Rice, Breads, & Buns

It is a surprise for most people to learn that not all Chinese eat rice. North China is a wheat-growing plain, and the population of the entire northern half of the Chinese mainland is accustomed to a daily diet of millet, corn, or wheat-based dough stuffs. While rice may be omnipresent throughout South China and a fixture in Chinese restaurants in the West, one cannot appreciate the full character of Chinese cuisine without savoring a northern-style steamed bun, a pan-fried scallion bread, or the long, deep-fried wand of doughnut-like dough that is standard breakfast fare in Peking. Ancient Chinese civilization was rooted in this wheat-growing area, and like the tomb paintings that show dough making in progress and the long poems called fu that lyricize the dance of kneading, the breads and buns of the north capture a large part of the Chinese spirit.