Homeland

China has vast land and long history. Throughout its history, every economic prosperity had been accompanied by an abundance of products which helped Chinese cuisine to boom. In modern Chinese society, cuisine has developed into four major types of cuisines, Lu Cuisine, Chuan Cuisine, Huaiyang Cuisine and Yue Cuisine. They are divided according to the materials selected and also the cooking method, but the most important may be the culture inherited from the food itself.

Lu Cuisine is also called Shandong Cuisine because it is found in Shandong province, which was one of the first civilized regions. The main feature of Lu Cuisine is the freshness of materials and salty flavor. The ingredients are selected from a wide range which contains almost all kinds of meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables. The notable dumplings & Peking duck originated from Lu Cuisine.

Chuan Cuisine is famous for its hot and spicy foods, which originated in Sichuan province in China. The province’s climate is humid and steamy in the summer and damp and chilly in the winter, so people need to eat the right spices to drive out this dampness and restore a healthy equilibrium. The famous dishes are boiled fish, Kung Pao Chicken, etc.

Huaiyang Cuisine flourished in the Qing dynasty. In ancient China, the salt is only sold by the government or certificated merchants. And salt is a mandatory seasoning for cooking but could not be made by everyone. Then the person who controls the sales of salt would have unbelievable wealth. When the salt merchants who lived in Jiangsu province owned a huge amount of fortune, they do not only seek a luxury living environment, but also luxury foods. So Huaiyang Cuisine features exquisite knife skills, precious ingredients and luxurious decorations.

Yue Cuisine has another name Cantonese Cuisine, which is popular in Guangdong province, and also in Hong Kong and Macau. The cooking method of Yue Cuisine is to try best to keep the ingredients’ original taste by steaming or boiling, but not frying, so most people see Yue Cuisine as the healthiest cuisine because it is cooked with less oil, and less salt.