浅谈中国八大菜系的形成因素.docx

本科生学期论文 题目名称： 浅谈八大菜系的形成因素 院 系： 外国语学院 专 业： 英语 学生姓名： 学 号： 指导教师： 2014 年 6 月 1 日浅谈八大菜系的形成因素摘 要：中国有句谚语：“民以食为天“。在中国，请客吃饭是人们常用的社交的方法，这足以证明饮食文化是中国文化中的重要组成部分。中国有八大菜系，这八大菜系体现出中国不同地区不同的特征。这篇论文主要介绍八大菜系，及形成八大菜系的因素。关键词：饮食文化; 因素; 八大菜系Analysis on Factors in Forming Eight Regional CuisinesAbstract: There is an idiom in China “Food is the first necessity of the people”. And inviting somebody out to dinner is a common way to build relationship with others. So culinary culture is an important part of Chinese culture. There are eight regional cuisines in China which can show the differences between different parts of China. This article aims to introduce each of them and factors in forming these eight regional cuisines.Keywords: culinary culture; factor; eight regional cuisinesIntroductionBecause of different natural factors, a great difference in flavor between the south and the north which are two part of China is manifested from the Song Dynasty. The former loved sweet dishes, while the latter enjoyed salty ones. However, a lot of people immigrated from the north to the south, and it brought some significant changes in the basic flavor of the south and the north. In the Ming Dynasty, Chinese diet could be divided into Jing Shi, Guang Shi and Su Shi. Jing Shi, the representative of northern dishes, was salty. And the others which originated in the south, was sweet.Two main changes took place in the Qing Dynasty. The system of Chuan Cai was built and became one of the four regional cuisines. Jing Cai was replaced by Lu Cai for its influence. So there were Chuan Cai, Lu Cai, Su Cai and Yue Cai.During the period of the Republic China, Chuan Cai was split into Chuang Cai and Xiang Cai. Su Cai fell into Su Cai, Zhe Cai and Hui Cai. Yue Cai were divided into Yue Cai and Min Cai. Thus ,eight regional cuisines were formed. .Eight Regional Cuisines1.1Lu CaiIt is also known as Shandong cuisine which consists Jinan and Jiaodong cuisines. The major cooking methods are quick-frying, stir-frying and barbecuing. And it is famous for salty and freshness. The most interesting thing is that the cooks use a kind of cooking liquor to season, instead of various seasonings.The Yellow River carp in sweet and sauce and birds net soup are two well-known dishes of this school1.2Chuan CaiIt is also known as Sichuan cuisine which includes Chengdu, Leshan, Neijiang and Zigong cuisines. Barbecuing and stir-frying are employed. And it tastes hot and pungent, because of special and abundant seasonings. Chuan Cai owns the most flavors in these eight regional cuisines which are created by its cooks.Hot pot, Mar-both Tofu and Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce are famous.1.3Xiang CaiXiang Cai is also known as Hunan cuisine, include Changsha, Xiangtan and Hengyang cuisines, is akin to that Chuan Cai, but there still exists some differences. Although it is also hot, it taste sour at the same time. Stewing and braising is the most popular cooking methods. And people are good at using vegetable oil.Two representative dishes are Peppery and Hot Chicken and Steamed Fried Pork in Black Bean Sauce.1.4Min CaiIt is also called Fujian cuisine and it is based on Fuzhou cuisine. People cook their food by stir-frying, steaming and simmering. It is noted for its light taste and sweet and sour flavor. People in this area really love soup and 40% of the dishes are soup. For instance, Tonic Soup with Sharks Fin.Some dishes with seafood are also famous such as Crisp Pomfret with Litchi and Fried Prawn Shaped as a Pair of Fish.1.5Yue CaiIt stems from Guangzhou Province which is the paradise of dainty food, so it is named Guangdong cuisine. Quick-frying and stir-frying are frequently used. And in order to keep the natural taste of the food, they are clean, light and fresh. Changeable soups and glittering dim sum are part of its charm.Roast piglet and Steamed Sea Bass are two of the typical menu items.1.6Su CaiIt is also noted as Jiangsu cuisine. It is made up by Jinling, Huaiyng, Suxi and Xvhai cuisines. The four main cooking methods are stewing, braising, steaming and stir-frying. It has sweet taste. The boat dishes and snacks are the most distinctive food in this area.There are many typical dishes which worth a try, for example, Jinling Salted Dried Duck and Clear Crab and Pork Meatballs.1.7Zhe CaiZhe Cai or Zhejiang cuisine consists of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou cuisines. It shares a lot of similarities with Su Cai in cooking methods and flavors. Pickled food is one of the main materials in Zhe Cai. With so many scenic spots, people use names of them to name dishes and show the special culture of Zhejiang. For example, West Lake fish in Vinegar and Shelled Shrimps with Longjing leaves.1.8Hui CaiHui Cai, named Anhui cuisine, is also Huizhou cuisine. Huizhou is a city in the ancient China which includes Huangshan city and Jixi in Anhui province and Wuyuan in Jiangxi province. Just as Zhe Cai, stewing, braising and steaming are regarded as the main cooking methods. However, compared with Zhe Cai and Su Cai, it is spicy and salty. Some dishes are cooked by materials which go bad slightly. And a special characteristic is that it attaches great importance to medical function of dishes.Popular menu items are Stewed Snapper and Huangshan Braised Pigeon. .Factors in Forming Eight Regional CuisinesFrom the brief introduction above, we use one sentence to summarize the general feature of the eight regional cuisines” sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in west and spicy in the east”. Why is that? What causes the great differences? 2.1 Natural Factors2.1.1 GeographyQinling Mountain-Huaihe River Line is the boundary of the south and the north of China. To the north of the line, the annual average temperature is beyond 0 degree Celsius and the annual average precipitation is no more than 800mm. The dry weather results in large evaporation and it is not good for the growth of plants in cold condition. One the one hand, people need something salty to maintain water and salt balance in their bodies. On the other hand, people store picked vegetables for long winters. For these two reasons, Lu Cai is salty and fresh, so as other dishes in the north and northeast.In the south, people do not need to supplement salt and it is easy to get fresh vegetables, even in winters. Whats more, in some experts view, sugar can arouse the salty taste. Thus, dishes are sweet, such as Su Cai and Zhe Cai.Owning to the hills and basins. Sichuan and Hunan Province have a humid climate with abundant rainfall and short hours of sunshine. People love something hot which can help to resist moisture in summers, and damp and cold in winters.The muggy weather results from the subtropical climate in Guangzhou and Fujian Province. It is too hot and people have a bad appetite and want to have something clear and light, so soup is the best choice.2.1.2 ProductsThe cooking culture of a specific area could not become a system without abundance of materials in this region. In ancient China, there was little communication between separate parts. So people got almost all the materials from the nature.Shandong Province is close to Bo Hai and the Yellow sea and it is easy to get seafood such as sea cucumber, prawn and scallop, so Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallion is a traditional Shandong cuisine. Shandong is also one of The Worlds largest garden because of diversity of vegetables. Furthermore, shallot and garlic are local products and the cooks are used to putting some of them in their dishes.The earliest record of pepper is found in The Book of Songs, so pepper is a native material of Sichuan and Hunan for a long time. People find that pepper can meet their need for spicy food and it becomes a common spice of Chuan Cai.Jiangsu is located in the hinterland in the south of Yangtze River, with two thirds of waters in Taihu Lake. Thus, a great variety of fish is the main material. Yangcheng Lake is a freshwater lake in the northeast of Jiangsu Province. The sandy lakebed of Yangcheng Lake breeds the crabs with strong legs and of high quality. People fall in love with the taste of fish and crabs, and dishes which are made by them account for a large portion of Jiangsu cuisine.With the warm climate, Zhejiang is a land of fish and rice. Zhoushan city is a fishing area and provides enough seafood. Mountains and hills supply bamboo shoots and plants. In this area, people eat food that is of the right season and enjoy seasonal bamboo shoots all year round. Various products is the basis of Zhejiang Cuisine.Materials of Hui Cai come from 80% of mountains and hills. High forest coverage provide not only vegetables like bamboo shoots, but also medicinal materials like Kudzu. A large number of vegetables are harvested in autumn. With the inconvenient transportation, they can only be sold in the village. It is impossible to sell out of the vegetables, so people pickle and dry them for further use. The forest also give people enough charcoals which is the main reason for the main cooking methodsimmering.Fujian is located on the southeast coast of China. The East Sea is in front of it and Minjiang River goes across the whole province. The joining of rivers and the sea supply plenty of food from them. And sour and sweet flavors are used to remove the fish flavor. Furthermore, it is surrounded by mountains in the north, west and south, so there is no difficulties in getting some fresh vegetables.Cantonese are brave in eating. Whatever birds flying in the sky, reptiles on the ground, or fishes swimming underwater, Cantonese can make them into delicious dishes. Guangdong lies in the south of China. Facing the sea, animals resources are abundant. And due to the hot and humid climate, it is also a region which is rich in plants resources.Native products are the first choice of local people, so they play a leading role in forming a cuisine and it is the basis of the development of it.2.2 Non-Natural Factors2.2.1 Customs and Eating HabitsApart from natural factors, there are non-natural factors which are more complicated and unconscious. For example customs and eating habits.Boshan is famous for Shandong cuisine and its cooking industry. In ancient time, Boshan was an industrial town with lots of workers. They had to work for a long time in a bad condition, such as high temperature. Thus, they paid enough attention to their diet. They needed the taste of salty in order to eat more coarse grains and increase labor force. After a long period of time, people accustomed themselves to it.Chili is a kind of food which belongs to the Indian. In the 16th century, it was brought into China and it met the need of people in Sichuan and Hunan, so it was widely cultivated and chili was frequently used by people. After hundreds of years, hot becomes the first impression in peoples mind when it comes to Chuan Cai and Xiang Cai. An old couple earned a living by selling tofu. One day, they made too much tofu and tofu were not sold out. They were not willing to discard them, so they first steamed them, but it did not work, it still could not be eaten. And then, they fried them, the room was filled with the aroma and it tasted good, so they started to sell them, called stinky tofu. Even though people dislike the appearance and the smell of the raw material, but it is a kind of snack which can represent Sichuan.With numerous lakes, boats are the major transport. People had lunch and dinner in the boat, so boat dishes and snacks should be created. With one pot and a large amount of time, dishes are cooked delicately. This is why the layout of dishes in Su Cai is so beautify. As I have mentioned in the last section, Zhejiang is a land of fish and rice, but why people like pickled food. Pickling is a good way to protect food from decay and it is the primary reason for all the pickled food. People are attracted by the flavor and Zhejiang is well-known for its pickled food.However, with 80% of mountains and hills in Huizhou, some materials, like fish, were carried by Huizhou merchants in ancient time. In order to keep fresh, a layer of thin brine should be spread on the food. After a long period, eating the food which goes bad slightly and are processed by salt is a habit of people and salt is the main flavor of the dishes.Guangdong were made up by many fishing villages and people carried tea and snacks with them when went out for fishing for convenience. So now, citizens enjoy the morning tea. On weekends, the whole family go to the teahouses and enjoy family happiness.2.2.2 CommunicationAlthough there was little communication in ancient time, communication is a factor which cannot be ignored.In the past, Qingzhou old passages were the main channels for Boshan to bring in materials. In 1904, the Jiaozhou-Jinan Railway was built by Germans. They not only help to promote Lu Cai, but also bring different cooking concepts into Shandong.About 800 years ago, the Southern Song Dynasty moved its capital to Hangzhou, and carried the northern cooking culture with them. The cooks tried to cook native products with new ways. Different cultures have a chance to come into contact which is good for the development of the Zhejiang cuisine.Huizhou merchants are of great importance in the improvement of Hui Cai. They carriy not only materials which is a reason for its salty taste, but also other dishes which enrich the traditional system and help it to be accepted by people in different regions.People, who lived in Fujian and Guangdong Province, is the ancient people of south Yue in the south of the Five Ridges. During Tang and Song dynasties, the Han people in the central plains of China swarmed in this area. The unique eating habits of them are influenced by Han culture. In some sense, Min Cai and Yue Cai are the mixture of two cultures.Different places have different tastes, but all of them improve themselves by picking and swallowing the merits of different kinds of cuisines. Without communication, culinary culture wont be so rich and profound.2.2.3 ConceptsChina is one of the four ancient civilization, and the Chinese nation is the only inheritance millennium civilization and nationality. With the history of 5000years, China have its own ideals in eating. This can be proved by two examples.Qufu in Shandong Province is the home of Confucian. Confucianism advocates the doctrine of the golden mean, which is not only the guidance of behaviors of people, but also one of special manner in Lu Cai, called Four-Four Banquet. Seating is important. The oldest sits in the upper and the young generation sit opposite of the upper seat. In addition, four dishes are served at once and put on the fou