The truth of Chinese food
By Kitty Gao and Vera Zhang
nine sub-spicy crabs
Today, Chinese restaurants are playing an important role in America. However, a lot of foods Americans think of as Chinese food –beef with broccoli, egg rolls, fortune cookies, and take-out boxes--are barely recognizable to Chinese. By the same token, have Americans ever eaten real Chinese food? Do they know what Chinese people eat daily? Let us tell you about it.
There are eight schools of cuisine in China: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang. Generally speaking, Cantonese food is a bit mild, Sichuan food is very hot, Shanghai food is rather oily, and Hunan dishes are very spicy. In the north of China, people eat a lot of noodles and dumplings. In the south of China, people eat a lot of rice and seafood. As the Chinese say, “Chinese food is good in color, flavor and taste. That’s why people from all over the world love it.”
Chinese people have invented diverse cooking techniques to prepare foods with different tastes. They sometimes pan-fry, quick-fry, deep-fry, stew, smoke, simmer, bake, and roast food. But they also stir-fry, boil, steam, braise, and dip-boil food often.
Kitty Gao is from a city in Eastern Shandong province in Northern China, also known in the West as Tsingtao. The food in that area is called Shandong cuisine. As a coastal city facing the Yellow Sea, Tsingtao is famous as the home of delicious seafood: sea cucumber, scallop, abalone, conch, prawn, and many kinds of fish. A typical dish for Tsingtao is a seafood hot pot which is noted for its peppery and hot taste. If you have ever tasted a traditional hot pot, it might be much easier for you to understand the principle of a seafood hot pot. People gather around a small pot heated with charcoal, electricity or gas and filled with a flavorful and nutritious soup base. You have a choice of three different flavors for the soup base. Next you add thinly sliced raw fish, various seafood products and all kinds of vegetables. Sometimes you may even want to add some other foods such as meat, tofu or noodles for variety. You then dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. Be careful since the spicy soup base is burning hot. Because it’s made of seafood raw materials, the taste of hot pot is very fresh. This is also the reason why it’s so popular in this area and even all over China.
Vera Zhang is from the capital of Hunan province, the origin of one of the top branches of Chinese food, which is called Xiang cuisine. It is very popular in every part of China because of its hot, spicy flavors and varied styles. An especially tasty Xiang dish is called Nine Sub-spicy Flavored Crabs which uses a common marine animal as a key ingredient. Before cooking them, the crabs should be preserved in wine. After that, add other ingredients such as spices and ginger to the oil heated to medium temperature. When the nice smell spills out, just put in the preserved crabs. A few minutes later, a delicious and dainty dish is finished. It will really excite your taste buds! After you finish the crabs, and if there is some juice left, just put some cooked noodles inside it. You can't even imagine how tasty that will be!
The people in South China are also crazy about desserts, but the desserts we have in China are quite different from those of Western world. I'd like to introduce you to one that is called Doufuhua which is made with tender tofu blossoms. This tofu pudding is a popular street food in China. Sometimes when I am late for school, I will buy one as my breakfast. In fact, Doufuhua itself is usually unflavored. So its flavor depends on the add-ins. People in South China prefer a sweet version while people in North China prefer a salty one. The one in the photo is a South China version that has thin sugar syrup and some fruits. Doufuhua is served hot, warm, or cold, depending on the weather.
These dishes are some common foods that we eat daily. But there is still a tremendous number of foods that we haven't introduced to you yet. If you get a chance, go to China to experience the diversity of food!