wisepowder: 5 Traditional Chinese Foods You Cannot Miss

wisepowder

5 Traditional Chinese Foods You Cannot Miss


Chinese food history is as long as Chinese history. In the long period of development, many delicious food keep popping up and many are passed down to today. Among them, some are festival food more frequently eaten on special festivals while some are eaten commonly in daily life. Here are the 11 best traditional Chinese foods you cannot miss if you are a Chinese food lover.To get more news about special dishes of china, you can visit shine news official website.
Dumpling is the most famous traditional Chinese food, which was invented by medical sage Zhang Zhongjing more than 1,800 years ago. At that time, Chinese herbal medicine was stuffed in with mutton to prevent cold and cure pernio in winter. In Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280 AD), dumplings had been a common food. In Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 - 589 AD), dumplings became popular around China, and people filled them in a bowl with the soup to eat them together. To Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), dumplings started to be eaten without soup. As to Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD), various dumplings appeared, and dumplings were introduced into Mongolia, then to the world. The custom of eating dumplings on Chinese New Year was latestly formed in Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD). In Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD), its name we use now was fixed.
Nowadays, dumplings have been a festival food on Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice. The fillings are various including pork, beef, lamb, fish, cabbage, carrots, leek, etc. On the Chinese New Year’s Day, people eat dumplings to say goodbye to the old year and welcome a new year. In addition, dumplings have the auspicious meaning of great fortune and family reunion.
2. Chinese Noodles
Noodles is one of the oldest traditional Chinese foods. Chinese people have started to eat noodles about 4,000 years ago. The noodles was small dough sheet at first, later leek-wide noodles. In Jin Dynasty (265 - 420 AD), thin noodles like strips appeared. In Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), a kind of cold noodles that was cooled in cold water appeared. It was also at the time that long noodles was given the wonderful wish of longevity, thus people began to eat the longevity noodles on their birthdays. In Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127 AD), the name of noodles was fixed and there were not a few kinds of noodles in the earliest commercial streets in the capital city. In Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368 AD), fine dried noodles that could be preserved long was invented. During the long history, the skills of making noodles and its cooking methods had been continuously improved.
3. Steamed Stuffed Bun
Steamed stuffed bun is a flour dough wrapper with stuffing, which is a kind of Chinese traditional food. It is said that it was created as sacrifices to dead soldiers in battles by Zhuge Liang, who was an outstanding politician and military strategist in Three Kingdoms Period. The stuffing was originally minced beef and mutton. Later, the stuffing became more and more various. The name we use today was settled in Song Dynasty.
Up to now, the stuffing can be pork, beef, pickled Chinese cabbage, vermicelli, mushrooms, bean paste, eggplant, cabbage, Chinese chives, fried eggs, and tofu and so on. The types are also enriched, including Small Steamed Buns, Soup Infilled Buns, and Pan-Fried Buns.
4. Glutinous Rice Balls
Glutinous Rice Balls is a traditional Chinese food as well as the festival food of Lantern Festival and Winter Solstice. It is made of glutinous rice flour with fillings and shaped like balls. Glutinous Rice Balls originated from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in Song Dynasty. At that time, the filling was black sesames, white sugar and lard. Now, the fillings are various, like black sesame, rose, walnut kernel, date paste, pumpkin, fruits, pork and chicken, etc. It is usually boiled and then eaten with the light soup; sometimes rice wine and white sugar are added for better flavor.
5. Wonton
Wonton is a traditional Chinese dish made with wheaten flour and meat filling, like the dumplings. But the wrapper is much thinner or can be say transparent and it is eaten together with the soup. According to the legends, wonton might origin from Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC) or Western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 9 AD). At the beginning, Wonton and dumplings shared the same name. By Tang Dynasty, these two food had their own names respectively. To Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279 AD), the custom of eating Wonton on Winter Solstice sprang up. Since 1990s, quite a few Wonton with new sets of fillings appeared, like the filling of lotus root, BBQ pork and fresh pork; cured pork, Chinese yam and fresh meat; sweet broad peas and fresh meat; egg yolks and chicken; pork and shrimps; pork and vegetables, etc.