英国做律师:The food in the South and North (Chinese food)

I think that is what you want...

In South China, they would say they'd eat everything that has four legs except the dinner table and everything that has two wings except a plane. Many of the dishes served in China may really surprise foreigners.

Snake soup is among the most treasured soups in China. Then, there is snake gall and blood mixed in liquor that supposedly will brighten your eyes. Some "westernized" Chinese would suggest that if Adam and Eve had been Chinese, we humans would still be in the Garden of Eden because they would have eaten the snake.

Chopsticks are the main table utensils in China. Chinese children start with a spoon but will adapt to chopsticks as early as when they turn one. As a gift, chopsticks symbolize straightforwardness because of their shape. Chinese chopsticks don't have pointed tips, unlike the Japanese style that is refined to pick out the bones of their main diet, fish. Most Chinese chopsticks are made of bamboo, though today, you see more and more wooden and plastic ones.

Foreigners are not expected to use chopsticks proficiently, but if they do, they will give a mighty impression. Therefore, before you go to China, go to a local Chinese restaurant, if not to find authentic Chinese food, at least you can practice using chopsticks. Its all right if, in your first meal in China, you can't use chopsticks. If you still can't handle the two sticks to pick up a big shrimp in your tenth meal, you show your incompetence in learning and the willingness to learn.

Cooking has occupied a lofty position in Chinese culture throughout history. The great Chinese philosopher Lao Zi once said of the art, "Governing a great nation is much like cooking a small fish."

Chinese food can be roughly divided into Northern and Southern styles of cooking. In general, Northern dishes are relatively oily and the use of vinegar and garlic tends to be quite popular. Wheat, processed into pasta, also plays an important role in Northern cooking; noodles, ravioli like dumplings, steamed, stuffed buns, fried meat dumplings, and steamed bread are just a few of the many flour based treats enjoyed in the North of China. The best known regional variations of Northern Chinese cuisine include those of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shandong.

Representative of Southern cooking styles are Szechwan and Hunan cuisine, famous for their liberal use of chili peppers.

Within the whole of Southern cooking, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions emphasize freshness and tenderness, while Guangdong cuisine tends to be somewhat sweet and always full of variety. Rice and its byproducts, including noodles, cakes, and congee form the typical foundation for Southern dishes.

Shanghai style (Shanghai cai) tends to be sort of sweet and features lots of seafood. Shanghai restaurants have been quite popular for some years now. Guangdong eaters have a reputation for eating "everything with four or more legs except for the table, and everything that has wings except for airplanes." All of the really funky dishes you hear about like live monkey brains and raw rat babies are Guangdong (Cantonese) style dishes (yue cai). However, there are lots of excellent, non-scary Guangdong dishes, and the seafood is especially tasty. Northeastern dishes (dongbei cai) are usually composed of large quantities of meat in thick, fairly salty sauces. Potatoes also feature heavily in dongbei cai. This is a great style of food to have in winter. Other famous schools of Chinese food include Huaiyang and Shanxi styles. There are also a number of regional minority cuisine.

In Chinese cooking, color, aroma and flavor share equal importance in the preparation of every dish. Normally, any one entree will combine three to five colors, selected from ingredients that are light green, dark green, red, yellow, white, black, or caramel colored. Usually, a meat and vegetable dish is prepared from one main ingredient and two to three secondary ingredients of contrasting colors. They are then cooked appropriately, incorporating the proper seasonings and sauce to create an aesthetically attractive dish.

A dish with a fragrant aroma will most certainly whet the appetite. Ingredients that contribute to a mouthwatering aroma are scallions, fresh ginger root, garlic, and chili peppers. Other include wine, star anise, stick cinnamon, pepper, sesame oil, and dried Chinese black mushrooms. Of utmost importance in cooking any dish is preserving the fresh, natural flavor of its ingredients, and removing any undesirable fishy or gamey odors. In Western cooking, lemon is often used to remove fishy flavors; in Chinese cooking, scallions and ginger serve a similar function. Soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and other seasonings add richness to a dish without covering up the natural flavor of the ingredients. A well prepared Chinese dish should taste rich to those who like strong flavors, but not over spiced to those who seek a milder taste. It should seem sweet to anyone who has a sweet tooth, and hot to those who like a piquant flavor. A dish that is all of these things to all of these people is a truly successful dish.

Color, aroma, and flavor are not the only principles to be followed in Chinese cooking; nutrition is also an important concern.

The principle of the harmonization of foods can be traced back to the Shang dynasty scholar Yi Yin. He relates the five flavors of sweet, sour bitter, piquant, and salty to the nutritional needs of the five major organ systems of the body (the heart, liver, spleen/pancreas, lungs, and kidneys), and stresses their role in maintaining good physical health.

In fact, many of the plants used in Chinese cooking, such as scallions, fresh ginger root, garlic, dried lily buds, tree fungus, etc. have properties of preventing and alleviating various illnesses.

The Chinese have a traditional belief in the medicinal value of food and that food and medicine share the same origin. This view could be considered a forerunner of nutritional science in China. Notable in this theory is the concept that correct proportion of meat to vegetable ingredients should be maintained; one third of meat based dishes should be vegetable ingredients and one third of vegetable dishes should be meat. In preparing soups, the quantity of water used should total seven-tenths the volume of the serving bowl. In short, the correct ingredient proportions must be adhered to in the preparation of each dish or soup in order to ensure full nutritional value.

The Chinese have a number of rules and customs associated with eating. For example, meals must be taken while seated; there is a set order of who may be seated first among men, women, old and young; and the main courses must be eaten with chopsticks, and soup with a spoon. Chinese banquets are arranged on a per table basis with each table usually seating ten to twelve persons.

A typical banquet consists of four appetizer dishes, such as cold cut platters or hot hors d'oeuvres; six to eight main courses; then one savory snack type dish and a dessert. The methods of preparation include stir frying, stewing, steaming, deep frying, flash frying, pan frying, and so forth. A dish may be savory, sweet, tart or piquant. The main colors of a dish may include red, yellow, green, white and caramel color. Food garnishes, such as cut or sculptured tomatoes, Chinese white radishes, cucumbers, and so forth, may be used to add to the visual appeal of a dish. All of these elements contribute to making Chinese food a true feast for the eyes and nose as well as the taste buds.

With over 5000 years' history, Chinese have developed a high level of food preparing skill. In fact, Chinese culture considers cooking an art while all other philosophies consider the preparation of food a craft. Chinese food culture reflects two dominant Chinese philosophies: Confucianism and Taoism and has been developed and refined over many centuries since the great classical age of China, the Zhou Dynasty 1122-249 B.C. Ancient Chinese people have explored the world of plants, roots, herbs, fungus and seeds to find life giving elements as well as medicinal value. Therefore, unlike the majority of eastern cuisine, most Chinese dishes are low calorie and low fat. You may find answers to today's diet and health problems within Chinese food.