Chinese cuisine (Chinese: 中国菜) originated from different regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world — from East Asia to North America, Australasia and Western Europe. National cuisine A meal in Chinese culture is typically seen as consisting of two or more general components: Pinyin (1) a carbohydrate source or starch, known as 主食 in the Chinese language, (zhǔshí , lit. "main food", staple) — typically rice, noodles, or mantou (steamed buns), and (2) Pinyin accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat, fish, or other items, known as 菜 (cài , lit. vegetable") in the Chinese language. This cultural conceptualization is in some ways in contrast to cuisines of Northern Europe and the USA, where meat or animal protein is often considered the main dish, and analogous to the one of most Mediterranean cuisines, based typically on wheat-derived components like pasta or cous cous. Rice is a critical part of much of Chinese cuisine. However, in many parts of China, particularly northern China, wheat-based products including noodles and steamed buns (such as mantou) predominate, in contrast to southern China where rice is dominant. Despite the importance of rice in Chinese cuisine, at extremely formal occasions, sometimes no rice at all will be served; in such a case, rice would only be provided when no other dishes remained, or as a token dish in the form of fried rice at the end of the meal. Soup is usually served at the start of a meal and at the end of a meal in Southern China. Chopsticks are the primary eating utensil in Chinese culture for solid foods, while soups [1] and other liquids are enjoyed with a wide, flat-bottomed spoon (traditionally made of ceramic). It is reported that wooden chopsticks are losing their dominance due to recent [citation needed] logging shortfalls in China and East Asia ; many Chinese eating establishments are considering a switch to a more environmentally sustainable eating utensil, such as [citation needed] plastic or bamboo chopsticks . More expensive materials used in the past included ivory and silver. On the other hand, disposable chopsticks made of wood/bamboo have all but replaced reusable ones in small restaurants. In most dishes in Chinese cuisine, food is prepared in bite-sized pieces (e.g. vegetable, meat, doufu), ready for direct picking up and eating. Traditionally, Chinese culture considered using knives and forks at the table barbaric due to fact that these implements are regarded as weapons. It was also considered ungracious to have guests work at cutting their own food. Fish are usually cooked and served whole, with diners directly pulling pieces from the fish with chopsticks to eat, unlike in some other cuisines where they are first filleted. This is because it is desired for fish to be served as fresh as possible. It is common in many restaurant settings for the server to use a pair of spoons to divide the fish into servings at the table. Chicken is another meat popular in Chinese meals. While the chicken is cut into pieces, every single piece of the chicken is served including gizzards and head.

The emphasis in Chinese culture on wholeness is reflected here. It is considered bad luck if fish or chicken is served without its head and tail, as that is synonymous with something that does not have a proper beginning or end. In a Chinese meal, each individual diner is given his or her own bowl of rice while the accompanying dishes are served in communal plates (or bowls) that are shared by everyone sitting at the table. In the Chinese meal, each diner picks food out of the communal plates on a bite-by-bite basis with their chopsticks. This is in contrast to western meals where it is customary to dole out individual servings of the dishes at the beginning of the meal. Many non-Chinese are uncomfortable with allowing a person's individual utensils (which might have traces of saliva) to touch the communal plates; for this hygienic reason, additional serving spoons or chopsticks （公筷, lit. common/public/shared chopsticks) may be made available. In areas with increased Western influence, such as Hong Kong, diners are provided individually with a heavy metal spoon for this purpose. The food selected is often eaten together with some rice either in one bite or in alternation. Vegetarianism is not uncommon or unusual in China, though, as is the case in the West, it is only practiced by a relatively small proportion of the population. The Chinese vegetarians do not eat a lot of tofu, unlike the stereotypical impression in the West. Most Chinese vegetarians are Buddhists. Chinese vegetarian dishes often contain large varieties of vegetables (e.g. pok choy, shiitake mushroom, sprouts, corn) and some "imitated meat". Such "imitated meat" is created mostly with soy to imitate the texture, taste, and appearance of duck, chicken, or pork. Chinese Buddhist cuisine has many true vegetarian dishes that contain no meat at all. In contrast to most western meals, a Chinese meal does not typically end with a dessert. However, a sweet dish is usually served at the end of a formal dinner or banquet, such as sliced fruits or a sweet soup (糖水, lit. sugar water) which is served warm. In traditional Chinese culture, cold beverages are believed to be harmful to digestion of hot food, so items like ice-cold water or soft drinks are traditionally not served at meal-time. Besides soup, if any other beverages are served, they would most likely be hot tea or hot water. Tea is believed to help in the digestion of greasy foods. Despite this tradition, nowadays beer and soft drinks are popular accompaniment with meals. A popular combo in many small restaurants in parts of China is hot pot served with cold beer, a combination known as 冷淡杯 (Pinyin: leng3 dan4 bei1, literally: cold and bland cup, despite being strongly flavored), which is the very opposite of what traditional wisdom would admonish. Ideas from Chinese herbology, such as the four natures, influence the food combinations favored in traditional Chinese meals. Common dishes found on a national level There are many dishes that are considered part of the nation's national cuisine today. Below are lists of a few of the more common dishes available in China on a national level.

Food has a special meaning to the Chinese people. The "waste not, want not" ethos means that a surprising range and variety of plants and animals, and every part of a plant or animal is used. This has given rise to a remarkable diversity in the regional cuisine, but to Westerners it can be overwhelming - surprising, fantastic, delicious, horrifying or disgusting - and above all, different. Chinese Cooking Art Chinese cooking embodies the dining culture tradition of Chinese nation. Compared with the cooking of all other nations in the world, it has many distinctive features. Firstly, it has varied flavor. Since our country has a vast territory and abundant resources with differences in climate, products, customs and habits in all parts, it has developed many flavors in diet over a long period of time. There has been the saying of rice in the south and noodles in the north in our country all the time. The flavor is divided into sweetness in the south, saltiness in the north, sourness in the east and hotness in the west, which can mainly be reduced to the four flavors of Bashu (Sichun), Qilu (Shandong), Huaiyang (Jiangsu) and Yuemin (Guangdong and Fujian). Secondly, there are differences in four seasons. With four seasons in a year, people take food according the seasons, which is another feature of Chinese cooking. Since antiquity, our country has always seasoned and matched food with the variation of seasons. The flavor is pure and thick in winter while light and cool in summer. The food are mostly braised, stewed, simmered in winter and cold and dressed with sauce and frozen in summer. Thirdly, it places an emphasis on aesthetic feeling. Chinese cooking has not only superior techniques, but also has the tradtion of placing an emphasis on the aesthetic feeling of dishes and pays attention to the harmony and agreement of food’s color, fragrance, flavor, shape and utensils. The aesthetic feeling of dishes has all around representations. Whether it is a red radish or a green cabbage, all kind of designs can be carved out, which has a unique style, attains the harmony of color, fragrance, flavor, shape and beauty and provides people with highly unified special enjoyment in spirit and material. Fourthly, it pays attention to temperament and interest. The cooking of our country has placed an emphasis on taste and interest since very early times. It not only has strict requirements on the color, fragrance and flavor of meals and snacks, but also has certain requirements on the naming of dishes, the manner of tasting the flavor, the rhythm of having dinner and the insertion of entertainment, etc. The names of Chinese dishes can be called reaching the aceme of perfection and suiting both refined and popular tastes.

The dishes may named realistically according to the main ingredients, supplementary ingredients and seasoning as well as their cooking methods or called in accordance with historical literary quotations, myths, legends, the intereting episodes of celebrities taking food, the image of dishes, such as "family collections (made of all sorts of seafood and riverfood)", "red lion's head (fried meatballs in brown sauce)", "beggar's chicken" (roasted chicken in yellow mud). Lastly, it combines food with medicine. The cooking technique of our country is closely related with medical treament and health care. There has been the statement that food and medicine have the same origin and action since several thousand years ago. It takes advantage of the medicinal properties of the raw materials of food and makes them into all kinds of cuisine, thereby accomplishing the purpose of preventing and curing certain diseases. Chinese Food and Health Building Throughout Chinese history people have searched for a way to achieve immortality. Huang Di. the Yellow Emperor. was the legendary forefather of all tribes in the Central Plains. He was well versed in medicine. language. philosophy. and mathematics. There is a Chinese myth that in remote ages Huang Di rode a dragon into heaven. Emperors of later dynasties. from Shi Huang. the founding emperor of the Qin Dynasty. to Wu Di. the emperor of the Han Dynasty. hoped to turn this myth into reality. They either sent virgins of both sexes to the East China Sea for the elixir of life. or blindly trusted necromancers and worshipped ghosts and gods in search of a way to become immortal. The Chinese theory of health building developed from efforts to protect and build health. prevent disease. and prolong life. The I Ching (Book of Changes). a Confucian classic written more than 2.000 years ago. says: "If accustomed to the nature of Heaven and Earth. man can live forever even if he gets sick." The philosophical writings of thinkers and statesmen from the late years of the Spring and Autumn Period contain many descriptions about health building. These writings include the Dao De Jing by Lao Zi. the Analects of Confucius and the Guan zi of Guan Zhong. These were the start of Chinese theories on health building. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (770 ?C 221 B.C.) were a fertile time for multiple schools of thought. and political pluralism provided a rich atmosphere for developing academic thought. Representatives of all schools of thought were concerned with political issues and problems related to life. As life is inseparable from food and drink. scholars of the pre ?C Qin times contemplated dietetic culture and the relationship between food and health building. Energy of foods Traditional Chinese Medicine classifies foods by their energetic values rather than their caloric or fat content. Here is a list of popular foods and their classification.

Superior Materials Material selection is the first and foremost technique for Chinese chefs and the basis for making top grade Chiense cuisine. It requires rich knowledge and skilled techiniques of application. The raw materials of each cuisine include main ingredients, side ingredients, supplementary ingredients and seasonings, which all need careful study and have fixed patterns. They can be generalized as the two words of "exquisiteness" and "fineness". This is what Confucius says high quality materials and finely cut meat. “Exquisiteness” means when selecting materials, people should consider the characteristics of their varities, places of origin, seasons and growth period, etc. Superior materials should be fresh, rich, tender, and excellent in quality. Take Beijing roasted duck as example. It selects the "stuffed duck" produced in Beijing. An exellent quality duck has a weight around two and a half kilograms. If it is too large, the flesh will be old while if it is too small, the flesh will not be fat and delicious enough. Sometimes materials need special treatment according to the flavor of dishes. Take the famous dish of Hangzhou "West Lake fish in vinegar" as example. It selects live grass carp produced by the West Lake. Though it tasets fresh, it has loose flesh and the smell of earth. Therefore, it should be placed in a specially made bamboo cage and starved for two days in clear water until its flesh become solid and the odor of earth is got rid of. In this way, the fish will taste more tender and delicious with the flavor of crab flesh after being cooked. "Fineness" means selecting raw materials from the best part. For example, the famous cuisine "chicken cubes with peanuts" selects the tender flesh at the breast of a spring chicken of the same year so as to guarantee the tenderness of flesh. Fine Slicing Techniques Slicing technique is namely the cutting treatment of a chef on raw materials of food so that the materials might have an orderly and identical shape required by cooking, adapt to duration and be heated evenly. In this way, the materials become tasty while retaining certain morphological beauty. Therefore, it is one of the keys of cooking techniques. Our country has attached great importance to the application of slicing techniques since ancient times. Through repeated practice, chefs of past dynasties have created abundant ways of cutting, such as straight cutting, slice cutting, oblique cutting, score cutting (score the material without cutting off) and engraving cutting, process raw materials into all shapes such as slice, strip, shred, pieces, diamond, grain, paste, into a variety of designs and colors such as pellet, ball, ear of wheat, Lizi, coir raincoat, orchid and chrysanthemum.

Cutting techniques are combined with dish decoration. Ripe materials and edible raw materials can be pieced together into highly artistic and lifelike hors d'oeuvres of birds, beasts, insects, fish, flower, grass, such as "dragon and phoenix bringing auspices and prosperity (made of snakes, hens, hams and medlars)", "peacock showing its tail (steamed bream with scallions and black beans)", "a pied magpie ascending the plumb tree (made of saut?ed goose breast, stewed winter mushroom with gravy, white cake, yellow cake, ripe chicken breast, carrot and ham, etc)", "lotus and crane (made of lotus, egg, shark fin and crab roe)" and "two phoenixes above flower basket". For example, "peacock showing its tail" uses fifteen ingredients such as duck meat, ham, pig tongue, partridge egg, crab claw meat and cucumber and is completed through twenty two exquisite cutting techniques and decorating procedures. Original Duration Duration is one of the keys to the formation of the flavor characteristics of delicious dishes. However, duration is fast changing, it is difficult to control the duration to perfection without several years of practical operational experience. Hence, a mastery of appropriate duration is a stunt of the chefs in our country. The chefs in our country can accurately distinguish between different firepower such as vigorous fire, medium fire and slow fire, are familiar with the heat-resistant degree of all kinds of ingredients, are skillful in controlling the time of using fire, excel in mastering the performance of heat transfer objects (oil, water and gas), fix on the sequence of placing ingredients into the boiler according to the ingredients’ degree of tenderness, amount of water, shapes, sizes, wholeness and thickness and apply cooking techniques flexibly. Hence, the cooked dishes can either be tender, soft or boiled to a mush. Duration is the most important thing in cooking and also the most difficult to be mastered and explained. However, whether a cook can become a famous chef, the key lies in duration. Therefore, when cooks in the cuisine field of our country operate duration, they bring into full play the abilities of subtle observation and experience and rich imagination with a lifetime's experience and intelligence of enlightening themselves and do the creation of diet culture. Ingenuity in varying tactics depends on mother wit. It’s really the case that "the gain and loss can be known to the cook's heart". Five Flavors Being in Harmonious Proportion Flavoring is an important cooking technique. "If five flavors are in harmonious proportion, there will be a hundred sweet-smelling flavors". The flavors of fish and meat dishes are divided into the basic type and the compoud type. The basic type is probably divided into nine categories, namely, saltiness, sweetness, sourness, spiciness, bitterness, freshness, fragrance, numbness and lightness. The compound type is difficult to be counted. It can generally be reduced to around fifty types. The flavor types of dishes in our country approximately include: salty and flesh flavor, salty and sweet flavor, sour and sweet flavor, spicy and salty flavor, fragrant and spicy flavor, spicy flavor, fragrant rice wine flavor, fish flavor and special spicy flavor, etc.