If you ask a Westerner to name some unusual Chinese foods, they would probably reel off things like stinky tofu, thousand year eggs, and starfish on a stick. But while these delicacies seem odd to foreigners, they are very much part of China’s staple diet. To discover the real secrets of Chinese food, we have to look beyond the more common provincial cuisines like Sichuan, Hunan, Cantonese, and Dong Bei.

The main types of Chinese cooking are gathered under the banner “Eight Great Traditions”. Some of these styles are popular enough to have restaurants in most big cities, and have even spread overseas, but others are little known outside their native provinces.

Take Anhui food for example. Anhui Province lies between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and shares the Yangtze delta with Shanghai. Unfortunately, its reputation is one of poverty and deprivation, but it also has some incredible scenery (including Yellow Mountain) and a rich culinary tradition. Thanks to the region’s many forests, rivers, meadows, and mountains, Anhui food is earthy in colour and flavour. Herbs are used widely, and stewing and steaming are the primary methods of preparation. One of the most famous Anhui dishes is steamed stone frog. These oversized amphibians live in the caves around Yellow Mountain, and are sought for their nutritive value as well as their taste. Anhui-ites also love soft-shell turtle with bamboo, ginger, ham, port, and garlic, stewed on a charcoal fire. Unfortunately, few cities outside of Anhui offer this unique cuisine, so a trip to the province is necessary if you fancy sampling some of the signature dishes.

Another of the Eight Great Traditions that hasn’t spread out of its native province is Shandong Food, also known as l? cài (鲁菜). It has influenced many better known regional cuisines including Beijing and Tianjin, but nevertheless remains relatively unknown outside of Shandong. There are two main sub-groups – the seafood-rich cuisine of Qingdao with its light flavours, and the soups of Jinan and Tai’an. Qingdao has some of the best seafood in China; locals are crazy about the oddly-named and even odder-looking geoduck clam (pronounced gooey-duck) but more familiar fish and shellfish are also abundant. Shandong’s vegetables are typically northern: eggplant, potato, and cabbage, and are often paired with the province’s famous vinegars. If you like sweet peanuts, Shandong is the place to find them.

Yunnanese cuisine has been making waves lately, especially in Shanghai where the Lost Heaven restaurant has recently opened its second branch. Yunnan food is versatile thanks to the many ethnic groups that live in the province. Also known as diān cài (滇菜), it has flavours in common with Burmese, Laotian, Vietnamese and Thai food thanks to its proximity to these countries. Some of Yunnan’s signature dishes are the pineapple rice favoured by the Dai minority of Xishuangbanna, Yiliang roast duck glazed with honey and spiced with pine needles, and several types of goat and cow cheese. Then there’s the famous Crossing the Bridge noodle soup, a dish that was apparently created when an ancient scholar’s wife happened upon an ingenious method of keeping her husband’s lunch warm while she transported it across the bridge between their house and his study. She covered the noodle soup with a layer of oil, and carried the thinly sliced meat and vegetables separately. Once her husband got his hands on it, the soup would still be warm enough to cook the meat and veg.

The Hakka ethnic minority is one of the largest and most widespread in China after the Han, and their cuisine is found across much of South East China, focused on Fujian and Guangdong Provinces. It is also popular in other parts of Asia like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. Outside of Asia, pure Hakka is often confused with Indian Hakka, spread by Hakka immigrants to India, but it is very different. In character, Hakka food is drier than its sauce based counterparts in Guangdong, and much lighter. Two of the most popular dishes among Hakka people are salt-baked chicken (盐焗鸡/yán jú jī) and rice-stuffed duck (糯米鸭/nuò m? yā) as well as the New Year favourite of pork with fermented tofu. Other delicacies include stuffed tofu cubes (酿豆腐/niàng dōufu), abacus beads (算盘子/suàn pán z?) made with tapioca and yam, which are used in meat dishes, and richly seasoned steamed pork belly (扣肉/kòu ròu).

Chaozhou is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangdong Province. Also known as Teochew, it’s famous for its rich culture, opera, ancient dialect, and tasty food. Thanks to the city’s proximity to the sea, Chaozhou cuisine features plenty of fish and seafood, and is much healthier than most other styles of cooking; braising and poaching is favoured over frying. One characteristic flavour is shāchá (沙茶), a type of satay sauce also found in Fujian and Taiwan. Made of soya oil, garlic, chilli, shrimp, and shallots, it is used as a marinade, a stock, and a dipping sauce. If you’re ever invited to a Chaozhou feast, you’re in for a treat. In the local dialect, this spread is known as a jiat dot in Chaozhouhua (食桌/shí zhuō in Mandarin), and consists of elaborate carved vegetables, southern soups like shark fin and bird’s nest, and countless other dishes.

So when you feel like eating something a bit different than the omnipresent Beijing duck, gōng b?o chicken, and hot pot, see if you can find a more unusual regional restaurant – or, even better, take a trip and explore China’s diverse cuisines.
 

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