American Chinese cuisine

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This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since January 2009. It may contain original research. Tagged since March 2010.

American Chinese cuisine refers to the style of food served by many Chinese restaurants in the United States. This type of cooking typically caters to Western tastes, and differs significantly from the traditional Chinese cuisine.

History[link]

In the 19th century, Chinese in San Francisco operated sophisticated and sometimes luxurious restaurants patronized mainly by Chinese, while restaurants in smaller towns served what their customers requested, ranging from pork chop sandwiches and apple pie to beans and eggs. They developed American Chinese cuisine when they modified their food to suit a more Western palate. First catering to miners and railroad workers,they established eateries in towns where Chinese food was completely unknown. These adapted local ingredients and catered to their customers' tastes. ^[1] In the process, cooks adapted southern Chinese dishes such as chop suey, and developed a style of Chinese food not found in China. Restaurants (along with Chinese laundries) provided an ethnic niche for small businesses at a time when the Chinese people were excluded from most jobs in the wage economy by racial discrimination or lack of language fluency.^[2]

Differences from native Chinese cuisines[link]

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American Chinese food typically treats vegetables as a side dish or garnish while cuisines of China emphasize vegetables. This can be seen in the use of carrots and tomatoes. Native Chinese cuisine makes frequent use of Asian leaf vegetables like bok choy and kai-lan and puts a greater emphasis on fresh meat and seafood.

A Chinese buffet restaurant in the United States of America

Stir frying, pan frying, and deep frying tend to be the most common Chinese cooking techniques used in this cuisine, which are all easily done using a wok. The food also has a reputation for high levels of MSG to enhance the flavor. The symptoms of a so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome or "Chinese food syndrome" have been attributed to a glutamate sensitivity, but carefully controlled scientific studies have not demonstrated such negative effects of glutamate.^[3] Market forces and customer demand have encouraged many restaurants to offer "MSG Free" or "No MSG" menus.

Carryout Chinese food is typically served in a paper carton with a wire bail.

American Chinese cuisine often uses ingredients not native and very rarely used in China. One such example is the common use of western broccoli (xīlán, 西蘭) instead of Chinese broccoli (jie lan, 芥蘭 jièlán) in American Chinese cuisine. Occasionally western broccoli is also referred to as sai lan fa (in Cantonese) in order not to confuse the two styles of broccoli.^{[citation needed]} Among Chinese speakers, however, it is typically understood that one is referring to the leafy vegetable unless otherwise specified. This is also the case with the words for carrot (luo buo or lo bac) or (hong luo buo hong meaning red) and onion (cong). Lo bac, in Cantonese, refers to the daikon, a large, pungent white radish. The orange western carrot is known in some areas of China as "foreign Daikon" (or more properly hung lo bac in Cantonese, hung meaning "red"). When the word for onion, chung, is used, it is understood that one is referring to "green onions" (otherwise known to English-speakers as scallions or spring onions, green onions). The many-layered onion common in the United States is called yang cong. This translates as "western onion". These names make it evident that the American broccoli, carrot, and onion are not indigenous to China and therefore are less common in the cuisines of China. Since tomatoes are New World plants, they are also fairly new to China and Chinese cuisine. Tomato-based sauces can be found in some American Chinese dishes such as the "beef and tomato". Hence, if a dish contains significant amounts of any of these ingredients, it has most likely been Westernized. Even more divergent are American stir-fry dishes inspired by Chinese food, that may contain brown rice instead of white, or those with grated cheese; milk products are almost always absent from traditional Chinese food.^{[citation needed]}

Ming Tsai, the owner of the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts, said that American Chinese restaurants typically try to have food representing 3-5 regions of China at one time, have chop suey, or have "fried vegetables and some protein in a thick sauce," "eight different sweet and sour dishes," or "a whole page of 20 different chow meins or fried rice dishes." Tsai said "Chinese-American cuisine is “dumbed-down” Chinese food. It’s adapted... to be blander, thicker and sweeter for the American public."^[4]

Most American Chinese establishments cater to non-Chinese customers with menus written in English or containing pictures. If separate Chinese-language menus are available, they typically feature delicacies like liver, chicken feet or other meat dishes that might deter Western customers. In New York's Chinatown, the restaurants were known^[when?] for having a "phantom" menu with food preferred by ethnic Chinese, but believed to be disliked by non-Chinese Americans.^[5]

Dishes[link]

American Chinese restaurant menu items[link]

Dishes that often appear on American Chinese restaurant menus include:

• Almond chicken - chicken breaded in batter containing ground almonds, fried and served with almonds and onions
• General Tso's Chicken – chunks of chicken that are dipped in a batter and deep-fried and seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers.
• Sesame chicken – boned, battered, and deep-fried chicken which is then dressed with a translucent red or orange, sweet and mildly spicy sauce, made from soy sauce, corn starch, vinegar, chicken broth, and sugar.
• Chinese chicken salad – it usually contains sliced and/or shredded chicken, uncooked leafy greens, crispy noodles (or fried wonton skins) and sesame dressing. Some restaurants serve the salad with mandarin oranges.
• Chop suey – connotes "assorted pieces" in Chinese. It is usually a mix of vegetables and meat in a brown sauce but can also be served in a white sauce.
• Chow mein – literally means "stir-fried noodles". Chow mein consists of fried crispy noodles with bits of meat and vegetables. It can come with chicken, pork, shrimp or beef, the latter often with red tomatoes.
• Crab rangoon – Fried wonton skins stuffed with (usually) artificial crab meat (surimi) and cream cheese.
• Fortune cookie – Invented in California as a westernized version of the Japanese omikuji senbei,^[6] fortune cookies have become sweetened and found their way to many American Chinese restaurants. Fortune cookies have become so popular that even some authentic Chinese restaurants serve them at the end of the meal as dessert and may feature Chinese translations of the English fortunes.
• Royal beef - deep-fried sliced beef, doused in a wine sauce and often served with steamed broccoli.
• Yaka mein - Chinese-Creole food found in New Orleans with similarities to Beef noodle soup
• Hulatang - Chinese traditional soup with spices.
• Pepper steak
• Orange chicken
• Fried wontons

Regional American Chinese dishes[link]

• Chow mein sandwich – Sandwich of chow mein and gravy (Southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island).
• Chicken fingers – boneless pieces of chicken, dipped in egg batter and deep fried. Served as an appetizer, they can also be covered in sweet and sour sauce and served as an entrée (New England) or the sauce can be served on the side.^[7]
• Chop suey sandwich – Sandwich of chicken chop suey on a hamburger bun (North Shore of Massachusetts – the only known remaining restaurants serving this specialty are "Genghis Salem", "Salem Lowe" (Salem), and the newly opened "China Roma" restaurant on Revere Beach, (Revere, Massachusetts).
• St. Paul sandwich – Egg foo young patty in plain white sandwich bread (St. Louis, Missouri).
• Springfield-style cashew chicken – a style of cashew chicken that combines breaded deep fried chicken, cashews, and oyster sauce. (Springfield, Missouri).

Westernized versions of native Chinese dishes[link]

Egg foo young

• Egg foo young – A Chinese-style omelet with vegetables and meat, usually served with a brown gravy.
• Egg roll – While native Chinese spring rolls have a thin crispy skin with mushrooms, bamboo, and other vegetables inside, the Westernized version (specifically the version found in such American Northeast metro areas as Boston and New York) uses a thick, fried skin stuffed with cabbage and usually bits of meat or seafood (such as pork or shrimp), but no egg.
• Fried rice – Fried rice dishes are popular offerings in American Chinese food due to the speed and ease of preparation and their appeal to American tastes. Fried rice is generally prepared with rice cooled overnight, allowing restaurants to put unserved leftover rice to good use. It typically uses more soy sauce than the mainland version.
• Ginger beef – 生薑牛肉 shēngjiāng niúròu Tender beef cut in chunks, mixed with ginger and Chinese mixed vegetables.
• Ginger fried beef – 乾炒牛肉絲 gānchǎo niúròu-sī Tender beef cut in strings, battered, deep dried, then re-fried in wok mixed with a sweet sauce, a variation of a popular Northern Chinese dish.
• Kung Pao chicken – The authentic Sichuan dish is quite spicy, and the Westernized versions tend to be less so if at all.
• Lo mein – The term means "stirred noodles"; these noodles are frequently made with eggs and flour, making them chewier than simply using water. Thick, spaghetti shaped noodles are pan fried with vegetables and meat. Sometimes this dish is referred to as "chow mein" (which literally means "fried noodles" in Cantonese).
• Mei Fun (see Rice vermicelli dishes)
• Moo shu pork – The native Chinese version uses more typically Chinese ingredients (including wood ear^{[disambiguation needed ]} fungi and daylily buds) and thin flour pancakes while the American version uses vegetables more familiar to Americans and thicker pancakes. This dish is quite popular in Chinese restaurants in the United States, but not so popular in China.
• Wonton soup – In most American Chinese restaurants, only wonton dumplings in broth are served, while native Chinese versions may come with noodles. Authentic Cantonese Wonton Soup is a full meal in itself consisting of thin egg noodles and several pork and prawn wontons in a pork or chicken soup broth or noodle broth. Westernized wontons, especially in takeout restaurants, are often made with thicker dough than the authentic version.
• Cashew chicken – see Regional variations.

Beef with broccoli

• Beijing beef – This dish exists in native Chinese form, but using gai-lan (Chinese broccoli) rather than American broccoli.

Regional variations on American Chinese cuisine[link]

San Francisco[link]

Since the early 1990s, many American Chinese restaurants influenced by California cuisine have opened in San Francisco and the Bay Area. The trademark dishes of American Chinese cuisine remain on the menu, but there is more emphasis on fresh vegetables, and the selection is vegetarian-friendly.

This new cuisine has exotic ingredients like mangos and portobello mushrooms. Brown rice is often offered as an optional alternative to white rice. Some restaurants substitute grilled wheat flour tortillas for the rice pancakes in mu shu dishes. This occurs even in some restaurants that would not otherwise be identified as California Chinese, both the more Westernized places and the more authentic places. There is a Mexican bakery that sells some restaurants thinner tortillas made for use with mu shu. Mu shu purists do not always react positively to this trend.^[8]

In addition, many restaurants serving more native-style Chinese cuisines exist, due to the high numbers and proportion of ethnic Chinese in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Restaurants specializing in Cantonese, Sichuanese, Hunanese, Northern Chinese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong traditions are widely available, as are more specialized restaurants such as seafood restaurants, Hong Kong-style diners and cafes (also known as Cha chaan teng (茶餐廳 chácāntīng)), dim sum teahouses, and hot pot restaurants. Many Chinatown areas also feature Chinese bakeries, boba milk tea shops, roasted meat, vegetarian cuisine, and specialized dessert shops. Chop suey is not widely available in San Francisco, and the city's chow mein is different from Midwestern chow mein.

Authentic restaurants with Chinese-language menus may offer 黃毛雞 (Cantonese Yale: wòhng mouh gāai, Pinyin: huángmáo jī, literally yellow-feather chicken), essentially a free-range chicken, as opposed to typical American mass-farmed chicken. Yellow-hair chicken is valued for its flavor, but needs to be cooked properly to be tender due to its lower fat and higher muscle content. This dish usually does not appear on the English-language menu.

Dau Miu (Chinese: 豆苗; pinyin: dòumiáo) is a Chinese vegetable that has become popular since the early 1990s, and now not only appears on English-language menus, usually as "pea shoots", but is often served by upscale non-Asian restaurants as well. Originally it was only available during a few months of the year, but it is now grown in greenhouses and is available year-round.

Hawaii[link]

Hawaiian-Chinese food developed a bit differently from the continental United States. Owing to the diversity of ethnicities in Hawaii and the history of the Chinese influence in Hawaii, resident Chinese cuisine forms a component of the cuisine of Hawaii, which is a fusion of different culinary traditions. Some Chinese dishes are typically served as part of plate lunches in Hawaii. The names of foods are different as well, such as Manapua, from Hawaiian meaning "chewed up pork" for dim sum bao, though the meat is not necessarily pork.

Southeastern United States[link]

Southeastern American Chinese restaurants are known to serve sweet iced tea with meals rather than the traditional warm tea served in China.

American Chinese chain restaurants[link]

• China Coast – closed in 1995; owned by General Mills Corp., formerly 52 locations throughout the United States
• Chinese Gourmet Express
• City Wok – California, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina
• Leeann Chin – Minnesota and Wisconsin; owned at one time by General Mills Corp.^{[citation needed]}
• Manchu Wok – throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Guam, Korea and Japan
• Panda Express – throughout the United States
• Pei Wei Asian Diner – throughout the United States; a subsidiary of P.F. Chang's
• P. F. Chang's China Bistro – throughout the United States; features California-Chinese fusion cuisine
• Pick Up Stix – California, Arizona and Nevada
• Sam Woo Restaurant – California, Nevada
• The Great Wall – Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, New York, West Virginia, South Carolina
• Stir Crazy Fresh Asian Grill Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Florida, Indiana, Texas
• Our Place New York Area

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Food portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: American Chinese cuisine

• Chinese cuisine
• American cuisine
• Canadian Chinese cuisine
• Oyster pail
• Fortune Cookie
• Imperial Dynasty restaurant
• Wanchai Ferry

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Chinese food in America History" (The Food Timeline) [1]

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This article is part of the series
Chinese cuisine
Regional cuisines Four Great Traditions Cantonese Huaiyang Shandong Sichuan Eight Great Traditions Anhui Cantonese Fujian Hunan Jiangsu Shandong Sichuan Zhejiang Beijing and the vicinity Beijing Imperial Aristocrat Tianjin Other regional styles Chaozhou Guizhou Hainan Hakka Henan Hong Kong Hubei Jiangxi Macanese Manchu Northeastern Shaanxi Shanghai Shanxi Taiwanese Xinjiang Tibetan (Xizang) Yunnan
Overseas cuisine Burma Canada Caribbean Philippines India Indonesia Japan Korea Malaysia Pakistan Peranakan Perú Puerto Rico Singapore United States
Religious cuisines Buddhist Islamic
Ingredients and types of food Main dishes Desserts Noodles
Preparation and cooking Stir frying Double steaming Red cooking
China portal
v t e

A Chinese painting of an outdoor banquet. The painting is a Song Dynasty remake of a Tang Dynasty original.

Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating from regions of China, some of which have become increasingly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. The history of Chinese cuisine stretches back for many centuries and produced both change from period to period and variety in what could be called traditional Chinese food, leading Chinese to pride themselves on eating a wide range of foods. Major traditions include Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang cuisines.^[1]

Eight Culinary Traditions of China[link]

Chinese dishes may be categorized as one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China, also called the "Eight Regional Cuisines" and the "Eight Cuisines of China". They are as follows:

• Hui: Anhui
• Yue (Cantonese): Guangdong
• Min: Fujian
• Xiang: Hunan (Can include Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi styles)
• Su (aka Huaiyang Cuisine): Jiangsu
• Lu: Shandong (Include Jinan, Jiaodong styles, etc.)
• Chuan: Sichuan
• Zhe: Zhejiang (Can include Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing styles)

Regional cuisines[link]

This section requires expansion.

Chinese fried rice

A number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine, but perhaps the best known and most influential are Guangdong (Cantonese) cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine and Sichuan cuisine.^[2][3][4] These styles are distinctive from one another due to factors such as available resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favour the use of lots of garlic and shallots over lots of chilli and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats and fowl. Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing, while Sichuan cuisine employs baking, just to name a few.^[2] Hairy crab is a highly sought after local delicacy in Shanghai, as it can be found in lakes within the region. Beijing Roast Duck (otherwise known as 'Peking Duck') is another popular dish well known outside of China.^[2] Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation and cultural differences, a variety of foods with different flavours and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.^[5]

Chuan (Sichuan)[link]

Szechuan cuisine, also called Sichuan cuisine, is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in the Sichuan Province of southwestern China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn (花椒, huājiāo) and zhitianjiao(指天椒, zhǐtiānjiāo). Peanuts, sesame paste and ginger are also prominent ingredients in Szechuan cooking.

Hui (Anhui)[link]

Anhui cuisine (Chinese: 徽菜 or 安徽菜, Ānhuīcài) is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China. It is derived from the native cooking styles of the Huangshan Mountains region in China and is similar to Jiangsu cuisine. But it emphasizes less on seafood and more on a wide variety of local herbs and vegetables. Anhui province is particularly endowed with fresh bamboo and mushroom crops.

Lu (Shandong)[link]

Shandong Cuisine is commonly and simply known as Lu cuisine. With a long history, Shandong Cuisine once formed an important part of the imperial cuisine and was widely promoted in North China. However, it isn't so popular in South China (including the more embracing Shanghai).

Shandong Cuisine is featured by a variety of cooking techniques and seafood. The typical dishes on local menu are braised abalone, braised trepang, sweet and sour carp, Jiuzhuan Dachang and Dezhou Chicken. Various Shandong snacks are also worth trying.

Min (Fujian)[link]

A bowl of Fujian thick soup, or geng (羹, gēng)

Fujian cuisine is a Fujian coastal region.^[1] Woodland delicacies such as edible mushrooms and bamboo shoots are also utilized.^[1] Slicing techniques are valued in the cuisine and utilized to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of seafood and other foods.^[1] Fujian cuisine is often served in a broth or soup, with cooking techniques including braising, stewing, steaming and boiling.^[1]

Su (Jiangsu, Huaiyang cuisine)[link]

Jiangsu cuisine, also known as Su (Cai) Cuisine for short, is one of the major components of Chinese cuisine, which consists of the styles of Yangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and Zhenjiang dishes. It is very famous all over the world for its distinctive style and taste. It is especially popular in the lower reach of the Yangtze River.

Typical courses of Jiangsu cuisine are Jinling salted dried duck (Nanjing's most famous dish), crystal meat (pork heels in a bright, brown sauce), clear crab shell meatballs (pork meatballs in crab shell powder, fatty, yet fresh), Yangzhou steamed Jerky strips (dried tofu, chicken, ham and pea leaves), triple combo duck, dried duck, and Farewell My Concubine (soft-shelled turtle stewed with many other ingredients such as chicken, mushrooms and wine).

Yue (Hong Kong and Guangdong)[link]

Dim sum, literally "touch your heart", is a Cantonese term for small hearty dishes.^[2] These bite-sized portions are prepared using traditional cooking methods such as frying, steaming, stewing and baking. It is designed so that one person may taste a variety of different dishes. Some of these may include rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns, shui jiao-style dumplings, stir-fried green vegetables, congee porridge, soups, etc. The Cantonese style of dining, yum cha, combines the variety of dim sum dishes with the drinking of tea. Yum cha literally means 'drink tea'.^[2] Cantonese style is the unique and charm dishes, which enjoy a long history and a good reputation both at home and abroad. It is common with other parts of the diet and cuisine in Chinese food culture. Back in ancient times, and the Central Plains on Lingnan Yue Chu family has close contacts. With the changes of dynasty historically, many people escaped the war and crossed the Central Plains, the increasing integration of the two communities. Central Plains culture gradually moved to the south. As a result, their food production techniques, cookware, utensils and property turned into a rich combination of Agriculture, which is the origin of Cantonese food. Cantonese cuisine originated in the Han.

Xiang (Hunan)[link]

Hunan cuisine is well known for its hot spicy flavor,^[6] fresh aroma and deep color. Common cooking techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, there are varied ingredients for Hunan dishes.

Xinjiang[link]

The cuisine of Xinjiang reflects the region's many ethnic groups and refers particularly to Uyghur cuisine. Signature ingredients include roasted mutton, kebabs, roasted fish and rice. Because of the Islamic population, the food is predominantly halal.

Zhe (Zhejiang)[link]

Zhejiang cuisine (Chinese: 浙菜 or 浙江菜, Zhèjiāngcài), one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China, derives from the native cooking styles of the Zhejiang region. The dishes are not greasy, having but instead a fresh, soft flavor with a mellow fragrance.

The cuisine consists of at least four styles, each of which originates from different cities in the province:

• Hangzhou style, characterized by rich variations and the use of bamboo shoots
• Shaoxing style, specializing in poultry and freshwater fish
• Ningbo style, specializing in seafood
• Shanghai style, a combination of different Zhe styles, very famous for its dimsum

Other[link]

Many other regions with unique dishes and styles are represented in China, including Hakka, Macau, Hainan, Taiwan, and Northeast cuisines.

Staple foods[link]

Rice[link]

Rice is a major staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China.^{[citation needed]} It is most commonly eaten in the form of steamed rice. Rice is also used to produce beers, wines and vinegars. Rice is one of the most popular foods in China and is used in many many dishes.

Noodles[link]

Misua noodle making in Lukang, Taiwan

Chinese noodles come dry or fresh in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures and are often served in soups or fried as toppings. Some varieties, such as Shou Mian (寿面, literally noodles of longevity), are symbolic of long life and good health according to Chinese tradition.^[2]

Soybeans[link]

Tofu is made of soybeans and is another popular product that supplies protein.^[5]

Wheat[link]

In wheat farming areas in Northern China, people largely rely on flour-based food, such as noodles, breads, dumplings and steamed buns.^[2]

Vegetables[link]

Some common vegetables used in Chinese cuisine include bok choy (Chinese cabbage), Chinese Spinach (dao-mieu), On Choy, Yu Choy, and gailan (guy-lahn).

Herbs[link]

Herbs were important to the Chinese people, especially during the Han Dynasty.^{[citation needed]}

Seasonings[link]

When it comes to sauces, China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soya beans and wheat. Oyster sauce, transparent rice vinegar, Chinkiang black rice vinegar, fish sauce and fermented tofu (furu) are also widely used. A number of sauces are based on fermented soybeans, including Hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce. Spices and seasonings such as fresh root ginger, garlic, scallion, white pepper, and sesame oil are widely used in many regional cuisines. Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and cloves are also used.^[7] To provide extra flavors to dishes, many Chinese cuisines also contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimps, dried tangerine peel,^[8] and dried Sichuan chillies as well.

Desserts[link]

Deep-fried mantou, a popular Chinese dessert, served with sweetened condensed milk

Panfried water chestnut cake (馬蹄糕), a type of Chinese gao dessert

Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, along with meals^[9] or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine.^{[citation needed]} Bings are baked wheat flour based confections, and include moon cake Red bean paste pancake and sun cakes. Chinese candies and sweets, called táng^[9] are usually made with cane sugar, malt sugar, honey, nuts and fruit. Gao or Guo are rice based snacks that are typically steamed^[9] and may be made from glutinous or normal rice. Ice cream is commonly available throughout China.^[9] Another cold dessert is called baobing, which is shaved ice with sweet syrup.^[9] Chinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices. Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are flavored with fruits, though gelatin based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts. Chinese dessert soups typically consist of sweet and usually hot soups^[9] and custards.

Drinks[link]

Tea[link]

Longjing tea, also known as Dragon Well tea, is a variety of roasted green tea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, where it is produced mostly by hand and has been renowned for its high quality, earning the China Famous Tea title.

As well as with dim sum, many Chinese drink their tea with snacks such as nuts, plums, dried fruit (in particular jujube), small sweets, melon seeds, and waxberry.^[2] China was the earliest country to cultivate and drink tea which is enjoyed by people from all social classes.^[10] Tea processing began after the Qin and Han Dynasties.^[10] Chinese tea is often classified into several different categories according to the species of plant from which it is sourced, the region in which it is grown, and the method of production used. Some of these are green tea, oolong tea, black tea, scented tea, white tea, and compressed tea. There are four major tea plantation regions in China. They are Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Huanan and the southwestern region.^[10] Well known types of green tea include Longjing, Huangshan, Mao Feng, Bilochun, Putuofeng Cha, and Liu'an Guapian.^[11] China is the world’s largest exporter of green tea.^[11] One of the most ubiquitous accessories in modern China, after a wallet or purse and an umbrella, is a double-walled insulated glass thermos with tea leaves in the top behind a strainer.

Liquor[link]

Yellow wine has a long history in China, where the unique beverage is produced from rice and ranges between 10–15% alcohol content.^[2] The most popular brands include Shaoxing Lao Jiu, Shaoxing Hua Diao and Te Jia Fan.^[2] Wheat, corn and rice are used to produce Chinese liquor which is clear and aromatic, containing approximately 60% alcohol. This also has a long history in China, with production believed to date back to the Song Dynasty.^[2] Some popular brands of liquor include Er guo tou, Du Kang, Mao Tai, Lu Zhou Te Qu and Wu Liang Ye.^[2]

Herbal drinks[link]

Chinese herb tea, also known as medicinal herbal tea, is a kind of tea-soup made from purely Chinese medicinal herbs.^{[citation needed]}

Milk[link]

Chinese in earlier dynasties evidently drank milk and ate dairy products, although not necessarily from cows, but perhaps koumiss (fermented mare's milk). After the Tang dynasty there emerged a line dividing Asia into two groups, those who depend on milk products (India, Tibet, Central Asians) and those who reject those foods. Chinese depend on soy, as more efficient way of supporting density, and to differentiate themselves from border nomads. Most Chinese until recently have avoided milk, partly because pasturage for milk producers in a monsoon rice ecology is not economic, partly because milk products became negatively associated with horse riding, milk drinking nomadic tribes. There may even be a biological bias. A certain number of people in any ethnic group are lactose intolerant. In addition, human beings, like other mammals, after they are weaned, stop producing lactase enzymes (needed to digest milk) unless they drink milk. Lactose intolerance is then partly cultural, partly biological.^[12]

But this non-dairy tradition has undergone some change as a result of the Occidentalization of China. For example, it has been suggested that, in the early 20th century Shanghai, “Western food, and in particular identifiably nourishing items like milk, became a symbol of a neo-traditional Chinese notion of family.” ^[13]

Styles[link]

In most dishes in Chinese cuisine, food is prepared in bite-sized pieces, ready for direct picking up and eating. In traditional Chinese cultures, chopsticks are used at the table. Traditional Chinese cuisine is also based on opposites, whereby hot balances cold, pickled balances fresh and spicy balances mild.^{[citation needed]}

Recent trends[link]

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of undernourished people in the country has fallen from 386.6 million in 1969–1971 to 150.0 million in 2001–2003.^{[14][verification needed]} Prior to the increased industrialization and modernization following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 (and the late 1950s famine), a typical Chinese peasant would have eaten meat or animal products (including fish and eggs) and most meals would have consisted of rice accompanied with green vegetables, with protein often coming from foods like peanuts and soy products.^{[citation needed]} Fats and sugar were luxuries not eaten on a regular basis by most of the population. With increasing wealth, Chinese diets have become richer over time, consuming more meats, fats, and sugar.

Variations[link]

Where there are historical immigrant Chinese populations, the style of food has evolved and been adapted to local tastes and ingredients, and modified by the local cuisine, to greater or lesser extents. This has resulted in a number of forms of fusion cuisine, often very popular in the country in question, and some of these, such as ramen (Japanese Chinese) have become popular internationally. These include:

See also[link]

	China portal
	Food portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chinese cuisine at the Open Directory Project
• BBC TWO Chinese food made easy