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All that is Chinese

Chinese cuisine balances well between vegetables and meat

DIFFERENT STYLES Chinese food has various schools of cuisine

Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible.

Cantonese saying

Chinese cuisine is among the most complex and varied in the world. Cooking occupied an elevated place in Chinese culture. The need to conserve scarce fuel and cook food quickly established the Chinese practice of cutting food into extremely small pieces before cooking.

Rice is the staple throughout China, except in the north where noodles replace rice. A land ringed by the sea and overflowing with rivers made fish a staple even in the most inland regions. Fish, prawns, pork, beef, duck, chicken, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage, onions, peppers, bean curd and eggs are among the most common ingredients in daily cooking.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and soybean sauce takes the place of salt in cooking. Fat is an important, subtle flavouring agent. Meat is often cooked with the fat unseparated from the flesh, and sometimes meat from one animal is cooked in the fat of another species.

Schools of cuisine

Peking, Szechwan, Fukien, Chekiang, and Kwangtung are the most famous schools of cuisine. Each reflects the plant and animal diversity of its land.

Chinese cuisine can be the most healthful or harmful in the world, depending on ingredients and cooking techniques.

A typical Chinese meal is rich in protein, fibre and carbohydrate, without being too bulky or full of fat. Soups and steamed foods are easily the most healthful; so are foods containing fresh ingredients rather than cured and smoked foods. There is a lot that Indian cuisine can learn from Chinese cuisine: the use of steaming, not overcooking vegetables and making imaginative use of local ingredients.

RAJIV M

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