What do Chinese people eat every day? What normal food to eat in China

Original taken from griphon How not to starve to death in China

Chinese cuisine is a whole vast world! In addition to being extremely multifaceted and diverse in itself, it can differ dramatically in different parts of the country! It is known that each province is, in some way, its own planet. Well, it's the same with food.

In China, of course, there are many different types of food for a completely different wallet. There are taverns for peasants and taverns for truckers, and cafes for office plankton, and fast food, and even pretentious restaurants. Let's take a quick look at what you can eat in China, how to order dishes, etc. If you've already eaten your New Year's salads, then get ready to salivate from hunger. :)

(Prices, if anything, in yuan, multiply by 10 to get rubles, or divide by 6 to get dollars)

So, one of the most popular dishes is noodles. It can be pure noodles, it can be in the form of such a soup, it can be with additives and much more. You can find noodles almost everywhere! This is one of the most budget friendly food options. 6-10 yuan.

There are instant noodles, there are slow ones. Sometimes it's sharp, sometimes it's not. But the fact is that in China there is nowhere without noodles!

Rice dishes are also popular for obvious reasons. Rice is made, and all sorts of additives are poured into it: meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, or whatever you can think of. Such a dish will cost you from 8 to 15 yuan.

Here are the two foundations of all cuisine: rice and noodles! Popular in Europe, potatoes are rarely found here. Each time you find a potato will be a holiday for you! And you will eat it with rice too!

Soups. If with meat, then a little more expensive - 15-20 yuan.

Another fairly popular food is boza or "Chinese dumplings". At first I was afraid to order them, but then I tried it once and fell in love with all my heart. They are really delicious! They cost - 2-4 yuan one boz.

In general, I must say right away about all Chinese food - this is a lottery! You will never know how tasty it is and whether it is even possible to eat it before you try it. And it doesn’t matter which one - street or store. So we, for example, in Urumqi, tired of surprises, bought sausages in the supermarket to cook in the hostel, but they turned out to be .. sweet. A couple, choking, stuffed into themselves, but could no longer.

An ordinary simple Chinese folk eatery looks something like this. It is clear that we ate mainly in such establishments.

Because something more civilized will already be more expensive than in Russia, and it’s not a fact that it’s also tasty. And here, closer to the people.

Simple cafes also differ in their type and in how and what they sell. Most of them have a standard menu, which includes various dishes of noodles, rice, meat, vegetables.

Often, at the same time, there may be a dish like "lamb with vegetables" on the menu and be expensive. Such a dish is usually taken for 2-3 people and rice can be added to it for free in unlimited quantities! It's consumable in China!

There are, however, buffets. These are very cool eateries. You come to them, pay "for a plate" (15-20 yuan), and then you can put what is in the trays yourself. And there is no need to experience any torment from the fear of naming the wrong dish.

The best part is that with all this, you can unlimitedly impose rice on yourself. This is such an endless consumable substance that no one counts!

In general, rice is the head of everything!

Sometimes there are buffets of soups.

Quite a street look. At first I was afraid to eat here, given the hot weather. But then he took a chance, and did not lose.

It looks so simple. You sit at a table right on the sidewalk. Less complexes!

With all this, even though China is a tea country, for some reason there is no tea in most food places. The best that they can offer you is purchased water, or just boiling water (of course, free of charge, like clean rice).

Another interesting type of cafes "cook yourself"!

Each table has its own brazier, they bring you a raw dish, and you fry it yourself on the spot.

On my last visit to China in 2009, I was so fucked up. I ordered for myself what I spied on the table at the neighbors. They bring me a plate of raw meat. "Hmm, weird," I thought. "Well, this is probably the kind of food they have, so" and began to eat this raw meat. The waiters, seeing this with horror, began to pull out pieces of raw meat from my mouth and show what to do with it.

The Chinese are very fond of eating in public catering with large companies or families. In this connection, such a phenomenon as a "rotary table" is popular here. The bottom line is that there are a lot of expensive dishes that every person is not able to afford. But they take several of these dishes for everyone, and everyone, rotating the top level of the table, can put what he wants. So they change dishes in a circle.

Sometimes, instead of cafes, there are simply tables on the streets, behind which they feed something. This is usually done for the poorest public, here you can eat very cheaply.

For many people traveling to China, an important question arises - how do you order food here at all? The hieroglyphs are incomprehensible, you can’t explain in words, because you don’t know Chinese. Fortunately, it's not all that scary. There are several proven ways to order the right food in China and not get poisoned by it.
1. The easiest way is to come to a cafe where there is a menu with pictures. On them you will immediately see what is what. In many eateries, these pictures hang right on the wall. Here you choose what you want, poke at it, and wait for it to be brought to you.

2. Come up to see what the Chinese are eating at the next table and say "this is the same for me."

3. Learn the basic characters (rice, noodles, meat, beef, potatoes, chicken), etc. And show them to the seller.

Potatoes, as I said, can be found. But it is extremely rare, atypical for China, this dish. Usually it is very sharp!

Now let's talk about street food. It is comprehensive and varied!

This is where all kinds of french fries, kebabs, shrimp, sausages and other tin can be found. It is often very acute.

cakes

To be happy that we found potatoes in the Chengdu crossing, we bought more of them. It turned out to be impossible to eat. Sharp-sharp!

All sorts of lollipops

Doesn't know what's with the spices.

Sausages on a stick are very popular. They are smeared with spices, but the spices are delicious. 1-2 yuan per skewer.

And here is Kebabs-mussels-other horror

Guess what it is. I hesitated to experiment on my own stomach. Chinese food caused me constant stress during the first weeks..

Burnt corn is sold in the northern regions of the country

All kinds of bakery and confectionery products are also popular in China.

goodies

Tibet has its own pastry

If we are already talking about regional features, then we can start with Tibet. Here's a strangely cooked potato with rice.

Pizza in Shanghai

In many parts of the country people like to eat donkeys.

Rice with donkey. Yunnan.

Donkey burger. Beijing

Meat plates. Similar ones are sold in large quantities in Macau, but this shot was taken in Shanghai. These plates are very tasty, but insanely expensive (you can see the price tag for 100 grams). Joy is given only by the fact that they are given for free to taste. If you walk back and forth past the shops for a long time, then you can, in theory, eat up.

And, of course, Peking duck! Where without her.

Indeed, a very popular dish in the capital. Sold both in the center for tourists and in ordinary residential areas

The duck is really tasty and inexpensive (8 yuan).

When you travel by train, you traditionally take grilled chicken on board. And when you take a train from Beijing, you take a grilled duck on it.

By the way, in the Cantonese region, and specifically in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, I also met ducks!

Well, what is China without tea?

Tea shops are in great abundance in Beijing and in the homeland of Puer - in Yunnan (including in the city with the appropriate name).

In Chengdu, tea ceremonies in parks are simply popular.

If you find yourself in Beijing, I highly recommend the tea market on Malingdao Street (Wan Zi Subway Station, Line 7).

In any tea shop you can taste different types of tea, even if you don't want to buy anything.

There is a ceremony for the sake of ceremony, for the sake of communication, like everything in the East! Beware of walking around the shops for a long time, all the time for drinking tea you can slam away :)

Student canteen. Chengdu.

We tried to eat here, it seems to be cheap, but something did not impress us.

Another funny thing, in more pretentious cafes, there are such innovations: a conveyor with traveling cakes. You can take a meal while he passes by you.

Uighuria is also unique in its cuisine. Since this is in its purest form Central Asia, then the cuisine here is appropriate. Familiar to everyone who has been in Uzbekistan flat cakes. Popular and lagman.

Well, barbecue!

Regarding food in stores. I already talked about sweet sausages. Interestingly, in such a large country as China, supermarkets are extremely underdeveloped. Even in big cities there are few of them, and in medium and small ones (everything by Chinese standards) there may be almost none at all.
Basically, shops are small shops with 1-2 halls. Most of them do not have refrigerators, so it is impossible to buy perishable products in them. The main assortment, in addition to all sorts of cupcakes and water, is various types of instant noodles and freeze-dried sausages / sausages. Once we decided to cook on a burner, standing up with a tent in nature. We bought such sausages (each of which is in a separate cellophane package). Well, you understand what can be in sausages that can be stored for weeks without a refrigerator, and how pleasant it is to eat them. All in all, another bad experience.

In supermarkets, sometimes there are different interesting things. For example, a panda in canned food.

You can also buy in the markets. Cheap fruits and vegetables! Delicious and fresh. But keep in mind that the price is usually for 0.5 kilos!

Of course, as we have seen, it is quite possible to eat in China, and you can even enjoy it. However, from this constant stress, from not knowing what they will bring to you, from continuous noodles and rice, you eventually get tired. Therefore, when, after several weeks of wandering around the Chinese expanses, we saw McDonald's in Chengdu, we exchanged glances and did not hesitate to run there :) "Ugh, how can you go to a McDuck in a country with such a unique cuisine," gourmets, aesthetes and some or anti-globalists. "But this is how it is possible" - where we want, we go there, I will answer. And who cares what they think about it. Since I want to go to McDuck, why not do it?

There is also an intra-Chinese network "Dicos", which sells fast food chicken. I've been there a couple of times - I didn't like it, it's too expensive. McDuck is better and more proven - everything you need: potatoes, hamburgers, cola - they have it. When you want to take a break from ducks, donkeys, disposable noodles, you won’t find a better place. :)

What do the Chinese eat? An ordinary resident of Russia will shudder at this question and imagine cockroaches, dogs or human embryos. However, those who have been to China know that these are just stereotypes. Although, there is still some truth in them.

Features of Chinese food

It is worth noting that the food of the Chinese is particularly diverse and is, one might say, the way of life of the people. A special distinguishing feature of Chinese food is its spiciness. For example, chili pepper is put in almost all dishes. This is done not only for the sake of unusual taste sensations, in this way the Chinese protect their body from infections, since the products from which the dishes are prepared may not always be fresh due to the heat.

The genuine love of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom is street food. On the streets of cities you will find many kiosks and mobile tents, the food in which strikes the imagination of a simple Russian person with its "exoticism". Here you will find everything from rice balls on sticks to crispy chicken legs.

Traditional Chinese diet

What do Chinese people eat every day? Frequent "guests" of the Chinese table for breakfast, lunch and dinner are rice, noodles, eggs, meat, fish and vegetables. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. But there is something that distinguishes the main diet of the Chinese from the Russian one.

Soya beans

Soybeans have a special place in Chinese cuisine. After all, it is from them that soy milk, soy sauce and bean curd - tofu, which is rich in protein, calcium and iron, are prepared.

Chinese noodles

Noodles are one of the favorite foods for the Chinese. They eat it a lot, make it from rice or wheat flour and believe that it contributes to longevity.

Sweets

Chinese sweets for a Russian, most likely, will seem unusual. But for all local residents they are already familiar. For example, corn ice cream or moon cookies.

Surely everyone has heard of Chinese tea at least once. China is the first country to start cultivating tea. Now you will find many types of this drink: green, yellow, red, etc.

Chopsticks vs fork, what do the Chinese eat?

There is a widespread belief that the Chinese only eat with chopsticks. But it is not so. Yes, chopsticks are the most common utensils in the Middle Kingdom, however, if you go to a restaurant, they will bring you the cutlery we are used to. It is customary to eat street food with disposable forks or chopsticks, or with your hands.

What can Russians eat in China

A Russian should try Chinese food only on the basis of his preferences and characteristics of the body. But if you are not a fan of the exotic, then in Chinese cuisine there are very familiar dishes for you.

Chinese dumplings are slightly different from those prepared in Russia. In China, they are flatter and are sometimes served with broth. The difference between the Chinese analogue and ours is the variety of fillings. There you will find vegetable dumplings, and even shrimp dumplings.

Baozi

Baozi is a very popular dish in China. In other words, steamed pies. Usually, they are cooked with meat filling, but there are other options.

China is rich in traditions and rituals. Food for the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom is also a ritual. It is diverse and can surprise even an experienced chef. However, everyone will find something to their liking in Chinese cuisine, one has only to try.

Chinese cuisine is one of the most diverse and popular in the world. Sushi, rolls, dishes using soy, rice and noodles are just a small part of what defines Chinese cuisine and is also enjoyed in our country. In fact, food is of great importance in Chinese culture and for a real Chinese, not only the taste of food is important, but also its appearance and correct delivery. We invite you to feel the Chinese food culture and take a look at the menu of one of the restaurants on Hainan Island.

Breakfast

Youtiao with soy milk

Price - 2 yuan

Pieces of dough fried in oil, the Chinese analogue of churros. This dish originated thanks to a historical figure, a great official Chin Hui. He was an envious and greedy man, received a large bribe and conspired against General Yu Fei, beloved by the people. All Chinese hated the vile official, and once, during a conversation with each other, two bakers, in the heat of the moment and anger, cut up pieces of dough and threw them into boiling oil, imagining that it was Chin Hui himself. It turned out so delicious that soon everyone began to “punish” the villain in this way.

bao luo fen

Price - 10 yuan

Rice noodles are the basis of all the basics and most of the dishes on the island. Local housewives cook it with vegetables, chicken, seafood and whatever comes to their mind (with indispensable sauces - some of them are very spicy) or throw it into the soup like vermicelli. A common feature of all dishes with rice noodles is that you should not count on the degree of readiness “al dente”: bao lou fen will be slightly boiled, soft and in a juicy broth.

Yu tang

Price - 50 yuan

Fish soup is the common name for a favorite dish of the Hainan people. Any fish (or seafood) is boiled, and either shrimp, or noodles, or vegetables and onions are added to the soup - in a word, what will be in the refrigerator and what is enough for the cook's imagination.

dong gua hai luo tang

Price - 30 yuan

Mussel broth with gourd.

Dinner

Zicai tribute hua tang

Price - 30 yuan

Seaweed soup. Hainanese are distinguished by the fact that they always eat soup - for breakfast, lunch and dinner - and this habit explains their extraordinary longevity.

Baoziyi and jiaozi

Price - 30 yuan

Classic Chinese manti and dumplings. They can be with anything that the hostess's imagination is enough for: with wild garlic, with shrimp and celery, with meat, with vegetables, with a sweet egg.

Wenchang chi

Price - 20 yuan

Chicken. One of the main Hainanese dishes. The bird for this dish must be very fresh: it is dipped in boiling water for only three minutes - the meat is already ready, but the blood is still coming from the carcass. Then it is casually chopped with a knife and served with the head and paws, so that it can be seen that it was a fresh and whole chicken.

jiaji i

Price - 40 yuan

Boiled or steamed duck, which has previously been put on a fortified diet, like birds for foie gras. For jia ji ya, they are supposed to be fed with tofu and cereals - the meat from this is very tender.

He le se

Price - 60 yuan

Melting in your mouth yellow crab meat, tasty in itself, fragrant and slightly oily. The crabs are steamed and then served with a sauce of garlic, ginger and vinegar.

xian yu

Price - 40 yuan

Salty fish. There are two ways to prepare it. First: in fact, rub it with salt before frying, but this is condemned by adherents of a healthy diet. The second (and so do many of the inhabitants of the island): to gut and cook the fish for frying, and then briefly dip it in the sea to make it brackish. Fish and seafood are eaten almost more often than meat due to their proximity to the ocean. For example, there are floating fish farms where they grow (and then cook in floating restaurants) all kinds of shrimp, crabs, octopuses, mussels and scallops. Most often, such farms are run by representatives of the Dan Jia Yu Min people, who traditionally live on the water and rarely go down to solid ground.

Snacks

Yu zha hua sheng

Price - 10 yuan

An important feature of the Hainanese is that they respect snacking between meals, and roasted peanuts are their favorite snack.

Zongzi

Price - 4 yuan

Rice with meat in bamboo leaves. In the north of Hainan, they grow their own rice - very tasty - and are also served as a side dish. Hainan is generally very proud of the fact that it almost completely provides for itself: here, thanks to the climate, almost everything grows. True, due to the heat, the livestock here is lean and very thin, so the local meat may seem harsh to someone.

Di gua e

Price - 15 yuan

Sweet potato leaves poached with garlic and butter.

Si jiao dou

Price - 20 yuan

Beans varieties "four corners". It is served as a side dish - slightly fried with soy sauce.

Soft drinks

Tea

Price - from 20 to 200 yuan

The tea ceremony for the inhabitants of the island is not an empty phrase. For them, the tea house is like a modern coffee house: a place where you can gather, discuss the news, sit and drink tea. The most popular varieties here are oolong, kutin, pu-erh, "The Emperor's Concubine" (with ginseng) and "Scarlet East" (with tropical fruits). There is also tea made by hand - just like on the continent: flowers tied to a tea ball. By filling them with boiling water, you can watch in a transparent teapot for a long time how the flowers “bloom” and sway. Only here it is not considered real tea here - rather, it is recommended as a beautiful and affordable souvenir.

Coffee

Price - from 30 to 300 yuan

On the island, unlike mainland China, they love and grow coffee, for example, in the Xinglong Botanical Garden (Xīnglóng).

Cocoa

Price - 30 yuan

Cocoa beans are also grown right there, which are then mixed with coconut milk and get very tasty cocoa - but this is also unusual for a typical Hainanese, he would rather brew a thermos with tea for himself.

Dessert

Tsy ba

Price - 8 yuan

Steamed sticky rice cakes wrapped in lightly poached bamboo leaves made into a sticky paste.

qing bu liang

Price - 12 yuan

A popular sweet eaten instead of ice cream. Fruits, beans, noodles - all in ice-cold coconut milk. The locals laugh: not every tourist will be able to try this.

Alcohol

But mi ju

Price - 30 yuan

Rice tincture. If the Chinese drink, then it is supposed to say: "Ganbei!" When you clink glasses (that is, "bottom up!"). And if someone does not drain the glass completely, they ask him: “Do you have live fish there ?!”

Chinese cuisine is very popular in Europe, America and Russia, but unfortunately what is served in most Chinese restaurants outside of China is very different from authentic Chinese food. The culinary traditions of China began their formation many centuries ago. So, the first Chinese cookbook was created one and a half thousand years ago. Food in the Celestial Empire has always been treated as an art, its preparation and consumption are whole sacral acts. Chinese cuisine is very diverse and depends on the region, however, there are still a number of common features in national culinary traditions. In addition, there is a set of classic dishes for all provinces.

Distinctive features of Chinese national cuisine

The main reason for the unusualness of Chinese cuisine is not a special set of products, but the methods of their preparation. For Chinese chefs, the following are of great importance:

• Intensity of heat treatment;
• cutting;
• Pre-treatment of products (for example, pickling).

The Chinese almost do not use dairy products in cooking, avoiding even butter. Particular emphasis is placed on giving the dish a complex taste with many shades. Many Chinese chefs deliberately distort the original taste of products beyond recognition so that the guest, after tasting the dish for a long time, tries to guess what it consists of. For this, many additional ingredients and spices are used: onion, garlic, ginger, pepper, soy sauce, different types vegetable oils, alcohol, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. For greater expressiveness, the Chinese add a large amount of monosodium glutamate, which is recognized as a very harmful seasoning in Western countries, to almost all dishes.

The three main pillars of Chinese cuisine are: rice, soy and wheat. They are used in the most different types and in combination with any vegetables and meat.

Of the meat, the Chinese love pork the most. In ancient times, raising pigs did not require special expenses. In addition, unlike a cow, a horse or a sheep, the pig was not suitable for work, wool or milk production. In Muslim regions of China, beef is more popular. Also in all provinces you can try a variety of poultry dishes. Since most of the country's population has endured hunger and deprivation for many centuries, the concept of "food waste" almost does not exist in China. Everything is used in cooking: the blood of birds and animals, internal organs, necks, heads, ears, paws and tails. Just 60-80 years ago, rats and insects were eaten in the poorest regions of China. Modern Chinese no longer consume such unappetizing foods, but deep-fried carcasses of rats and spiders are still sold to tourists in local markets.

Fish and seafood are popular in coastal regions. They are easily combined with meat, vegetables and fruits. At the same time, the fishy smell itself is considered repulsive by most Chinese, so it is neutralized in every possible way with the help of spices and marinades.

The Chinese always serve soups as first courses. Moreover, soup is an obligatory part of not only lunches, but also breakfasts and dinners. Second courses are served in small portions, but always in several varieties. There is no bread in the European sense in Chinese cuisine. But the Chinese use a lot of their national pastries - for example, mantou (small unleavened dough buns like dumplings) and baozi (steamed pies). After eating, the Chinese always drink tea. Moreover, they approach tea drinking very scrupulously. Everything matters: the type of tea itself, and its serving, and the reason for drinking tea.

Classic Chinese cuisine

Any foreigner who comes to China should definitely try:

• pork in sweet and sour sauce;
• paomo - spicy soup with unleavened bread and lamb;
• Chinese dumplings, the fillings of which can be not only from meat, but also from vegetables or seafood;
• fried noodles with shrimp, pork or vegetables;
• Peking duck;
• gongbao - a dish of fried chicken, peanuts and hot peppers;
• fried rice with egg and vegetables;
• spicy tofu.

The most exotic dishes of China

China is a country where even the most sophisticated gourmets can find something new for themselves. Some traditional Chinese dishes even require a certain amount of courage from the taster. Among the most unusual Chinese food includes:

• Pickled chicken feet or, as they are called in China, "phoenix claws";
• The famous millennium eggs are one of the main hallmarks of Chinese cuisine. For cooking, chicken, duck and quail eggs are used. They are kept in an alkaline solution for about 10 days, and then wrapped in plastic wrap for several months to completely exclude oxygen. Ready eggs are black in color and smell of ammonia.
• Shark fin soup. Opponents of this dish are many defenders of wildlife. Shark meat is not very suitable for cooking, so usually the entire carcass of the fish, except for the fins, goes to waste. In addition, the shark does not have a very pronounced taste and the soup broth is prepared from other fish or meat.
• Balut is a duck egg with a mature embryo. Usually eaten raw, but with spices.
• Fried duck heads;
• Swallow's nests. In fact, edible nests are not built by swallows, but by one species of swifts that lives on the coast of the South China Sea. The bird's nest is made of algae, and for the strength of the building, they moisten them with their saliva. Often in the nest you can find inclusions in the form of caviar and small fry. Swallow's nests are very useful, they contain iodine, phosphorus and iron. However, they are also quite expensive. In China, soups are usually prepared with swallow nests. The nests are soaked in boiling water for a long time, treated with soda and the remnants of feathers and bird droppings are removed. Then the nests are boiled for about 40 minutes in chicken broth.
• Stinky tofu is a treat for the bravest. The smell of this dish is simply disgusting, but the taste is very pleasant.

For most Russians, Chinese cooking is strictly associated with wooden sticks. But if everything was so boring, we would not be writing this article. The assortment of Chinese cutlery includes spoons and even scissors. And the sticks themselves are different. Interesting? Then read on, we will tell you about everything in order.

Is it difficult to eat with chopsticks?

If you have been doing this all your adult life, like the Chinese, then it is not difficult at all. It is more difficult for them to master the fork and knife than it is for us to master the sticks. What surprises many Russians most is that the Chinese eat rice with chopsticks.

There are even opinions that the Chinese deliberately boil rice to make it more convenient. But it's not. They love crumbly rice, and no one has problems eating it with chopsticks.

If you are confident with this cutlery, then simply take a handful of rice between chopsticks (as shown in the photo on the right) and calmly send it to your mouth. Naturally, you need to confidently hold them, otherwise everything will crumble.

In Chinese cuisine, there are several categories of dishes that cannot be eaten with chopsticks. Firstly, these are semi-liquid porridges. For example, the traditional sweet rice porridge, which is cooked on. Also, in some soups, the ingredients are heavily boiled. Most often, such soups are prepared from tree mushrooms.

These dishes are eaten with Chinese spoons, which we will talk about on this page, but a little later. If the soup consists of solid ingredients, then they are simply eaten with chopsticks, and the broth is drunk. And they drink straight from the plate. What we consider very uncultured behavior at the table is absolutely normal in China. Most of these soups are made on the basis of noodles, and they are called “noodle soups”.

The main rules of a tourist in China

In large and expensive restaurants in China, you will always be given a spoon, fork and knife. But in small cafes or national Chinese fast foods, there are no European cutlery at all. It is unlikely that you will be able to buy disposable forks in the store. We never saw them there.

Rule one. If you are going to China and are not good with chopsticks, then the cutlery familiar to us is a must.