Abstract: The cooking of the Macanese, an ethnic group originating in Macau, represents one of the earliest examples of creole cooking. What can be seen on the dining plates of these people reflects history and culture dating back to the seafaring discoveries of the Portuguese. Macanese cuisine demonstrates how Portuguese culinary traditions have been interpreted
Abstract: First introduced into China by the Japanese in the 1930s, crayfish became popular in the Nanjing area in the early 1990s as part of a dish prepared with Sichuan pepper and spices. China is now the top consumer and producer of crayfish, which has gained acclaim as a luxury item prepared in a variety
Abstract: Non-rennet cheeses have existed in China for almost two millennia. Such cheeses reflect the influence of the foodways of pastoralists from the steppes, especially Persians and Turks. Premodern Chinese adopted the milking practices of these peoples and incorporated cheese and other dairy products into their diets. These ancient cheese-making practices survive nowadays in Yunnan
Abstract: Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, is home to one of China’s best-known noodle dishes: Lanzhou lamian. Created over a century ago, these hand-pulled beef noodles are a simple yet delicious regional specialty emblematic of both the city itself and the Hui Muslim people of the northwest. Lanzhou lamian have steadily acquired popularity and
Abstract: China has a long history of dairy production and consumption. Milk was appreciated for its culinary and medicinal uses, with successive dynasties expanding production and acquisition of pastoral animals. Now China is one of the world’s great dairy nations. Dairy was first commercially available in cities, but advances in packing and shipping have made
Abstract: In Chinese history, the practice of collecting recipes evolved along two parallel but interacting trends. The first placed food within a medical context in order to nourish the body and heal different ailments. The second was concerned with technical aspects as well as the aesthetic enjoyments of food. Beginning with twenty recipes found on
Abstract: Variations in cuisine among the Tibetan minority of China are due in part to environmental diversity. Different ecologies yielded varied adaptive strategies of resource use (economies), and resulted in three main types of food production: pastoralism, agriculture, and a mixed economy with both kinds of production. These strategies in turn affect the type of
Abstract: Food and drink have played a central role in Chinese religious and ceremonial life from ancient times to the present. The role of food and drink is conspicuous not only in terms of banquet and drinking etiquette, but also in a wide variety of religious practices observed throughout the Chinese-speaking world. These range from ancestral
Abstract: Nearly ubiquitous in China today, beef was not always so popular. Unlike pork, beef was traditionally a highly regional taste. While people in northern cities like Beijing consumed large amounts of beef, those in many other areas considered the idea of eating beef to be disgusting and even immoral. As beef consumption grew during the
Abstract: From antiquity, Chinese poets wrote about all aspects of food: its cultivation, its preparation, its prominence in celebrations, its importance in ancestral rites, its pleasures, and the pain of its absence. Poets contrasted lavish banquets with hunger and starvation; they crafted allegories and metaphors from food: an orange was compared to a virtuous man, bitter