Chinese cuisine dishes are popular in almost all countries of the world
Few people know that there is no single national cuisine in China as such. In each of the country's numerous cities and provinces, there are their own peculiarities of preparing almost any dish. But nevertheless, there is a main common feature of Chinese national cuisine that often surprises most Europeans – the combination of seemingly completely different ingredients to prepare national dishes.
The staple food of China is traditionally rice, which is always present on the table, although in Northern China it is often replaced by steamed noodles. The main role of rice in China is as an accompaniment to any dish. Cooked rice can be either watery (damizhou) or fluffy (dan).
Any meal in China begins with unsweetened green tea. Such tea drinking for the Chinese is a kind of ritual and is called 'Gongfu Cha'. The Chinese have breakfast early, mainly rice porridge with other ingredients added. Lunch in China is at 12 noon. Most working Chinese eat during their lunch break at nearby cafes and restaurants, where special couriers for an additional fee can bring lunch to the office. Dinner in China, by European standards, is also quite early – before seven in the evening. First courses, which are customary in Europe, are served at the end of the meal, after cold and hot appetizers. Besides green tea, a no less common drink in China is rice beer, the most popular brand being 'Wuxing'.
Despite the Chinese commitment to traditional national cuisine, recently more and more fast food outlets such as McDonald's are appearing in China. The popularity of such establishments among the Chinese is primarily due to the fact that delivery of lunches from fast food is relatively cheap, and also because the food there is prepared much faster than national dishes. For example, one of the most famous Chinese dishes – Peking duck – takes about 24 hours to prepare.
Despite the widespread belief that Chinese dishes are very spicy, the main flavor prevailing in this national cuisine is sweet and sour. Dairy products are hardly consumed in China. The rarest method of processing ingredients for preparing national dishes is boiling; the Chinese fry almost everything.