Chinese cuisine

"Chinese food" redirects here. For Chinese food in America, see American Chinese cuisine.

Chinese fried rice

Chinese cuisine includes styles originating from the diverse regions of China, plus styles of Chinese people in other parts of the world. The history of Chinese cuisine in China stretches back for thousands of years and has changed from period to period and in each region according to climate, imperial fashions, and local preferences. Over time, techniques and ingredients from the cuisines of other cultures were integrated into the cuisine of the Chinese peoples due both to imperial expansion and from the trade with nearby regions in pre-modern times as well as from Europe and the New World in the modern period.

Styles and tastes also varied by class, region, and ethnic background. This led to an unparalleled range of ingredients, techniques, dishes and eating styles in what could be called Chinese food, leading Chinese to pride themselves on eating a wide variety of foods while remaining true to the spirit and traditions of Chinese food culture.

The so-called Eight Culinary Traditions of China are Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang cuisines.

Prominent styles of Chinese cuisine outside China include Singaporean, Malaysian, Indonesian, and American, but there is Chinese cuisine wherever Chinese people are found.

History

See also: List of sources of Chinese culinary history

Much like in France, Chinese society greatly valued gastronomy and a willingness to eat virtually anything edible, plant or animal. The first act of many emperors was to appoint a head chef to his court, and competition between cooks could be fierce.

During the early part of recorded Chinese history in the Shang Dynasty and Chou Dynasty, pork, beef, and mutton were eaten and various wild game hunted. Plants such as thistle, royal fern, and smartweed were collected wild. Meat was preserved with salt, vinegar, curing, and fermenting. Flavor of meat dishes was enhanced by cooking it in the fat of a different animal.

During the Han Dynasty, Chinese society grew more sophisticated and so did the cuisine, the hallmark of a stable and affluent society. Herbs were important to the Chinese people, especially during the Han Dynasty. By the time of Confucius, gastronomy was becoming a high art. The great sage wrote of one such picky eater: "For him, the rice could never be white enough. When it was not cooked right, he would not eat. When it was out of season, he would not eat. When the meat was not cut properly, he would not eat. When the food was not prepared with the right sauce, he would not eat."

By the 2nd century AD, writers frequently complained of lazy aristocrats who did nothing but sit around all day eating smoked meats and roasts. Starting in the Song Dynasty, Chinese cooking began to take a new direction that would reach its zenith during the Qing Dynasty, which brought about simple, highly elegant cuisine that was done with the primary object of extracting the maximum flavor of each ingredient.

In most dishes in Chinese cuisine, food is prepared in bite-sized pieces, ready for direct pickup and eating with chopsticks. Traditional Chinese cuisine is also based on opposites, whereby hot balances cold, pickled balances fresh, and spicy balances mild. The four traditional criteria for good Chinese food are colour, aroma, taste and texture.

Regional cuisines

Beef noodle soup

A number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine but perhaps the best known and most influential are Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine (specifically Huaiyang cuisine) and Szechuan cuisine. These styles are distinctive from one another due to factors such as available resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favour the use of lots of garlic and shallots over lots of chilli and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats and fowl.

Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing, while Sichuan cuisine employs baking, just to name a few. Hairy crab is a highly sought after local delicacy in Shanghai, as it can be found in lakes within the region. Peking Duck is another popular dish well known outside of China.

Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation and cultural differences, a variety of foods with different flavours and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.

Yue (Guangdong, Cantonese) （粤菜）

Main article: Cantonese cuisine

Dim sum, literally "touch your heart", is a Cantonese term for small hearty dishes. These bite-sized portions are prepared using traditional cooking methods such as frying, steaming, stewing and baking. It is designed so that one person may taste a variety of different dishes. Some of these may include rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns, shui jiao-style dumplings, stir-fried green vegetables, congee porridge, soups, etc. The Cantonese style of dining, yum cha, combines the variety of dim sum dishes with the drinking of tea. Yum cha literally means 'drink tea'.

Cantonese style is the unique and charm dishes, which enjoy a long history and a good reputation both at home and abroad. It is common with other parts of the diet and cuisine in Chinese food culture. Back in ancient times, and the Central Plains on Lingnan Yue Chu family has close contacts. With the changes of dynasty historically, many people escaped the war and crossed the Central Plains, the increasing integration of the two communities. Central Plains culture gradually moved to the south. As a result, their food production techniques, cookware, utensils and property turned into a rich combination of Agriculture, which is the origin of Cantonese food. Cantonese cuisine originated in the Han.

Chuan (Szechuan) （川菜）

Main article: Szechuan cuisine

Sichuan (spelled Szechuan in the once common Postal Romanization), is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in the Sichuan Province of southwestern China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn (花椒, huājiāo) and Facing heaven pepper (朝天椒, cháotiānjiāo). Peanuts, sesame paste and ginger are also prominent ingredients in this style.

Hui (Huizhou) （徽菜）

Main article: Anhui cuisine

Anhui cuisine (Chinese: 徽菜 or 徽州菜, huīzhoucài) is derived from the native cooking styles of the Huangshan Mountains region in China and is similar to Jiangsu cuisine, but with less emphasis on seafood and more on a wide variety of local herbs and vegetables. Anhui province is particularly endowed with fresh bamboo and mushroom crops.

Lu (Shandong) （魯菜）

Main article: Shandong cuisine

Shandong Cuisine (魯菜) is commonly and simply known as Lu cuisine. With a long history, Shandong Cuisine once formed an important part of the imperial cuisine and was widely promoted in North China. However, it isn't so popular in South China (including the more embracing Shanghai).

Shandong Cuisine is featured by a variety of cooking techniques and seafood. The typical dishes on local menu are braised abalone, braised trepang, sweet and sour carp, Jiuzhuan Dachang and Dezhou Chicken. Various Shandong snacks are also worth trying.

Min (Fujian) （闽菜）

A bowl of Fujian thick soup, or geng (羹, gēng)

Main article: Fujian cuisine

Fujian cuisine is a Fujian coastal region. Woodland delicacies such as edible mushrooms and bamboo shoots are also utilized. Slicing techniques are valued in the cuisine and utilized to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of seafood and other foods. Fujian cuisine is often served in a broth or soup, with cooking techniques including braising, stewing, steaming and boiling.

Su (Jiangsu, Huaiyang) （蘇菜）

Main article: Jiangsu cuisine

Jiangsu cuisine, also known as Su (Cai) Cuisine for short, is one of the major components of Chinese cuisine, which consists of the styles of Yangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and Zhenjiang dishes. It is very famous all over the world for its distinctive style and taste. It is especially popular in the lower reach of the Yangtze River.

Typical courses of Jiangsu cuisine are Jinling salted dried duck (Nanjing's most famous dish), crystal meat (pork heels in a bright, brown sauce), clear crab shell meatballs (pork meatballs in crab shell powder, fatty, yet fresh), Yangzhou steamed Jerky strips (dried tofu, chicken, ham and pea leaves), triple combo duck, dried duck, and Farewell My Concubine (soft-shelled turtle stewed with many other ingredients such as chicken, mushrooms and wine).

Xiang (Hunan) （湘菜）

Main article: Hunan cuisine

Hunan cuisine is well known for its hot spicy flavor, fresh aroma and deep color. Common cooking techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, there are many varied ingredients for Hunan dishes.

Zhe (Zhejiang) （浙菜）

Main article: Zhejiang cuisine

Zhejiang cuisine (Chinese: 浙菜 or 浙江菜, Zhèjiāngcài) derives from the native cooking styles of the Zhejiang region. The dishes are not greasy, having but instead a fresh, soft flavor with a mellow fragrance.

The cuisine consists of at least four styles, each of which originates from different cities in the province:

• Hangzhou style, characterized by rich variations and the use of bamboo shoots
• Shaoxing style, specializing in poultry and freshwater fish
• Ningbo style, specializing in seafood
• Shanghai style, a combination of different Zhe styles, also very famous for its dim sum

Other

Nematalosa (Western Pacific gizzard shad)

Many other regions and ethnic groups with unique dishes and styles are represented in China, including Hakka, Macau, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, the Northeast, and many more.

Xinjiang Islamic barbecue (回菜)

Main article: Xinjiang cuisine

The cuisine of Xinjiang reflects the region's many ethnic groups, and refers particularly to Uyghur cuisine. Signature ingredients include roasted mutton, kebabs, roasted fish and rice. Because of the Muslim population, the food is predominantly halal.

Mongolian hotpot (蒙古火锅)

Main article: Mongolian cuisine

Mongolian hotpot is very famous in China, and popular with the Han ethnic group too. It has many franchises.

Tibetan cuisine (藏菜)

Main article: Tibetan cuisine

Tibetan cuisine is traditionally served with bamboo chopsticks, in contrast to other Himalayan cuisines, which are eaten by hand. Small soup bowls are used, and the wealthier Tibetans ate from bowls of gold and silver.

Staple foods

Rice

Rice is a major staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China. Steamed rice, usually white rice, is the most commonly eaten. Rice is also used to produce beers, wines and vinegars. Rice is one of the most popular foods in China and is used in many dishes.

Noodles

Main article: Chinese noodles

Chinese noodles come dry or fresh in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures and are often served in soups or fried as toppings. Some varieties, such as Shou Mian (寿面, literally noodles of longevity), are symbolic of long life and good health according to Chinese tradition. Noodles can be served hot or cold with different toppings, with broth, and occasionally dry (as is the case with mi-fun). Noodles are commonly made with rice flour or wheat flour.

Soybeans

Tofu is made of soybeans and is another popular product that supplies protein. Other products such as Soy milk, Soy paste, Soy oil, and Soy sauce are also important in Chinese cooking.

Wheat

In wheat farming areas in Northern China, people largely rely on flour-based food, such as noodles, breads, dumplings and steamed buns.

Vegetables

Cooked Chinese cabbage

Some common vegetables used in Chinese cuisine include Chinese leaves, bok choy (Chinese cabbage), Chinese spinach (dao-mieu), on choy, yu choy, Chinese broccoli, bitter melon, and gailan (guy-lahn). Other vegetables include bean sprouts, pea vine tips, watercress, celery, fresh mustard greens, and (Western) broccoli.

Herbs and seasonings

Spices and seasonings such as fresh root ginger, garlic, scallion, white pepper, and sesame oil are widely used in many regional cuisines. Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cilantro, parsley, and cloves are also used.

To provide extra flavors to dishes, many Chinese cuisines also contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimps, dried tangerine peel, and dried Sichuan chillies as well.

When it comes to sauces, China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soy beans and wheat. Oyster sauce, clear rice vinegar, chili, Chinkiang black rice vinegar, fish sauce and fermented tofu (furu) are also widely used. A number of sauces are based on fermented soybeans, including Hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce.

Desserts

Deep-fried mantou, a popular Chinese dessert, served with sweetened condensed milk

Pan-fried water chestnut cake (馬蹄糕), a type of Chinese gao dessert

Main article: Chinese desserts

Generally, seasonal fruits serve as the most common form of dessert consumed after dinner.

Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, along with meals, or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine.

In larger cities, a wide variety of Chinese bakery products is available, including baked, steamed, boiled, or deep-fried sweet or savory snacks. Bings are baked wheat flour based confections, and include moon cake, red bean paste pancake, and sun cakes. Chinese candies and sweets, called táng are usually made with cane sugar, malt sugar, honey, nuts and fruit. Gao or Guo are rice based snacks that are typically steamed and may be made from glutinous or normal rice.

Ice cream is commonly available throughout China. Another cold dessert is called baobing, which is shaved ice with sweet syrup. Chinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices. Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are flavored with fruits, though gelatin based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts.

Chinese dessert soups typically consist of sweet and usually hot soups and custards. Chinese desserts are frequently less sugary and milder in taste than western style desserts. Some restaurants do not serve dessert at all.

Delicatessen

Cold dishes

Cold dishes can have a very large range of food, from jelly to ice cream to crakers to cold soups

Soups

Main article: Chinese soup

Chinese pickles

Main article: Chinese pickles

Chinese sausage

There are different types of Chinese sausages depending upon the region in which it is produced. Chinese sausage is darker and thinner than western sausages. The most common sausage is made of pork and pork fat. Flavor varies on the ingredients used, but it generally has a salty-sweet taste. Chinese sausage can be prepared in many different ways, including oven-roasted, stir-fried, and steamed.

Tofu products

Stinky tofu is a type of fermented tofu that has a strong odor. Like blue cheese or durian, it has a very distinct, potent smell, and is somewhat of an acquired taste. Its smell is as expected from the name; like spoiling tofu, and can be smelt from a block away when vendors are frying it or stewing it. It is often paired with soy sauce or something salty and spicy.

Doufulu is another type of fermented tofu which has a red skin and salty taste. This is more of a pickled type of tofu and is not as strongly scented as the stinky tofu. Doufulu has the consistency of slightly soft blue cheese, and a taste similar to Japanese miso paste, but less salty. Doufulu is frequently pickled together with soy beans and chili, and paired with rice congee.

Snacks

Prawn crackers are an often-consumed snack in Southeast China and Vietnam.

In contrast to their popularity in the US, fortune cookies are almost completely absent from Chinese cuisine within China.

Drinks

Tea

Longjing tea, also known as Dragon Well tea, is a variety of roasted green tea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, where it is produced mostly by hand and has been renowned for its high quality, earning the China Famous Tea title.

Main article: Chinese tea

As well as with dim sum, many Chinese drink their tea with snacks such as nuts, plums, dried fruit (in particular jujube), small sweets, melon seeds, and waxberry. China was the earliest country to cultivate and drink tea which is enjoyed by people from all social classes. Tea processing began after the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Chinese tea is often classified into several different categories according to the species of plant from which it is sourced, the region in which it is grown, and the method of production used. Some of these types are green tea, oolong tea, black tea, scented tea, white tea, and compressed tea. There are four major tea plantation regions: Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Huanan and the southwestern region. Well known types of green tea include Longjing, Huangshan, Mao Feng, Bilochun, Putuofeng Cha, and Liu'an Guapian. China is the world’s largest exporter of green tea.

One of the most ubiquitous accessories in modern China, after a wallet or purse and an umbrella, is a double-walled insulated glass thermos with tea leaves in the top behind a strainer.

Liquor

Main article: Chinese alcoholic beverages

Yellow wine has a long history in China, where the unique beverage is produced from rice and ranges between 10–15% alcohol content. The most popular brands include Shaoxing Lao Jiu, Shaoxing Hua Diao and Te Jia Fan. Wheat, corn and rice are used to produce Chinese liquor which is clear and aromatic, containing approximately 60% alcohol. This also has a long history in China, with production believed to date back to the Song Dynasty. Some popular brands of liquor include Er guo tou, Du Kang, Mao Tai, Lu Zhou Te Qu and Wu Liang Ye.

Herbal drinks

Main article: Chinese herb tea

Chinese herb tea, also known as medicinal herbal tea, is a kind of tea-soup made from purely Chinese medicinal herbs.

Milk

Chinese in earlier dynasties evidently drank milk and ate dairy products, although not necessarily from cows, but perhaps koumiss (fermented mare's milk) or goat's milk. After the Tang dynasty there emerged a line dividing Asia into two groups, those who depend on milk products (India, Tibet, Central Asians) and those who reject those foods. Chinese depend on soy, as more efficient way of supporting density, and to differentiate themselves from border nomads.

Most Chinese until recently have avoided milk, partly because pasturage for milk producers in a monsoon rice ecology is not economic, partly because milk products became negatively associated with horse riding, milk drinking nomadic tribes. There may even be a biological bias. A certain number of people in any ethnic group are lactose intolerant. In addition, human beings, like other mammals, after they are weaned, stop producing lactase enzymes (needed to digest milk) unless they drink milk. Lactose intolerance, then, is partly cultural, partly biological.

But this non-dairy tradition has undergone some change as a result of changing perceptions and global influences. For example, it has been suggested that, in the early 20th century Shanghai, “Western food, and in particular identifiably nourishing items like milk, became a symbol of a neo-traditional Chinese notion of family.”

Recent trends

Prior to the increased industrialization and modernization following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the consumption of meat or animal products was "strikingly low." Most meals would have consisted of rice, in the south, or wheat or other grain products in the north, accompanied with green vegetables, with protein often coming from foods like peanuts and soy. Fats and sugar were luxuries not eaten on a regular basis by most of the population.

With increasing wealth, Chinese diets have become richer over time, consuming more meats, fats, and sugar (with the major exception of late 1950s famine). According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, China's per capita food availability and consumption have increased, and average per capita food availability has grown from less than 1700 kcal in 1960 to 2570 kcal per day in 1995.

Chinese cuisine in other parts of the world

Where there are historical immigrant Chinese populations, the style of food has evolved and been adapted to local tastes and ingredients, and modified by the local cuisine, to greater or lesser extents. This has resulted in a number of forms of fusion cuisine, often very popular in the country in question, and some of these, such as ramen (Japanese Chinese) have become popular internationally. These include:

• Singaporean Chinese cuisine
• Indonesian Chinese cuisine
• Malaysian Chinese cuisine
• Japanese Chinese cuisine
• Korean Chinese cuisine
• American Chinese cuisine
• Canadian Chinese cuisine
• Caribbean Chinese cuisine
• Filipino Chinese cuisine
• Indian Chinese cuisine
• Pakistani Chinese cuisine
• Puerto Rican Chinese cuisine
• Chifa (Peruvian Chinese cuisine)
• Israeli Chinese cuisine

Jews and Chinese cuisine in New York City

While on the surface, one might believe it to just be a stereotype related to Christmas, the relationship with Jews and Chinese cuisine is well documented. The origin dates to the end of the 19th century on the Lower East Side because Jews and the Chinese lived in close proximity to each other. There were around a million Eastern European Jews living in New York around 1910 and the Jews constituted over “one quarter of the city’s population”. The majority of the Chinese immigrated to the Lower East Side from California after the 1880s and many of them went into the restaurant business.

The first mention of the Jewish population eating Chinese food was in 1899 in the American Hebrew Weekly journal. They criticized Jews for eating at non-kosher restaurants, particularly singling out Chinese food. Yet, Jews continued to eat at these establishments. In 1936, it was reported that there were eighteen Chinese restaurants open in heavily populated Jewish areas in the Lower East Side. Jews felt more comfortable at these restaurants then they did at the Italian or German eateries that were prevalent during this time period.

The reason for feeling comfortable in the Chinese restaurants largely had to do with the lack of prejudice that came from the Chinese people. The Chinese “accepted Jews and other immigrant and ethnic groups as customers without precondition”. In lower Manhattan, immigrant Jews would open delis for other Jews, the Italians ran restaurants primarily for other Italians, and the Germans had many places that would serve only Germans. The Chinese were so welcoming that more of the Jews and Italians would want to eat at their restaurants than they would want to eat at their own ethnic restaurants.

Stimulating a cosmopolitan lifestyle

While the Jews felt secure in the restaurants with how welcoming the Chinese people were, they were also drawn to the restaurants for reasons that did not relate directly to the food. “Of all the peoples whom immigrant Jews and their children met, of all the foods they encountered in America, the Chinese were the most foreign, the most ‘un-Jewish’”. Yet, this was appealing to the Jewish people and they viewed the food as exotic, which enticed them to go to the restaurants even more. A large majority of the Jews saw “eating in Chinese restaurants as an antidote for Jewish parochialism, for the exclusive and overweening emphasis on the culture of the Jews as it had been”. Many of the people that Tuchman and Levine spoke to felt that eating in a place that was “un-Jewish” showed that they could be “somewhat sophisticated, urbane New Yorkers”. The restaurants had unusual wallpaper, eccentric decorations, chopsticks, and the names of the food even sounded intriguingly unique. The generations of Jews that grew up in New York after the initial Eastern European Jews immigrated wanted their identity to be based on cosmopolitan ideals, and the second/third generation Jews felt that possessing sophistication would put them above others.

Kashrut: Bending the rules

“Chinese food eased the transition from kosher to acceptable non-kosher eating”. This is an interesting notion, considering that the “Jewish preoccupation with food is at least partially rooted in kashrut, the intricate set of dietary restrictions codified in the Torah”. While first generation Jews living in America practiced kashrut, the “second- and third-generation Jews precipitated an ethnic eating revolution by rejecting kashrut as impractical and anachronistic”. Chinese food put on a façade that allowed Jewish people to look the other way when thinking about the fact that Chinese food wasn’t particularly kosher. The food was “disguised through a process of cutting, chopping and mincing. Pork, shrimp, lobster, and other so-called dietary abominations are no longer viewed in their more natural states”. The pork was hidden and wrapped in a wonton that disguised it as a Jewish dumpling. This process of cutting, chopping, and mincing was referred to as “ko p’eng—‘to cut and cook’” in Ancient Chinese texts.

Chinese cuisine was “unusually well suited to Jewish tastes because, unlike virtually any other cuisine available in America, traditional Chinese cooking does not use any milk products whatsoever”. These small loopholes and ways of tricking oneself into believing that they weren’t breaking the rules of kashrut became prevalent in the younger generation. Breaking the rules of kashrut by eating Chinese food allowed the younger generation to assert their independence and it further established a “cosmopolitan spirit”.

Chinese food, Jews, and Christmas: Breaking down the stereotype

The stereotype of Jews going to eat Chinese food on Christmas does have an origin. In 1935, the New York Times reported that a restaurant owner named Eng Shee Chuck had brought chow mein to a Jewish children’s home in Newark on Christmas day. This article is considered to be one of the earliest publications of the stereotype that relates Jews to Chinese food on Christmas.

The relationship that Jews have to Chinese food certainly goes deeper than this stereotype. “Eating Chinese [food] has become a meaningful symbol of American Judaism… For in eating Chinese, the Jews found a modern means of expressing their traditional cultural values. The savoring of Chinese food is now a ritualized celebration of immigration, education, family, community, and continuity”. Chinese food is considered a staple in the Jewish culture, and the further option of kosher Chinese food is also becoming more and more available in the US.

See also

• A Bite of China, Seven part CCTV television series
• Chinese bakery products
• Chinese cooking techniques
• Customs and etiquette in Chinese dining
• List of Chinese dishes
• History of Chinese cuisine
• Chinese Cuisine Training Institute
• Chinese food therapy

References and further reading

History and general studies

• Eugene N. Anderson. The Food of China. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988). ISBN 0300047398.
• Kwang-Chih Chang. ed., Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977). ISBN 0300019386.
• David R. Knechtges, "A Literary Feast: Food in Early Chinese Literature," Journal of the American Oriental Society 106.1 (1986): 49-63.
• Jacqueline M. Newman. Food Culture in China. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004). ISBN 0313325812.
• J. A. G. Roberts. China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. (London: Reaktion, Globalities, 2002). ISBN 1861891334.
• Mark Swislocki. Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009). ISBN 9780804760126.
• Endymion Wilkinson, "Chinese Culinary History (Feature Review)," China Review International 8.2 (Fall 2001): 285-302.
• David Y. H. Wu and Sidney C. H. Cheung. ed., The Globalization of Chinese Food. (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, Anthropology of Asia Series, 2002). ISBN 0700714030.
• "Authentic, Speedy and Hybrid: Representations of Chinese Food and Cultural Globalization in Israel," Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Volume 16, Number 2, June 2013 , pp. 223–243.

Cookery books with background

• Buwei Yang Chao. How to Cook and Eat in Chinese. (New York: John Day, 1945; revisions and reprints).
• Fuchsia Dunlop. Land of Plenty : A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003). ISBN 0393051773.
• Fuchsia Dunlop. Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007). ISBN 0393062228.
• Fuchsia Dunlop. Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China. (New York: Norton, 2008). ISBN 9780393066579.
• Emily Hahn and Time-Life Books. Recipes, the Cooking of China. (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, Foods of the World, 1981).
• Hsiang-Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin. Chinese Gastronomy. (London: Nelson, 1969; rpr.). ISBN 0171470575.
• Martin Yan. Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns around the World. (New York: Morrow, 2002). ISBN 0060084758.

External links

• Chinese cuisine at Curlie
• BBC TWO Chinese food made easy