History of Chinese cuisine

Chopsticks, noodles and Chinese ceramics are the three things that immediately strike in your mind when you hear Chinese food.

Chinese cuisine has one of the world’s marvelous culinary cultures. Its originality and diversity are indisputable. Cantonese, Shandong, Sichuan, and Huaiyang are the four most influential Chinese cooking styles.

Dishes from these parts of China stand out in taste, texture, aroma, and aesthetics. Different factors such as ingredients, cooking techniques, people’s lifestyle, geography, and climatic condition made the style of each province (or region) incredibly distinctive.

If you believe popular Chinese foods are about chop suey and fortune cooking, then you are mistaken. They were modified or invented American-Chinese dishes, specially designed to delight US customers. To know what real Chinese cuisine is, take a glance at China’s kitchens of the past. With the help of different dynasties of China, we will be able to make you understand it better.

Han Dynasty

During the early part of this period, noodles usually made from the wheat dough or millet was their staple food. This is the earliest noodle ever found – entailing that Asians was the first to invent this famous dish.

Tang Dynasty

By this period the Chinese have explored all possible sources of food for diet diversity and good health. This led to their discovery and fondness for exotic food. It is during this period that drinking of tea became popular among all social classes. They also began to do business with Persia, Korea, and other neighboring countries.

Song Dynasty

It is only during this period that their economic and social progress was marked, which resulted to cosmopolitanism. This led to the development of restaurants serving special Chinese delicacies. 

Previously, only the emperors and their close ones could eat sophisticated meals. During this dynasty, even the common masses could enjoy great meals.

During Song Dynasty, the Chinese got to decide food from a menu. This had not occurred elsewhere in the world. Eateries or restaurants at Song dynasty offered dishes that symbolize the unique cooking styles from different regions of China. Talented chefs mastered a wide array of techniques to extract most of the flavors, aroma, and texture from fresh ingredients. All these efforts led to the invention of choicest Chinese cuisine that we know and enjoy today.

According to tradition, Chinese cuisine can be judged based on the aroma, presentation, palatability, and texture.

Apart from these factors, a perfect Chinese meal must have the balance famous Four Natures (the hot, the warm, the cool, and the cold) and Five Tastes (pungent, sweet, bitter, sour, and salty).

Fortunately, you do not have to go to China to experience their mouth-watering Chinese cuisines, as it is easily available in any part of the world.