China is a heavyweight when it comes to culinary power. While Italy is known for pizza and the burger hails from Hamburg, Germany — China’s exhaustive list includes some fan favorites: alcohol, ice cream, miso and pasta. You read that last one right, the earliest evidence of someone chowing down on a bowl of noodles dates back earlier than China’s written history, more than 4,000 years ago. So how have these culinary relics and practices persisted and spread into other cultures to get us to where we are today?
Let’s start with China’s class breakdown. The Chinese government, looking to provide more societal order, segmented its people into four classes: landlords, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants. The two former parties ranked over the latter two, which created a dominant social hierarchy. Within the top-down social structure, regionally based ethnic groups began to form, over 50 to be exact. Each group honed its own subculture, at times dialect, rituals and dances, and most importantly — its own cuisine. While the majority of ethnic groups have consolidated into the predominant Han Chinese, (92% of China and 17% of the global population), their roots are preserved in many cultural elements found in modern China and the areas people of Chinese descent live today.
In addition to its ethnically mixed roots — China places a heavy emphasis on maintaining healthy lifestyles. Think of the oldest surviving people in society and you immediately think of East Asian cultures, especially China and Japan that are notorious for its centenarians and see its people live well past average lifespans. Many accredit longevity to active lifestyles (credit tai chi and dancing) and a healthy diet. Chinese cuisine epitomizes the balanced diet, diet including a meal staple of grain eaten with either a vegetable or meat. Other common facets of a Chinese diet are reduced dairy intake (high percentage of lactose intolerance) and a preference for natural sweets (fruits + nuts) for desert over Westerner’s more common processed and sugary snacks. It’s almost as if the traditional Chinese diet represents the many dietary fads Americans are going through now with an emphasis on alternative milks, low red meat consumption, and a shift to all-natural foodstuffs… Chinese belief that food is medicine priotizes healthful eating and food production which has greatly influenced the Chinese economy — as agriculture makes up ~10% of GDP and employs 30% of the population.
With its diverse ecological landscapes, China developed cuisines representing each region (West, North, South, and East), which evolved into the modern “Eight Cuisines of China.” Those cuisine are: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang, each presenting its own flare and flavor. Most notable about Chinese cuisine is its influence on other cuisines — having stretched across borders Overseas Chinese who are associated with the Chinese Diaspora can be credited with creating sub-cuisines such as: Indo-Chinese, Japanese-Chinese, American-Chinese and many others. Dishes most commonly known in these above sub-genres of Chinese cooking include Sweet & Sour dishes, Ramen, and Fried Rice respectively.
Cantonese cooking most commonly crossed over to the West and found its way into American-Chinese kitchens, whereas Hunan and Sichuan are famously known for their killer hot peppers that leave your mouth numb, tingling, yet somehow craving more. Anhui and Jiangsu incorporates its proximity to the sea into its style serving up stews and mainly fish based dishes described as delicate and tender. The remaining regions incorporate a variety of locally sourced ingredients, most often focusing on a few popularized meat based dishes (see Dongo Pork, Dezhou Stewed Chicken, Shark Fin Soup, accompanied by fresh vegetables (occasionally dried) and rice.
There are a few common ways Chinese food is prepared and served, however, meals are typically shared in larger groups with friends and family as the centerpiece to bringing people together.
See a few of my recent favorites spots in New York City if you’re looking for a taste of Chinese authenticity:
NYC’s Top Chinese Restaurants (Manhattan, Queens, BK)
- Hunan Slurp — East Village, Manhattan
- Málà Project— East Village, Manhattan
- Red Farm — West Village & Upper West Side
- Mission Chinese — Lower East Side, Manhattan
- Szechuan House — Flushing, Queens
- King’s Country Imperial — Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Birds of a Feather — Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- General Deb’s — Bushwick, Brooklyn
- Kai Feng Fu Dumpling House — Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Macao Trading Co — Tribeca
