‘Chopstick’ through central China(1)
There is more to Chinese cuisine than Cantonese and Sichuan offerings. A gastronomic trip through central China will whet your appetite as well as open your eyes to the cuisines of Henan and Shanxi.
The visitor to China had better come equipped with a good appetite. The use of food as a tool of diplomacy and communication, not to mention sheer hedonistic pleasure, has nowhere else been so highly refined.
Not for nothing has Chinese cuisine been described as amongst the finest on the planet.
Cantonese and Sichuan cuisines, together with Beijing specialities such as Peking Duck, have given China a prime location on the world culinary map. But in fact, the essence of Chinese cooking developed much earlier, in Henan province of central China.
A culinary journey through Henan and Shanxi provinces is an exploration of the sheer subtlety and richness of these cuisines.
Corn laid out to dry in Pingyao’s market square. Around 1,600 BC, the slave Ah Yeng, from the town of Yuzhou in Henan province, developed a highly refined system of cooking that rocketed him to stardom. Later known as the chef Yi Yin, he combined flavours in a manner designed to benefit all the organs of the body.
Thus, for example, bitter flavours were included to stimulate the heart and mind, a sour taste to regulate the liver, chilli-hot ingredients for the lungs, and so forth.
Yi Yin cooked his way into Emperor Tang’s heart. The emperor became convinced of Yi Yin’s diplomatic skills, and later appointed him Prime Minister. In so doing, Emperor Tang was acknowledging the central place that food occupies in Chinese culture.
