Chinese Food and Eating

What does a formal Chinese meal include?

The meal usually begins with a set of at least four cold dishes, to be followed by the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes. Soup then will be served (unless in Guangdong style restaurants) to be followed by staple food ranging from rice, noodles to dumplings. If you wish to have your rice to go with dishes, you should tell the waiter about this when the dinner begins, for most of the Chinese choose to have the staple food at last or have none of them at all.

I'm a vegetarian. Can I get my vegetarian food in China?

Vegetarian food plays an important part in Chinese food culture. Chinese vegetarian food is generally divided into three types - the Monastery Vegetarian Food, the Court Vegetarian Food and the Folk Vegetarian Food.

The variety ingredients include soyabean protein extract, taro powder, mushrooms, fresh vegetables and tofu(bean curd). Some of the famous dishes include Vegetarian

It is easy to find vegetarian restaurants in the bigger cities like Beijing, Shanghai, xi'an ,Guilin, etc.

Is Chinese food too greasy?

That is probably true, people cook with a lot of oil because we need to fry them. But there are also steam food and boiled food.

Talking about gaining weight, people may gain more weight from western food due to a lot of fat (cheese, butter....) and sugar (desert), while the Chinese eat more vegetables and grains.

How many cuisines are there in China? Will I be able to try them all?

Chinese cuisine originated from the various regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world -- from Asia to North America, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. In recent years, connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine have also sprouted in Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Regional cultural differences vary greatly amongst the different regions of China, giving rise to the different styles of food. There are eight main regional cuisines, or Eight Great Traditions: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang. Among them, Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong, and Huaiyang cuisine (a major style and even viewed as the representation of the entire Jiangsu cuisine) are often considered as the standouts of Chinese cuisine and due to their influence are proclaimed as the Four Great Traditions. Occasionally, Beijing cuisine and Shanghai cuisine are also cited along with the aforementioned eight regional styles as the Ten Great Traditions. There are also featured Buddhist and Muslim sub-cuisines within the greater Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on vegetarian and halal-based diets respectively.

Featured dishes

• Beijing Roast duck is a must to taste. The two famous restaurants that serve Beijing Roast Duck are Bianyifang Roast Duck Restaurant and Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, both of which have a history of over one hundred years. Peking Roast Duck smells good and the skin tastes crisp. The crisp skin is the most prized part of the duck.
  
• Sichuan cuisine is very popular in China. If you can eat some spicy food, Sichuan Hot Pot will be a very good choice. Sichuan cuisine is famous for being spicy and flavorful. Sichuan cuisine also has many delicious snacks and desserts, such as Bangbang chicken, chicken with sesame paste, lantern shadow beef, Beefand Ox Tripein Chili Sauce, steamed beef, noodles with chili sauce, and rice dumplings stuffed with sesame paste.
• Dumpling is a very traditional food of China. It will be a pity if you don't eat it when you travel in Xi'an. Dumplings are eaten with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce that may include vinegar, garlic, ginger, rice wine, hot sauce, and sesame oil. Besides, when traveling in Hutong in Beijing, you will have a chance to visit homes of local people. The most attractive experience is that you can learn to make dumplings on your own if you like.
  
• Dim sum is of Cantonese origin and very popular not only in China but also in other Asian countries. The traditional Cantonese dim sum meal is prepared by taking into consideration color, fragrance, taste and shape, quality ingredients, variety, seasonal ingredients and seasonal health benefits.

You can find restaurants of any cuisine in big cities, although some might not taste as authentice, but still worth a try.

Are the meals shown in the itinerary pre-arranged or could we make our own orders when we sit down at the table?

To guarantee the hygiene and quality, most of the meals are pre-arranged in the government approved restaurants, which are all set-menu meals. You can not make your own orders at this point.

We also arrange a la carte meals in some restaurants, which have been inspected by the management of our company. If you have special requirements for meals, please inform us before the tour starts so we can make relevant arrangements.