GUANGDONG FOOD
By Toni Chen
Some westerners say that Cantonese food is lacking in flavour, others are shocked or unnerved when they see the mess in the meat and vegetable markets. This article presents a vivid description of Cantonese’s cooking attitude and characteristics from a native’s perspective.
Yue (Guangdong or Canton) Cuisine is one of the main cuisines in China. It comprises Guangzhou Cuisine, Chaozhou Cuisine and Dojiang Cuisine. Guangzhou Cuisine is featured by its vast ingredients and combination of western cuisine and spreads over the regions of Guangzhou, Zhaoxing and Zhanjiang. Chaozhou Cuisine is influenced by Min Cuisine, which is well known for its seafood, dessert and soup food. Dojiang Cuisine is good with cooking poultry and meats by means of stir-frying, deep-frying, sautéing and stewing.
Fresh food is a vital concern for most Guangdong housewives. Their underlying belief is that ‘the refrigeration technique or multiple sauces cause damage to the freshness of the food’. They believe that food from nature is benign and healthy. In many villages the women get up early, at five in the morning, to buy the poultry, pork, beef, mutton and fish in the farmers’ market. In the town some housewives would rather spend 15 to 20 minutes to wait for a chicken to be killed in front of them or buy a raw fish with blood. That is because they can witness the freshness and warrant the natural sweetness of the dishes. Some well known Cantonese dishes, like fresh shrimps, are no more than steaming the ingredients for a few seconds.
Soup is the most indispensable dish. It puts emphasis on being ‘good to people’s health’. Some are used to brighten eyesight; others to reproduce hair and some to refresh the body and improve the skin. Research by one popular domestic women’s magazine, Nuyou, indicates that Cantonese females rank in the top 10 regions of good women, not because of their looks, clothes or ornaments, but that they can make a good soup to restrain the stomachs of men. Only the foolish would take it as fact that every Cantonese woman can single-handedly make delicious and qualified soups; however to cater for the market demand, even a man who knows how to turn on a gas-stove can make native soup simply by fetching a soup package in a supermarket or drug store.
It is said that Guangdong serves the best food of China. Northern Chinese used to mock that the Cantonese eat anything that flies in the sky except planes; anything that swims in the water except boats; and anything that moves on the land except cars. This statement is far from the truth but some Cantonese do have a big desire when it comes to eating a variety of meats and vegetables. Pangolin (a scaly anteater), for instance, was once an expensive dish on the Cantonese dinner table but is now forbidden by law for the sake of protection of rare animals. Likewise, earthworm, scorpion, field mouse and other raptors, beasts and vegetables that grew in the wilderness might be visible on Guangdong restaurants’ menus. In fact poetry in the Tang Dynasty, written by Hanyu, has already described his disgusting twinge of cooking queer ingredients. Scientists claim that such cuisine styles may have attributed to the origination of SARS in Guangdong in 2003. Therefore, most Guangdongese, especially the youth, have taken a new look at their cooking convention.
Generally Cantonese is in favour of high-quality and a wide range of ingredients. The flavour of Yue style cuisine tends to change with the seasons - light in summer and autumn whereas stronger in winter and spring. Its famous dishes include Fried Bean Curd and Fresh Shrimps, Baiyun Pig‘s Trotters, Roast Piglet with Crisp Skin, Dongjiang Salted Chicken, Refreshing Beef Balls, Taiye Chicken and Fried Jelly Fish. So while you are here in Guangdong, make sure you experience the flavours of the province and learn for yourself why Guangdong food is the best in the country.
Note: The eight main branches of food cuisine in China are Lu Cuisine (Shandong), Yue Cuisine (Guangdong), Chuan Cuisine (Sichuan), Xiang Cuisine (Hu’nan), Min Cuisine (Fujian), Zhe Cuisine (Zhejiang), Su Cuisine (Jiangsu), and Hui Cuisine (Anhui).