Eating is the Chinese's forte, which makes the world envy them. Chinese cuisine is even more famous all over the world, and there are Chinese restaurants in almost every country.
When Chinese people greet each other, they often say: “Have you eaten?” There are also many proverbs about eating, such as “Food is the first necessity of the people”, “People are like iron, and rice is like steel”, etc. It can be seen that eating has a high status in the hearts of Chinese people. Today, let's take foreigners to know our Chinese cuisine!
I often hear foreigners say that Haidilao is delicious; I like Chongqing spicy chicken the most, etc., but once asked, do you know where these dishes are from in China, most people will shake their heads and look confused. Therefore, it is also very important to popularize food knowledge to foreigners.
China has a vast territory and many ethnic groups, and the taste of food in different regions is also different. As the saying goes: “Sweet in the south, salty in the north, spicy in the east, and sour in the west”, that is, southern dishes are sweeter, northern dishes are salty; dishes in the east are spicy, and dishes in the west are sour. Now many people say that this statement is not quite right, so it is changed to: “Sweet in the south, salty in the north, spicy in the west, and fresh in the east”, where “fresh” refers to seafood. This sentence means that the south is sweet, the north is salty, the west is spicy, and the east eats more seafood. If you think about it carefully, it is indeed true.
Northern cuisine, represented by Northeast China and North China, is mostly salty. Representative dishes include Northeastern dishes such as pot-baked pork, three fresh vegetables, and pickled cabbage noodles, and famous Beijing dishes such as Beijing roast duck and fried noodles. Compared with southern cuisine, the amount of salt used is indeed not small.
Southern cuisine, represented by Shanghai and Guangzhou, is generally sweet in East China and South China. For example, Wuxi is known as the “sweetest in China”. Wuxi's representative dish, sweet and sour spare ribs, is somewhat unacceptable to northerners. Guangdong's soups and dim sum are light and flavorful, and are very popular with Japanese and Koreans
Western cuisine is mostly spicy. The most representative is Sichuan cuisine, which is characterized by spicy. Representative dishes include spicy hot pot, spicy hot pot, boiled fish, etc. Because it is both spicy and spicy, most foreigners can't stand it, but people who like spicy food enjoy it and eat it almost every day. In fact, in addition to Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou are also regions that can eat spicy food, but they are not as well-known as Sichuan.
Finally, let's talk about Dongsuan (Dongxian), which refers to the eastern coastal areas. Because it is by the sea, seafood is easy to catch, so various seafood dishes are very famous. Qingdao's fried clams, Fujian's fried oysters, etc. are all famous snacks. In addition, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places in the Central Plains are famous for eating sour food. It is said that Shanxi's old vinegar is good for the body if you drink it often.