The History of Chinese Food The history of Chinese food is an interesting one. Unlike many cultures the Chinese believe that the preparation of food is an art and not simply a craft. The art of cooking Chinese food can include dishes and food preparation techniques which are difficult to develop and may require the expertise of a chef with lots of experience. One such technique is noodle pulling (scroll down to the bottom of the page to learn more about this technique). Noodle pulling requires skill and lots of practice and results in a delicious noodle dish. This article will refer to noodle pulling later on, but for now, let's go back to the history of Chinese food.
Chinese food and the way it is prepared is very much influenced by the two major philosophies, which influence the entire Chinese culture. These dominant philosophies are Confucianism and Taoism. Both have these philosophies have influenced the way that the Chinese people cook and the way that they enjoy their food.
Confucianism and Chinese Cuisine Confucius was the man behind the Confucianism beliefs. Among many other standards Confucius established standards for proper table etiquette and for the appearance and taste of Chinese food. One of the standards set by Confucius (you might have noticed this at an authentic Chinese restaurant) is that food must be cut into small bite size pieces before serving the dish. This is a custom that is definitely unique to the Chinese culture.
Knives at the dinner table are also considered to be a sign of very poor taste by those who embrace Confucianism beliefs. The standards of quality and taste that Confucius recommended required the perfect blend of ingredients, herbs and condiments--a blend which would result in the perfect combination of flavor. Confucius also emphasized the importance of the texture and color of a dish, and taught that food must be prepared and eaten with harmony. Interestingly enough, Confucius was also of the opinion that an excellent cook must first make an excellent matchmaker.
Taoism and Chinese Cuisine Those who follow the Taoism beliefs focus on the health benefits of particular foods vs. the presentation of the same. Taoists search for foods that will increase their health and longevity. They search for foods that have healing powers. Many times these benefits were often referred to as ?life giving powers?. For instance, the Chinese found that ginger, which can be considered to be a garnish or a condiment was found to be a remedy for upset stomachs or a remedy for colds.
Is Chinese Food Healthy? Chinese food, when authentic is probably the healthiest food in the world. Some restaurants, which are not authentic, prepare their menu with highly saturated fats or with meats that contain unhealthy amounts of animal fat. These Chinese restaurants are not recommended and they are both neither authentic nor healthy.
Good Chinese food however, is prepared and cooked with poly-unsaturated oils. Authentic Chinese food does not require the use of milk-fat ingredients such as cream, butter or cheese. Meat is used, but not in abundance, which makes it easy for those who love authentic Chinese food to avoid high levels of animal fat. Many believe that authentic Chinese food is really the ideal diet.
Chinese Restaurants in Every Part of the Nation Whether it is in a Tennessee Chinese Restaurant to a New York Chinese restaurant you are going to find culinary dishes that are both healthy and delicious. Savor the flavor with Chinese food!
Let's first get one thing straight right off the bat. Anybody who thinks that when they walk into a Chinese restaurant and order their meal that they get anything resembling what Chinese people really eat, has been eating in Chinese restaurants either way too often or not often enough. Having said that, we're going to concentrate on what we refer to as "Chinese American" restaurants, because in reality, that's what they are.
The stereotypes of who eats Chinese food are beyond silly. Other people besides Jews eat Chinese food, or what we call Chinese food. The reason these stereotypes exist is because many years ago when the modern day Chinese American restaurant started to become popular, the majority just happened to open up in Jewish neighborhoods. So naturally more Jewish people at there than anyone else. Today, you will find all kinds of people eating at Chinese restaurants.
So, what kind of food DO you find at a Chinese American restaurant? Most Chinese American dishes fall into what they call categories of food. Their are your chow mien dishes which feature the classic chicken chow mien. But you can get a lot more than just chicken chow mien. You can also get shrimp chow mien, beef chow mien, roast pork chow mien and just about any other kind of beef, pork, chicken or fish that you can think of. Just a quick tip. If you're going to get the chicken chow mien, get the white meat chicken chow mien. It costs about a buck more but they give you more chicken and the pieces are bigger.
Aside from your chow mien dishes you have your lo mien dishes. The only difference between these two are the kinds of noodles they use. Other than that, they are pretty much the same, at least at most restaurants in the states. The whole key to a Chinese dish is the vegetables that they put in it. Most of a Chinese dish is pretty much vegetables. There is relatively a lot less meat than there is vegetable. That's why the dishes are relatively inexpensive and also why you're hungry two hours later.
Then there are some specialty dishes. You can usually tell what these are because they have names like Moo Goo Gai Pan. You have absolutely NO idea what's in this stuff by reading the name of it. Fortunately, there is usually a description of the menu item underneath the title so you can get some idea of what you're eating.
Aside from the main dishes you get your standard side dishes like roast pork, egg roll, stuffed mushrooms, etc. Most people usually fill up on the fried Chinese noodles that they give you before you even get your dinner. This way it doesn't seem so much like you hardly ate anything. And of course the meal is topped off with a fortune cookie and some tea. This is standard fair for a Chinese restaurant.
Some of these restaurants are good, some are okay and some are not so great. It's hard to find a Chinese restaurant that's really terrible. After all, how much can you ruin a vegetable?
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