The Experience Of Chinese Food During Your China Study

When you take your China Study challenge – a challenge which involves coming to China to learn fluent Chinese- you will notice the importance of food within Chinese culture. The Chinese are very proud of their food and with over 5,000 dishes, they should be. Chinese food is complicated as it needs to balance taste, with aroma, looks, texture, and nutrition. So to call yourself a chef in China, it is a title which associates you with complete knowledge and mastery of food.

During your China study course and increased knowledge of China, you will realize that the theory of “balancing foods” is hugely important and started many centuries ago. Aroma, flavor, and colour are all very important, but so true is nutrition. This theory of the “harmonization of foods” can be traced back to scholar Yi Yin in the Shang dynasty's (16th to 11th century B.C).

Yi Yin relates the five flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, piquant, and salty to the nutritional needs of the five major organ systems of the body: the liver, heart, lungs, spleen and kidneys. Yi Yin stresses their role in maintaining good physical health.
The importance of health can be represented by the main plants used in Chinese cooking such as dried lily buds, scallions, garlic, fresh ginger root and tree fungus. As you complete your China study challenge one will consume quite a lot of these plants as they are regarded as having the properties of preventing and alleviating various illnesses, and therefore can be found in a majority of dishes. A traditional Chinese belief it that food and medicine share the same origin and that food has a medicinal value. This is one Chinese belief you will take from you China study experience.

This view provides the bases for nutritional science in China, and according to health ratios, the correct proportion of meat to vegetable ingredients should be maintained as: One-third of meat-based dishes should be made of vegetable ingredients, and one-third of vegetable dishes should consist of meat. For soups the quantity of water used should total seven-tenths the volume of the serving bowl. Basically, to ensure nutritional value, China at a very early stage developed its own form of nutritional science in preparation of each dish or soup. When you do your China study programme, you will be eating healthy!

As the world globalizes, Chinese food has become available in practically all corners of the world. Northern dishes which have received popularity include smoked chicken, Peking duck, chafing dish with sliced lamb, fish slices in sauce, beef with green pepper, and dried scallops with Chinese white radish balls. Different varieties of these dishes are sold to meet the local taste buds. As for popular Southern style cooking found across international borders include chicken baked in salt, duck smoked with camphor and tea, flash-fried shrimp, honey glazed ham, eggplant in soy sauce, and Szechwan style bean curd. You don’t need to travel to China and complete your China study course to eat Chinese.

A new twist in Chinese cuisines however is the addition of Chinese fast food. This new concept of serving up Chinese food is developing on both a domestic and international level and is based on the world’s largest fast food chains such as McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut which have received a huge welcome in China. This new additional twist may be less common in the western world, but as China develops and continues to spread it culture, influence, and food, this new concept could soon meet a food store near you.

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