The Chinese Kitchen, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo Page 1 Chinese food is not only about nutrition, it also holds folklore,

re, ritual, mythology, and religious observance The countrys religion revolves largely around the food Climate, land use, and native product all have impacts on the foods of different lands of china Page 2 The Chinese eat in moderation Food brings together family and social events as well as just regular meals Raw fish is known as yue sahng Page 3 Congee is a food usually served as breakfast and known as a rice gruel or porridge However, congee used to be made with wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, tapioca, corn and sometimes rice too The north experimented with more of a variety of tastes with this food The south usually used at the most of two rices Another name for it is Jook which means soft rice \it is known to be a nourishing food for old people and young people Babies are brought up eating it Old people like it for its control on their digestion In Canton they sweeten it with rock sugar In Shanghai they they savor it by using Cabbage A lot of folklore is associated with this food The folk tale for this food goes a little like this it is told that once a miserly man, faced with a need to prodce rice for 10 guests, told his cook to stretch his rice, as needed, by ladling water into the cooking rice. He would do this, he said, bt calling the cooks name, Ah Fook, which would be a code signal. The name spoken aloud meant another ladle of water. But confusion reigned. Even before the guests arrived, the miser, forgetful, would call to the chef on a different matter. But every time Ah Food heard his name, he would pour another ladle of water into the cooking rice. What resulted, it is said, was a frustrated cook with a rice porridge, rather than rice, and a rhyme=Ah Food, Ah Food, Ah Fook, Ah Fook. Fook Mut Yeh. Bin Jor Wok Jookwhich translates as the miserly man calling the cook repeatedly and the cook angrily

telling him to stop calling because his rice had already become a thin congee. Ah Fook rhymes with jook. When I was a child, we used to chant this rhyme and laugh. Where in most places this cuisine is served as a breakfast course, in Hong Kong, it can also be lunch or even dinner Many different foods can be added to this food for extra texture and taste These can include meats, fish, herbs, vegetables, other grains, spices, condiments, and different broths and stocks Recipe on page 189 Page 385 For around 2000 years since around the Han dynasty, noodles have been a key aspect of Chinese cooking The Chinese were using the techniques of boiling steaming, and frying way before any other community Page 269
Chicken was always thought of as a food for special occasions A chicken known as hoi lin signified the opening of the year especially prepared for the birth of a baby Ducks, squabs, geese and pigeons are key to a Chinese diet Game birds are pheasant, quail, and patridge