“As
Ancient as the Great Wall and as enduring. The story of China is the story of food.” –
Anthony Bourdain
I
enjoy dining at Chinese restaurants. I thank God for the provision, and for the
chance to dine in these wonderful food establishments such as Din Tai Fung in
Singapore, famous for their soup dumpling. I have also tried dining in a not so
well-known restaurant in Hong Kong 16 yrs. ago, at Fat Nam in front of B.P
International hotel where my aunt and I ate a bowl of noodles. I believe
that I have acquired a taste for Chinese cuisine because when I was still a
kid, my aunt and mom loves to dine at Chinese restaurants. I remember this
simple and small Chinese restaurant in Greenhills (where you need to go down
the stairs to enter the restaurant) that serves large siomai’s (not the usual
small ones). I can still recall those bamboo steamers. We also love to eat in
this simple hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Cubao (if I’m not mistaken), and the
name is Shantung. I love their stir-fried bittergourd (ampalaya) with beef. I
never liked bittergourd but I really like it if it’s cooked this way especially
when paired with a hot cup of steaming rice. If Chowking is a popular Chinese fast-food
nowadays, back then (when I was still a kid) I know it was Ling-Nam, their
specialty is noodles.
When tsinoy.com (Filipino-Chinese website brainchild of Mr.Dux Raymond Sy, the website features articles regarding Filipino-Chinese, as well as Chinese culture, tradition and Cuisine, and it also includes a forum) was still existing, Since I love to write, I volunteered to write articles from time to time, and I was able to contribute in the Cuisine section, a Chinese recipe called ‘Hunan Stuffed Cucumbers’. Ms. Blessy Feliciano was the editor at that time.
My
favorite local Chinese restaurant is Mann Hann. I love their Yang Chow fried
rice, and their tasty chicken feet. We usually order the green sea-food soup,
and the fish and tofu hotpot. I’m also just fine with Lo Tofu similar with the
hotpot taste but it has no fish. Savory restaurant is also a favorite of mine
when it comes to Chinese fried chicken. I just love the tender and flavourful chicken.
Popular restaurants like Lugang Cafe, I really like their veggie dumplings,
and their Kung Pao Tofu. I have also tried dining at Tim Ho Wan, and I’ve
tasted their popular bbq pineapple glazed bun, it was just okay for me. What I
really like in their menu is their steamed egg cake. It really tastes like a
local steamed rice cake.
I
guess I have talked a lot about my favorite Chinese restaurants. It’s obvious
that this is another favorite topic of mine to talk about. I have watched
various documentaries regarding Chinese food, I suggest you watch the
comprehensive documentary about Chinese food, ‘A Bite of China’ produced by CCTV (China Central Television).
Another is by a famous American tv host, chef and author, Anthony Bourdain,
entitled, ‘China Food Journey’. This documentary not only focuses on the vast
and rich geography of China, and its struggles to feed its people. But also, it
tackles on how modernization can greatly affect the people, their health and
lifestyle. For example, in the province of Anhui, factories that were
established there has poisoned the water, and even endangers the lives and
health of the people living in the area. Ah! The price of modernization! It is similar also to what’s happening in the
Philippines.
Chinese
cuisine has a wide range of cooking styles. I have read that their cooking style
is also influenced by the climate. For example, in Sichuan where it is normally
warm and humid climate, eating spicy food such as chillies, has a cooling
effect on the body.
Chinese
cuisine can be divided into four regional categories. In my research it is also
considered that China has 8 recognized culinary styles (notice that the number
8 has an auspicious meaning in Chinese). They are as follows, Anhui,
Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang.
I
would like to focus more on the regional categories, North, South, East and
West. North includes Beijing and Shandong, Southern, the Cantonese and
Chaozhou, the East, Shanghai, Jiangsu and
Sichuan.
In
Beijing and Shandong (Northern) rice is not a staple here but rather noodles
and bread. The popular Peking duck originated here. While Cantonese cooking is
the most popular among all the other regional cuisines. It involves, boiling,
steaming and stir-frying and uses minimal amount of oil. So if you’re a health
conscious person, you will love the Cantonese style of cooking. Quoting from a
popular chef and tv host, Chef Johnson Wong said, “Anything that flies on the sky and walks on the ground, as long as its
back is facing the sky you can eat it.”
Dimsum
is also a popular Chinese food. It is simply a snack. If Westerners have chips
and cookies for snacks, dumplings is to the Chinese. In the Philippines, these
are popularly known as siomai (meat and veggies, or shrimp wrapped in wonton
wrappers and then steamed or fried), siopao (bread bun with fillings such as
meat and veggies), another is called cuapao ‘hokkien or fookien dialect’ (it
means steamed bread alone, no filling). Popular Chinese ‘Michelin’ awarded
restaurant, Tim Ho Wan has a famous bun, it is baked and not steamed, it is
called BBQ (barbeque) pork pineapple glazed bun. Other unusual food items or
what we call delicacies also originated in Cantonese cuisine, like the century
or hundred year old egg, turtle or snake soup, dog stew, nido soup (Chinese
bird’s nest soup), and many more.
Eastern
part (Shanghai), the dishes here are commonly stir-fried, and what I noticed is
some of their dishes like their noodles are a bit oily. I have tried the
stir-fried noodles in Lugang Café, while the noodles are tasty, the oiliness was
also evident. Sugar is an important ingredient in Shanghai cuisine. They also
use soy sauce and rice wine. Sichuan cuisine are known for their spicy or fiery
dishes. They use what we call flower pepper (Chinese/Sichuan peppercorn) in
Mandarin it is called huajiao. Mapo Dofu is a popular dish consisting of tofu
(bean curd), minced pork and chopped spring onions in chilli sauce.
So that ends my ‘short’ post and experience with regards to
Chinese food, and a bit of its history. I have discovered that Chinese food is
really diverse and indeed delicious! 好吃 ( hăochī )
So until my next food adventure.
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Sources:
China Food Journey (a documentary –
Anthony Bourdain)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cuisine
http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/eight-cuisine.htm
sallybernstein.com/food/cuisines/china/b.htm
Lonely Planet: China (6th
ed. 1998)
Photos: (I own them)
From my food blog:
