The role of food in China's history and cultures

— by Patricia Depew

Did you know that in China, it is considered poor etiquette to invite friends to your home without providing appropriate delicious foods? Food and its preparation are considered an art, rather than a task to be endured in the Middle Kingdom. With a history that goes back about 5,000 years, the Chinese peoples have acquired ideas from their many religions and cultures when it comes to food.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) established principles for cooking and table etiquette, most of which remain to this day. He reasoned that, as a matter of advancement in civilization, instruments used for killing must be banned from the dining table. Therefore, knives weren't permitted, and that is why Chinese food is chopped into bite size pieces before it reaches the table. He also advocated the use of chopsticks for this same reason, stating that they reflect gentleness and compassion, the main moral teaching of Confucianism.

Confucius also encouraged the mixing of ingredients in food preparation. Harmony was his priority. He believed and taught that without harmony of ingredients there could be no taste. He also emphasized the importance of presentation and the use of color, texture and decoration of a dish. He was instrumental in spreading the philosophy of "live to eat" rather than "eat to live."

Chinese Taoists were more interested in the life-giving properties of food rather than its taste and appearance. Chinese have claimed health-giving properties of all sorts of roots, herbs, fungi and plants.

Throughout China's history the national drink has been tea. In almost every dialect, it is called "cha." Tea has also played a vital role in Chinese history as it has been used as a national treasure, a state currency (in the form of pressed bricks) and as cash. There are a thousand varieties of tea with the three main types being red, green and black.

It seems that without rice, the Chinese would not have a cuisine. This is evidenced by typical Chinese sayings such as ch'in fan (meaning "to have a meal" or literally "eat rice") and sha fan (meaning "to encourage one to eat more rice" or literally "rice sending"). In addition to rice, people eat wheat products in China's north.

Examples of ethnic and regional cuisine/agriculture
Chinese food, along with the cuisines of France and Italy, are considered to be the best in the world. But which Chinese food is really Chinese food? Broadly speaking, there are eight different regional cuisines in this huge country due to the diversity of its climates, products and customs. These cuisines include Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong (Cantonese), Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Anhui. Let's take a brief look at each of these eight.

Shandong cuisine mainly developed from the local dishes of Jinan and Jiaodong Peninsula from 1368-1911. The dishes include a wide variety of aquatic foods, fruits, vegetables and seasonings. Shandong soups are well known. One is the famous Bird's Nest Soup made from the nests of the swiftlet, a tiny bird found throughout Southeast Asia.

Sichuan food is expected to be hot, sour, sweet, and salty. The hot pepper, an important flavoring in Sichuan cuisine, was introduced into China from South America around the end of the 17th century. Originally the people of Sichuan preferred foods that were sweet and flavored with ginger, mustard, chives or onions. Velvet shark's fin, braised bear's paw and minced chicken with hollyhock are Sichuan specialties.

Guangdong (Cantonese) food has become famous worldwide in the last 100 years, although it was first developed about 200 B.C. The Cantonese are known to have an adventurous palate. They eat many different kinds of meats, vegetables and exotic items. In fact, it seems that to the Cantonese, almost everything that walks, crawls, flies, or swims is edible. Various unusual ingredients are used for some dishes, including snakes and cats. The most famous snake dish in Guangdong is the "dragon and tiger locked in battle," in which they use cobras, leopards, and over 20 spices. Guangdong chefs also pay much attention to the artistic presentation of their dishes.

The Fujian coastal area produces many varieties of fish, turtles and shellfish that are used in their cuisine. Almost all Fujian dishes are served as soup. Their most famous soup is called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. The name implies the dish is so delicious that even the Buddha would jump over a wall to eat it once he smelled it! Fujian cuisine stresses fine slicing techniques so much that it is reputed as "sliced ingredients are as thin as paper and shredded as slim as hairs."

Jiangsu cuisine is known for its distinctive style and taste. Some of the typical raw materials are fresh and live aquatic animals, tea leaves, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, pears, and dates. Its carving techniques are delicate, of which the melon carving is especially well known. Jiangsu dishes taste fresh, light and mellow.

Zhejiang cuisine includes roast chicken (commonly known as Beggar's chicken), Dongpo pork, west lake fish in vinegar sauce and Songsao Shredded Fish soup. Songsao Soup was highly praised by the Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) as the "Number One Dish in the World!"

Hunan cuisine, sometimes called Xiang cuisine, consists of the cuisines of two Chinese regions and that of western Hunan Province. While similar to Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine is often spicier and contains a larger variety of ingredients.

Anhui Cuisine comprises the specialties of South Anhui, Yanjiang and Huai Bei. Anhui chefs pay close attention to the taste, color of dishes and the temperature to cook them. These chefs are good at braising and stewing. Generally the food is slightly spicy and salty. Anhui specialties include steamed stone frog, stewed fish belly in brown sauce and bamboo shoots cooked with sausage and dried mushroom.

Recent Change in the Chinese Diet
China is raising quality and safety standards, learning more about the world market, improving its marketing system, and becoming more competitive in many food sectors. This also has increased the need for people worldwide to develop a better understanding of the Han Chinese cultures, and especially the Mandarin language. One of these countries is Argentina, where three times more people have studied Mandarin in recent years than ever before. The changes sweeping across China's food sector have had a modest but growing impact on U.S. exports. Some U.S. businesses such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and Pizza Hut have expanded rapidly in China, but they acquire most of their raw materials locally. Foreign brands of soft drinks, yogurt, sausage, potato chips, breakfast cereals, jellies, wine, and other foods and beverages comprise only about five percent of products in Chinese supermarkets. Many of those products are also manufactured with local ingredients.

Physical and Spiritual Food
One of the significant links of China with the world has been its food. But what is more important than physical food is the rich provision that God has given for the feeding of people's souls. Without this food the souls of Chinese people will starve spiritually.

Christianity arrived in China in the 5th century A.D. Missionaries came throughout the centuries that followed. However the seed (gospel message) did not penetrate the bulk of the Chinese people. Through prayer and the persistence of believers, the gospel seed did take root, and today there are an estimated 90 million Christians in China who seek the spiritual food of God.

Pray...

Pray that the Chinese people groups who are starving spiritually will accept the greatest food that God has to offer, the Bread of Life, Jesus.

Pray that Chinese Christians will receive the much-needed Bibles which will give them more spiritual food so they can sow the "gospel seed" among China's unreached minorities, many of which we will pray for this month.

Pray that the increased worldwide trade with China will open a way for Christians to increase the harvest for the Kingdom of God.