Features of Chinese Regional Cuisines

China's regional cuisines generally taste as follows:

• Northern China food — salty, simple, less vegetables with wheat as the staple food

• Western China food — hearty halal food with lamb the main meat

• Central China food — spicy with a lot of seasonings

• Eastern China food — sweet and light

• Southern minority food — sour

Read on to find out more.

The 8 Great Cuisines of China

There are many styles of cooking in China, but Chinese chefs have identified eight culinary traditions as the best. These have set the course of how Chinese cook food, and are looked to as models. Each of these schools has a distinct style and different strengths.

The Features of the 8 Great Cuisines of China

• Shandong Cuisine: fresh and salty with a lot of seafood dishes.

• Sichuan and Hunan cuisines: hot spice.

• Guangdong (Cantonese), Zhejiang, Jiangsu cuisines: great seafood, and generally sweet and light flavors.

• Anhui and Fujian cuisines: inclusion of wild foods from their mountains.

2. Sichuan Cuisine

• Chinese: 川菜 Chuāncài

• Spicy and bold, often mouth-numbing, using lots of chili, garlic, ginger, and peanuts

Sichuan Province produced the most widely served cuisine in China. Their dishes are famous for their hot-spicy taste and the numbing flavor of Sichuan peppercorn that is rare in other regional cuisines. It is the food of Chengdu and Chongqing (which used to be part of Sichuan).

3. Jiangsu Cuisine

• Chinese: 苏菜 Sūcài

• Fresh, moderately salty and sweet, precise cooking techniques, favoring seafood, soups and artistic, colorful presentation

Jiangsu Province and China's biggest city, Shanghai, have a very refined gourmet cuisine that is often served at government banquets.

What makes it special is the exquisite cooking techniques that produce richly aromatic and visually artistic dishes. Their chefs also focus on serving meals that promote health.

4. Zhejiang Cuisine

• Chinese: 浙菜 Zhècài

• Mellow, using fresh seafood, freshwater fish, and bamboo shoots, and a wide variety of cooking methods.

Zhejiang Province is the province south of Jiangsu, and it borders on Shanghai too, so their style is similar to theirs, but it is less elaborately prepared. They focus more on serving fresh food.

The food is often served raw or almost raw and is fresh and crispy and seasonal. It is more like Japanese food. Ningbo cuisine is very salty.

5. Fujian/Min Cuisine

• Chinese: 闽菜 Mǐncài

• Lighter, with a mild sweet and sour taste, using ingredients from the sea and the mountains

Fujian Province is known for great seafood and soups and the precise use of scintillating but not tongue numbing spices. Adding much wild exotic delicacies from the sea and mountains makes their dishes have unusual flavors. It is like a culinary wild adventure.

4. Zhejiang Cuisine

• Chinese: 浙菜 Zhècài

• Mellow, using fresh seafood, freshwater fish, and bamboo shoots, and a wide variety of cooking methods.

Zhejiang Province is the province south of Jiangsu, and it borders on Shanghai too, so their style is similar to theirs, but it is less elaborately prepared. They focus more on serving fresh food.

The food is often served raw or almost raw and is fresh and crispy and seasonal. It is more like Japanese food. Ningbo cuisine is very salty.

5. Fujian/Min Cuisine

• Chinese: 闽菜 Mǐncài

• Lighter, with a mild sweet and sour taste, using ingredients from the sea and the mountains

Fujian Province is known for great seafood and soups and the precise use of scintillating but not tongue numbing spices. Adding much wild exotic delicacies from the sea and mountains makes their dishes have unusual flavors. It is like a culinary wild adventure.

7. Anhui Cuisine

• Chinese: 徽菜 Huīcài

• Uses many wild plants and animals as ingredients, favoring stewing and more oil

Anhui cuisine is even wilder than Fujian cuisine. It is inland, and big mountains such as the Yellow Mountains are the source of lots of different wild foods and herbs. It is basically a hearty mountain peasant food. Some of the best dishes incorporate wild food for an unusual taste. Some dishes are sweet from added sugar.

8. Shandong Cuisine

• Chinese: 鲁菜 Lǔcài

• Salty and crispy, favoring braising and seafood

Shandong was one of the first civilized areas, and it set the pattern for northern styles of cooking. With a long coast, seafood is its forte.

They preserve the original taste of the seafood by using simple ingredients and braising, and they like vinegar and salt. Unlike southern cuisines, they serve much more wheat food, including their noodles.