Trave Guide - China

The Chinese love to eat, and from market-stall buns and soup, right through to the intricate variations of regional cookery, China boasts one of the world's greatest cuisines. It's also far more complex than you might suspect from its manifestations overseas, and while food might not initially be a major reason for your trip, once here you may well find that eating becomes the highlight. However, the inability to order effectively sees many travellers missing out, and they leave desperate for a "proper meal", convinced that the bland stir-fries and dumplings served up in the cheapest canteens is all that's available. With a bit of effort you can eat well whatever your budget and ability with the language, though it can be monotonous eating solo for any length of time - meals are considered social events, and the process is accordingly geared to a group of diners sharing a variety of different dishes with their companions.

Though fresh ingredients are available from any market stall, there are very few opportunities to cook for yourself in China, and most of the time eating out is much more convenient and interesting. The principles of Chinese cooking are based on a desire for a healthy harmony between the qualities of different ingredients. For the Chinese, this extends right down to considering the yin and yang attributes of various dishes - for instance, whether food is "moist" or "dry" - but can also be appreciated in the use of ingredients with contrasting textures and colour, designed to please the eye as well as the palate. Recipes and ingredients themselves, however, are generally a response to more direct requirements. The chronic poverty of China's population is reflected in the generally scant quantity of meat used, while the need to preserve precious stocks of firewood led to the invention of quick cooking techniques, such as slicing ingredients into tiny shreds and stir-frying them. The reliance on eating whatever was immediately to hand also saw a readiness to experiment with anything edible; so, though you'd hardly come across them every day, items such as bear's paw, shark's fin, fish lips and even jellyfish all appear in Chinese cuisine.

The popularity of beer - pijiu - in China rivals that of tea, and, for men, is the preferred mealtime beverage (drinking alcohol in public is considered improper for Chinese women, though not for foreigners). The first brewery was set up in the northeastern port of Qingdao by the Germans in the nineteenth century, and now, though the Tsingtao label is widely available, just about every province produces at least one brand of four percent Pilsner. Sold in litre bottles, it's always drinkable, often pretty good, and is actually cheaper than bottled water. Draught beer is now becoming popular across the country.

Watch out for the term " wine ", which doesn't usually carry the conventional meaning. China does actually have a couple of commercial vineyards producing the mediocre Great Wall and Dynasty labels, more of a status symbol rather than an attempt to rival Western growers. Far better are the local pressings in Xinjiang Province, where the population of Middle Eastern descent takes its grapes seriously. More often, however, "wine" denotes spirits , made from rice ( mijiu), sorghum or millet ( baijiu). Serving spirits to guests is a sign of hospitality, and they're always used for toasting at banquets. Again, local home-made varieties can be quite good, while the mainstream brands - especially the expensive, nationally famous Moutai and Wuliangye - are pretty vile to the Western palate. Imported spirits , particularly whiskies, are sold in large department stores and in tourist hotel bars, but are always very expensive.

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