Unit2ChineseFoodandTeaCulture.docVIP

Unit 2 Chinese Food and Tea Culture Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale. 桬lsa Schiaparelli Text A Chinese Dietary Culture Dietary culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. It has rich connotations including the resources of food, cooking skill, food production, dietotherapy, public dietary ways and customs, and dietary art. Throughout the long history of China, cuisine has played an important role and is now considered an integral part of, traditional Chinese culture. Generally speaking, there are three essential factors by which Chinese cooking is judged, namely, “color, aroma and taste”. “Color” refers to the layout and design of the dishes. 揂roma?implies not only the smell of the dish, but also the freshness of the materials and the blending of seasonings. es“Taste” involves proper seasoning and fine slicing techniques. These three essential factors are achieved by careful coordination of a series of delicate activities： selecting ingredients, mixing flavors, timing and cooking, adjustment of the heat, and laying out the food on the plate. A gourmet can find out slight differences in the tastes. People living in different regions display great variety in their diets. People in coastal areas eat more seafood and aquatic products, whereas those in central and northwest China eat more domestic animals and poultry. Foods vary from north to south. Tastes also differ regionally because of the climatic differences. One popular summary of Chinese food is搒weet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the west, and spicy in the east.?People in different regions have created their own cuisines to suit their tastes. There are four major cooking styles in China: Sichuan, Canton, Shandong and Huaiyang, each distinctly different. There are called