Chinese Food: Chinese American Food: Regional Differences

While Chinese foods maintain cultural continuity, there are some regional differences. Some say that Shanghai food is sweet though bland, that Sichuan is spicy, and that Cantonese is somewhere in the middle. These are oversimplifications, as are most regional differences. For all Chinese, no matter where they came from, main meals revolve around a staple carbohydrate food that accounts for 60 to 80 percent of their calories. This staple is rice or rice noodles in all areas except the north, where wheat and other grains are the major staple foods. Breakfast and lunch throughout China can be similar, or lunch and the evening meal can resemble each other. In the south it is more of the former; in the north, more of the latter. Main meals mean a large amount of grain food, called fan in the south and mi in the north. Other dishes are called tsai or cai, respectively, to flavor the grains. Fan means rice, and it can stand for the word “meal.” In the north and south chifan or mi also means meal.