Each of the many peoples of our planet has its own dish, which differs both in the method of preparation and in the features of its use. Different nationalities prefer unequal cutlery: some like to eat with the help of kaizi, others with spoons and forks, others, in general, with their hands.
Differences in history, traditions, and culture contribute to these preferences. It is quite different from ours - Chinese traditional cuisine, which has centuries of experience, because their culture and life is not one thousand years old.
Products that the Chinese traditionally use are often completely unsuitable for our understanding. The ways of serving food and the place of its reception are completely exotic, from the point of view of a European.
What do the Chinese eat?
Traditional cereal for Asian countries - rice. It is suitable for the preparation of alcoholic beverages, side dishes and even vinegar. There is a legend that people domesticated the wild thickets of this cereal about nine thousand years ago, and the Chinese did it. Today, rice is not only a food product. We can say that this is a gastronomic symbol of the culture of the East.
How do Chinese eat rice? What do they cook from it? The most famous dishes in China:
- rice flour cakes;
- rice fried with duck;
- sticky cereal wrapped in bamboo leaf;
- rice (boiled) as a side dish.
What else do people of this country eat? The answer is simple: Chinese noodles. She is already widely known in our state. There are several common species, and there are special, promising, according to popular belief, a long life. Prepare it from rice flour, and less often from wheat.
The Chinese also eat soy beans. They make tofu - bean curd, milk and the famous sauce of the same name.
Favorite vegetables on the Chinese table are carrots, broccoli, celery, watercress and bitter melon.
Spices are a particularly revered part of Chinese cuisine. They greatly enrich the taste of food. In China, sesame, garlic, cinnamon, anise and fennel are often used.
Do the Chinese eat desserts? Of course. Light pastries, custard cream as a separate dish and any fruits of the season are especially held in high esteem.
Without Chinese tea, figuratively speaking, life in the country is impossible. Rumor has it that he appeared before the citizens of the country themselves.
Chinese approximate daily menu: breakfast
If in Europe, breakfast is a light snack: coffee, a bun of freshly squeezed juice, then in China this is a solid meal. The family is preparing for breakfast rice broth (something between soup and porridge) well seasoned with spices. This is necessary to warm the body. Be sure to serve dumplings. They have been cooked in China for more than 1,800 years. This is also familiar to us - with minced meat, but often with tofu, vegetables or shrimp. There are special dumplings called Zongzi - sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. Noodles are also morning food along with a special, steamed bun.
It is filled either with a sweet filling or with salt (eggs, spinach, minced vegetables or meat). A dish that is not yet known to us is milk tofu (Ma Po Tofu). Served with shredded green onions and beef.
Dinner
A traditional Chinese lunch consists of several gourmet dishes. For example, slices of pork in sweet and sour orange caramel. Pork is sometimes replaced with chicken or beef.
What the Chinese eat is a dish called Wonton, everyone knows. These are special triangular dumplings that are deep-fried. The main filling is pork and shrimp. The famous Peking duck is a special bird in cooking with tender meat and crisp. A dish that has conquered the whole world, served in portions with garlic mashed potatoes, pancakes or bean sauce. Pancakes in China are one of the most beloved dishes. Fill them with sweets or vegetables. The original Gong Bao chicken is diced meat, with the addition of fried nuts, chili pepper and seasoned with garlic paste to taste.
A kind of warm salad called Chowmein - Chinese noodles, chicken (beef, pork or shrimp), plus celery and onions are also included in the lunch menu.
Dinner
An evening meal is a bit like breakfast. The main course serves rice, noodles, vegetables, fruits and pastries. And be sure to tea. In the evening they drink it, stretching pleasure. During the day, the Chinese also drink many other drinks.
Chinese food is practically all correctly combined. Any meal is at least five dishes, only small portions. Therefore, among the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire there are practically no full people.
Tradition or lifestyle?
The traditions of modern nutrition in the People's Republic of China originated thousands of years ago. The country occupies territories with various climatic zones from the Arctic to the subtropics, which has long had an impact on food preferences and ways of eating products.
Why do the Chinese eat special food, but are they negative about modern? They believe that it does not benefit the body, but only leads to premature aging. Therefore, their nutrition is very similar to a proper diet. Chinese medicine believes that the use of a product may affect the well-being of the body as a whole. Therefore, the citizens of this country eat in a way that has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system, digestive tract and slow down the aging of the body.
Seasonal food
The Chinese base their nutrition on seasonal theory. It states that each season (and there are five of them in China: spring, summer, winter, autumn and off-season) is suitable only for certain products. Because each of them prepares the body for the transfer of certain climatic conditions and strengthens a specific part of the human body: bones, skin, blood or muscle system.
Sticks and spoons
Why do Chinese eat chopsticks? This issue is tormented by more than one generation of the peoples of the Old World. How, for example, do they eat soup?
A very long time ago, at the dawn of civilization, the ancient inhabitants of the Celestial Empire ate with their hands. After a while, it became clear that this was completely inconvenient: it’s hot and the palms are constantly dirty. And then they picked up the wands, which became an extension of the fingers. There is another common theory that sticks are a lever, and two crossed sticks are its core.
Soup, the population of China eats, like all Europeans, a spoon, only a special one - porcelain. First, following the tradition, vegetables and meat are selected with chopsticks. Then the broth is eaten with a spoon. Some prefer alternately, choosing a thick seized broth. Others just drink it.
But never in the Chinese family will the table be served with knives and forks. They consider them weapons. This means that such devices will never lie next to sacred food. It is clear that eating weapons is also not appropriate. The famous Confucius wrote about this, indignant at the barbarism of the peoples of Europe.
The Chinese eat chopsticks made of wood. Plastic and other innovations in the production of kaizi, take root only in public canteens.
Chinese food consists mainly of finely chopped products. Therefore, it takes from three to five minutes to cook. All vitamins remain intact.
Rules for using sticks
Regarding sticks, there are several immutable rules of use:
- you can not knock them on a bowl or plate, because others will perceive this as begging (in poor neighborhoods they beg for food);
- when the sticks in the hand, you can’t stretch out the index finger, pointing at people - this is regarded as an accusation;
- very impolite to lick sticks;
- it is forbidden to stick with chopsticks in all dishes in a row, as if choosing;
- You can’t also set them vertically - this indicates bad manners.
Spicy Chinese menu
It is believed that the Chinese eat insects. Few people know, but such ingredients are a hallmark of Thai cuisine. And in China, insects are a delicacy. You can buy them already cooked in restaurants and night markets. Sellers are sure to “flair” each insect with a legend, claiming that it is true. Here is a sample list for those who want exoticism:
- silkworm pupae are served fried (tastes like shrimp);
- larvae of singing cicadas also fry over high heat;
- scorpions are steamed, less often fried; then they sell it like a kebab: strung on wooden sticks, and sometimes they can be found in soup or stew; cooked in this way, they are harmless, but bitter;
- locusts, crickets and grasshoppers are fried with salt;
- in Yunnan they like to fry and eat bamboo worms - it is believed that this dish resembles popcorn to taste;
- Europeans think that Chinese and centipedes eat — indeed, they are; they are fried and even added to salads;
- water beetles eat fried, but without paws and wings.
Secrets of the Chinese New Year table
More important than the holiday than New Year in China. It is called the Spring Festival - Chunjie. Lasts up to two weeks - this is the time of masquerade processions, balls, carnivals, fireworks.
At home, this is a festive decoration and a table with traditional Chinese dishes. Although China is large and each province has its own special New Year's dishes, there is one general tendency - to make material prosperity and prosperity for a year ahead. Therefore, every meal on the table is a symbol of prosperity.
The principle of the New Year's feast differs little from ours: the table should break from the dishes. I wonder what the Chinese eat on New Year? In almost all provinces, this is Jiao Tzu. The mysterious name hides nothing more than traditional dumplings with a variety of fillings, which according to popular beliefs symbolize wealth and prosperity. For example, if there is peanuts in the dumpling, then the year will be sweet, and if the date or chestnut, then you should expect the birth of a boy.
Be sure to have Chinese cabbage on the table of a resident of China in the New Year. Its name is similar in meaning to the concept of "close." Therefore, it is fried, as if to say that the night will be hot and cheerful.
Another required dish is fried fish. The Chinese people strongly believe that if you leave a piece on a plate on New Year's Eve, the sky will give you such an amount that you do not have time to spend.
What do the Chinese eat on the first day of this year? Traditionally - rice. He is an ancient symbol of prosperity and a good harvest. In some provinces, sweet rice cubes called nyangao and sweet wine are placed on the table. In other provinces, the first day of the year begins with chicken soup, as this bird is a symbol of peace and tranquility.
Young ones must eat some chicken wings. Then in the coming year, they will rise high on the career ladder or there will be a change in status for the better.
On a table in any province, there must be traditional Chinese noodles for a year to work out. Mandatory appetizer of the New Year's table - eggs. It is an unchanging symbol of precious metals: gold and silver.
New Year's table is always full of various sweets. But a cookie with wishes and predictions is a must. These are small leaves with quotes from the sages, from which it will be possible to judge the next twelve months of life.