Home \(\blacktriangleright\) Children and Youth Unit \(\blacktriangleright\) Arrows Website \(\blacktriangleright\) Chinese Cuisine \(\blacktriangleright\) Activity 1: Chinese Cuisine
Activity 1: Chinese Cuisine - China's Regional Cooking Styles
China is a vast country, and so is its variety of flavors!
In this activity (by: Dr. Galit Boutsar), we will discover how climate and geography – a region’s proximity to the sea or the cultivation of wheat versus rice – created four entirely different cooking styles: spicy Sichuan, seasoned Hunan, maritime Fujian, and the familiar Canton.
Come examine the typical dishes of each region and discuss together: what would you choose to eat? And what do you think makes Chinese cuisine so diverse and special?
The Activity
The activity serves as an initial exposure to the great variety of cuisines in China.
Talk with the children and ask them why they think a single country has different cuisines? (Show them on the map that China is divided into regions, and each region has its own characteristic cuisine).
What do they think influences the cuisine in each region? Guide them to examine regions close to the sea versus inland regions, hot regions versus colder regions.
It can be inferred that there are regions in China where wheat can be easily grown, compared to other regions where rice is mainly grown. Therefore, in some cuisines, you can find mainly rice, in others mainly wheat, and in some both.
Go over the different foods in the various regions.
- Ask the children: what do they think they would like to eat in each cuisine?
\(\space\) - What do they think children living in this region of China like to eat?
\(\space\) - Is there something they would absolutely not taste, and why?
Sichuan and the West
The climate in the region is cold in winter and hot and humid in summer, and therefore the region’s dishes are spicy and use hot peppers, Sichuan pepper, ginger, garlic, and onion.
Both wheat and rice are grown in this region, so both noodles and rice will be served to the table.
Sometimes, cooking in Sichuan takes place at the dining table and not in the kitchen.
A metal pot filled with boiling sauce is placed on the table.
Those sitting at the table take uncooked pieces of food (chicken, fish, vegetables) with chopsticks and cook them in the sauce.
Hunan and Central China
The cuisine in this region is similar to Sichuan cuisine but more seasoned, and also includes sweet and sour style dishes, in addition to spicy foods in which chili pepper, onion, and garlic are used.
In this region, it is also customary to fry meats in batter.
Fujian and the East
In this region, the cuisine is rich in seafood (think about why).
The main characteristic of the cooking is dishes served as a soup that is a whole meal.
Many types of tea grow in this province, and the local pronunciation of the word tea is the source of the name in Hebrew.
Canton and the South
This is the most familiar cuisine to Western countries, because most immigrants from China came from this province.
In this cuisine, there is extensive use of soy and ginger, and the seasoning of the dishes is based on them.
One of the cooking methods in Cantonese cuisine is Dim Sum – steaming filled dough dumplings, as shown in the following picture.
