fertile soil and a coastline. The east is well known for its variety of fish and abundance of highly esteemed specimens, such as silver carp. Eastern china is also the birth place of the Chinese restaurant industry. Eastern China first brought the concept of stir-frying in a wok to the rest of the world. which is now widely used in many countries. The eastern Chinese cuisine is well known for its fresh ingredients, so only light seasoning is used to allow the natural flavours of the fresh ingredients to be fully appreciated.

Eastern Chinese Diet Example

• Stir-fried clam, water chestnut and mushroom
• Boiled fish liver with bamboo shoots
• Boiled pig trotters
• Braised duck and pigeon
• Fish ball soup with eel shrimp and pork
• Stewed yellowfin croaker with potherb mustard

Western Chinese Cuisine

Western Chinese cuisine is known to dry out the body through perspiration, though this helps adjust for the intense humidity of the subtropical climate. As with the southern and eastern regions, the west has access to fresh ingredients all year round though not in the abundant amounts of the south and east. For this reason pork, poultry, legumes and soybeans are the most commonly used ingredients.

Supplements to dishes include mushrooms, fungi and bamboo shoots. The west is most renowned for its use of chilli and so this is the most commonly used as garnish for dishes. Apart from the medicinal and nutritional values, hot and spicy seasonings stimulate the pallet and help to give more flavour to dishes. Meat is generally marinated, pickled or processed before cooking and the most common forms of cooking are stir and explode-frying. The western Chinese cuisine has developed a reputation as being down to earth, rather like it’s ingredients and it’s people.

Western Chinese Diet Example

• Stewed sea cucumber with pork and soybean sprouts
• Stewed carp with ham and hot and sweet sauce
• Stir-fried pork, bamboo shoots and black fungus
• Deep-fried and stewed vermicelli and minced beef
• Boiled sliced fish
• Steamed and stir-fried chestnut with cabbage

Southern Chinese Cuisine

Food from the southern region of China is by far the most commonly known to the rest of the world. The humid climate and heavy rainfall mean that rice is the main source of nutrition. Like eastern Chinese cuisine, Chinese food from the south is rich in fresh ingredients, though there is an even more exotic choice in the south.

Stir-frying is the most common method of cooking, closely followed by steaming. Dim sum (Cantonese for drink tea) was introduced to the rest of the world by southern China and provides most Chinese people staying overseas with the opportunity to meet and eat on weekends. Not only does southern China have more variety in its choice of ingredients than other regions, but the preparation, texture and appearance of foods are just as important as the freshness of the ingredients.

Southern Chinese Diet Example

• Stewed sharks fin with pork and chickens feet
• Stir-fried crab with ginger and scallions
• Roast pork with sweet syrup
• Steamed white gourd with duck, ham and shrimp
• Stir-fried beef with bamboo and oyster sauce
• Sweet and sour deep-fried pork with pineapple