Chinese+Food

by Desiree
 * Bonding Experience**

Cling! Slurp! Clack! These are just a few of the sounds you might hear while eating a meal in a Chinese families home. Each meal is china is filled with the right amount of grains and protein, an example of this is noodles. Wonton soup is filled with different foods balancing the meal. Green tea is always placed on the table at the end of the meal. For the Chinese a meal is not all about food, it is more like a celebration. This is shown in the preparation of noodles, teas, and soups. Slurp, twirl, or gulp them down noodles have always been a favorite in China. The are so many different kinds of noodles like, rice flour or mung bean startch, but wheat flour is the most common. Since the Han Dynasty (206BC- 220AD) families have continued to make and buy noodles. The ingrediants for wheat flour are flour, water, salt, and eggs. Wheat noodles can be eaten cold, hot, fried, steamed, or served in a soup. A wonton is a dumpling found in chinese meals like wonton soup. A wonton starts out as a flat piece of dough filled with meat, fish, vegetables, or spices. All the ingrediants are folded into a cylinder. The wontons are fried, steamed, or boiled and then served plain or in a soup. Wonton soup is a combination of noodles, bokchoy (a chinese cabbage), onions, salt, pepper, pork, fish, ginger, other vegetables, and water. The soup is placed in a large bowl in the center of the table and enjoyed steaming hot.

Green tea is most bought drink in China followed by white tea. Green tea goes back to 350BC where it was only used as medicine. Today in China, tea is drunk after the meal becuase it helps with digestion. Tea is made from the leaves of a famous tea plant called the camellia sinensis. The green leaves from the plant make the tea a greenish color. tea continues to be the most sold drink in China.

Having a meal in China is more than just eating a meal, it is more like a bonding time with the family. With the three key foods- wheat noodles, wonton soup, and green tea, every meal is a social experience.

Chinese Food- Rice Rice, many people consider it as a normal side dish, but if one thinks back long ago in ancient China it was an important building block to society. Common information often known about rice is that it is a grain grown in fields and is eaten usually as a side dish. However when one considers the origins, importance, and daily significance, one may see how it affects ancient and daily China. Rice, a grain that is abundant in the northern region of China, was found by immigrants moving north. They discovered when steamed it became an edible delicacy, so from that day forward it became one of China’s most valuable treasures. The people of China sought it as a bit tasteless; they also discovered that when eaten with other foods it becomes a delicious dish, and a great source of energy. From that day rice is still valued as a treasure in China. (Rice: History) Rice is the an important building block to Chinese society, in fact since it was so abundant and could be used in so many different dishes China revolved around it. Many different recipes can be found for rice and as this empire spread it became more and more popular. It soon became world wide reaching all corners of the Earth, it was now one of the world’s favorite dish or side dish. (Rice and its importance) Today, rice is valued all over the world by most cultures, and is formed into new dishes by other cultures. It has become the corner stone to almost all daily meals, and is a piece of Chinese ethnicity. If China had not found this grain, it would not be to where it is today. Even to this day the people of China value it as a precious jewel to society. In this present day, people all over the world feel that it is a significant part to daily life. (Daily Rice) One may now see that daily Chinese lifestyle orbits around rice, and how China could not be where it is without it. Also one can perceive how the origins, importance, and how it plays into daily life show how it is extremely significant. All the points mentioned explain how rice is an important building block too Chinese society.

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