ChineseCulinaryCulture中国饮食文化

Insights into Chinese Culture
The features of Chinese Food
Colour, Aroma, and Taste Colour refers not only to the beautiful color of the food, but also to the layout and design. Aroma refers to the fragrant and appetising smell of the dishes served on the table before eating. Taste is not only associated with tasting the food itself, but also with the appreciation of seasonings and texture.
Insights into Chinese Culture
Lecture 4: Culinary Delights in China
Insights into Chinese Culture
Chinese Culinary Culture
Food Culture
The features, classification of Chinese food
Insights into Chinese Culture
Medicinal Function
In China, people contend that a food tonic (食 补) is much better than a medicine in fortifying one's health. Based on traditional Chinese herbal medicine practice, medicinal cuisine combines strictly processed traditional Chinese medicine with traditional culinary (烹饪的) materials to produce delicious food with health-百度文库estoring qualities.
Insights into Chinese Culture
Yin-yang Principle
Food has its own characteristics of yin or yang. Yin foods are thin, cooling and low in calories. Yang foods are rich, spicy, warming and high in calories. Boiling food makes them yin; frying them makes them yang.
Insights into Chinese Culture
Eight Regional Cuisines
Foods vary from north to south. Tastes also differ regionally because of the climatic differences. One popular summary of Chinese food is “sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the west and spicy in the east”.
Tea Culture
Classification and etiquettes of tea
Wine Culture
Drinkers’ games and alcohol in the society
Insights into Chinese Culture
What Our Ancestors Said…
Insights into Chinese Culture
Seasonings
Taste mainly depends on the seasonings.
There are many tastes—salty (salt, soy sauce), sweet (sugar, honey), sour (vinegar), pungent (chili, ginger, scallion 葱), fragrant (sesame oil香 油, coriander 香菜, wine), prickled (麻的) (prickly ash 花椒) and tangy (monosodium glutamate or MSG 味精) and bitter (dried tangerine 陈皮, bitter apricot kernel 苦杏仁).
食色，性也 Food and sex are nothing more than human nature. 饮食男女，人之大欲存焉 Eating, drinking and sex are basic needs that enables the survival of human species. 人莫不饮食也，鲜能知味也。 Everyone drinks and eats, but most fail to appreciate the real taste.
Insights into Chinese Culture
Insights into Chinese Culture
Cooking Methods
Time and temperature play an important role in cooking. They include boiling (煮), stewing (煲/炖), braising (烧/焖/烩), frying (煎), stir-frying (炒), quick-frying (爆), deep-frying (炸), frying and simmering (扒/煨), sautéing (快煎), smoking (熏), roasting or barbecuing (烤), baking (烘), steaming (蒸) and scalding (白灼).