Chinese culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Chinese culture - Essay Example The Chinese cuisine dates back to thousands of years and has been subject to metamorphosis from time to time and from one place to another depending on climate, fashion and local preferences. The Chinese cuisine embraces both styles from different parts of China and a collection from other parts of the world. Over time, cuisines from other cultures have been integrated into the Chinese cuisine due to imperial expansion and trade with the outside world. The staple foods of the Chinese include rice, noodles, vegetables and sauce and seasonings. Styles in ancient Chinese cuisine differed because of class, region and ethnicity resulting in an unrivalled range of ingredients, techniques, dishes and eating styles, collectively called the Chinese food. This wide diversity and array of food traditions has over generations caused the Chinese to pride themselves on eating a wide variety of food while also remaining true to the spirit and traditions of the Chinese food culture. The Chinese have eight major culinary traditions. These include Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan and Zhejiang cuisines. The styles are distinguishable from one another due to contributors such as availability of resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. The Sichuan cuisine prefers baking while the Jiangsu cuisine on the other hand, favors braising and stewing. Many traditional regional cuisines employ basic preservation techniques such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation. The Cantonese cuisine uses traditional cooking methods such as steaming, frying, baking and stewing and is engineered to offer sampling of a variety of different foods by the eater. Some of these dishes include lotus leaf rice, rice rolls, turnip cakes, buns, Shui jiao-style dumplings, stir-fried green vegetables, congee porridge and soups and so on. The Sichuan style, which