what is chinese food
it's much more than just stir fries
noodles and dumplings
up until the last decade or so chinese
restaurants in the west haven't been
very diverse
but china itself is in its climate
geography culture and consequently it's
food this is our breakdown of regional
chinese cuisines
for simplicity's sake we've divided
china into four regions north south east
and west the food in the north because
of the cold climate is heavy on meat and
carbs the southern seaboard is rich with
seafood and the regions around the
yangtze river delta in the east are
teeming with river fish and crustaceans
meanwhile the tropical southwest is lush
with vegetation
still it's difficult to categorize
chinese food
provincial borders are not the best
markers as many of them have shifted
over time with the rise and fall of
dynasties
now chinese food can be broken down into
many different categories but certain
regions cuisines have become dominant
simply because of their international
reach
generally speaking china has two main
carbs wheat and rice and their
prevalence follows a north-south divide
rice requires a lot of water and the
south gets plenty of it with more rain
on average than the north
therefore rice is consumed more in the
south and the north specializes in wheat
because it doesn't need all that much
water
in the north you'll see a lot of wheat
noodle dishes and quite a bit of buns
in the south you'll see a lot of fried
rice rice noodles and rice noodle rolls
let's zoom into the south
the southeast including guangdong
province and hong kong is home to
cantonese cuisine the flavor profile
here tends to be salty and sweet and
because of its proximity to the sea
there's a lot of seafood
this region is also the birthplace of
oyster sauce and hoisin sauce and people
here are really good at making sweet
barbecued meat
cantonese cuisine also includes dim sum
a class of small brunch bites powered by
steam
think rice noodle rolls and delicate
shrimp dumplings wrapped in tapioca
flour
just above is the east
among the four regional cuisines it is
the sweetest fish is deep fried and
ladled with sweet and sour sauce and
pork ribs are coated with soy sauce and
sugar
its proximity to a lush network of
waterways has earned it the moniker land
of fish and rice
freshwater fish and crustaceans tend to
dominate the menu
it also happens to be the home of soup
dumplings or shalom bal and yamsel fried
rice
over in the west you have a lush area
that's known for its subtropical climate
pandas and spicy food
fresh greens are abundant here and the
flavor profile is spicy and numbing
this is also the home of the sichuan
peppercorn
a chinese spice that will literally numb
the tongue
and finally we have the north
leafy greens are harder to find here
potatoes eggplant onions and cabbage
tend to be the plants of choice
meat is dominant especially beef and
lamb
and because it's a wheat heavy region
noodles buns and dumplings are
everywhere
you'll see dishes like lamb dumplings
and beef noodle soup
so there you have it a very simple
breakdown to the four most prominent
regions of chinese cuisine
coming up we'll be doing a much deeper
dive into each of these four regions
we've enlisted four tour guides and four
chefs to teach us more about their
respective cuisines
this is just the beginning so keep your
eye on this channel for more we're at
gold thread
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