What cuisine does Zhejiang cuisine belong to

In Chinese culture, different places have different food tastes because of the differences in regions. Therefore, basically each region in China has formed a major cuisine, thus forming the famous eight cuisines. For example, Sichuan cuisine belongs to Sichuan cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine belongs to Guangdong cuisine. Zhejiang cuisine is also a very famous type of cuisine. So what type of cuisine does Zhejiang cuisine belong to? Let me introduce it to you today.

Zhejiang cuisine, abbreviated as Zhe cuisine, is one of the eight traditional Chinese cuisines. The area is picturesque, with rich products and delicious food, so there is a saying: "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." Zhejiang Province is located on the coast of the East my country Sea. With a network of waterways in the north, it is known as a land of fish and rice. The southwest is hilly and rich in wild game. The eastern coast is densely covered with fishing grounds and rich in aquatic resources. There are more than 500 species of commercial fish and shellfish products, with a total output value ranking first in the country. The region is rich in products, and its cuisine is delicious, unique, and well-known. [1]

Historical Development

origin

Zhejiang cuisine has a long history. Huangdi's "Inner Canon of Medicine·Suwen·Daofa Fangyi Lun" said: "The city in the East is where the heaven and the earth first created it. It is a land of fishing and salt production, located by the sea and beside the water. Its people eat salt and love salty food. They are all content with where they live and enjoy the food." There is a record in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Merchants" that "the land of Chu and Yue...rice and fish soup". This shows that Zhejiang cuisine has a history of thousands of years. In addition, in 1973, Chinese archaeologists excavated a cultural site from the early Neolithic period at Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang. Among the unearthed cultural relics were a large number of indica rice, rice husks, and many water chestnuts, gourds, and jujube kernels, as well as the remains of more than 40 kinds of animals, including pigs, deer, tigers, elk (four-legged animal), rhinoceros, geese, crows, eagles, fish, turtles, and crocodiles. At the same time, ancient pottery stoves and a number of daily pottery such as cauldrons, pots, basins, plates, and bowls were also unearthed. According to scientists, these cultural relics are about 7,000 years old and are one of the earliest Neolithic strata discovered in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southeast coast.

Spring and Autumn Period

During the Spring and Autumn Period of Wu and Yue, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the Yue State established its capital in "Kuai Ji" (now Shaoxing City), and took advantage of its superior geographical environment and resources. Under the influence of the economy, culture and technology of the Central Plains countries, after "ten years of accumulation and ten years of training", the agriculture, commerce and handicraft production in the Qiantang River Basin developed rapidly, laying a solid material foundation. In order to restore his country, King Gou Jian of Yue stepped up military preparations and set up a large chicken farm in Jishan, formerly known as "Jishan", in present-day Shaoxing City to prepare chickens for combat food and fodder for the front line. Therefore, the oldest dish in Zhejiang cuisine is the Shaoxing famous dish "Yue Chicken in Clear Soup". The second is Hangzhou's "Song Sao Fish Soup", which originated from "Song Wu Sao Fish Soup" and has a history of 880 years. Discoveries at two ancient sites of human activity, Liangzhu near Hangzhou and Hemudu in Yuyao in eastern Zhejiang, and the skeletons of pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and other animals have proven that the cooking ingredients of Zhejiang cuisine were already quite abundant four or five thousand years ago. Traditional famous dishes such as Dongpo Pork, Xianjianer, Honey-glazed Hot Pot, and Beggar's Chicken are all inseparable from these cooking ingredients.

After the Northern and Southern Dynasties

After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Jiangnan was free from war for hundreds of years. The Grand Canal was opened in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the maritime sideline industries in Ningbo and Wenzhou expanded, and foreign economic and trade exchanges were frequent. Especially in the Five Dynasties (907 AD), Qian Liu of Wu Yue established his capital in Hangzhou. The economy and culture became increasingly developed, the population increased dramatically, and business prospered. It was once known as "twenty miles of parallel walls and thirty thousand shops." Economic development and trade exchanges have all provided tremendous impetus for the development and rise of the culinary industry, enabling the culinary skills of the time, such as court dishes and folk cuisine, to develop by leaps and bounds.

Southern Song Dynasty

The Southern Song Dynasty established its capital in Hangzhou, and Zhejiang cuisine occupied a major position in “Southern cuisine”. The southward migration of the Song Dynasty, known as the second migration of the Chinese nation, played a major role in further promoting the innovation and development of southern cuisine centered on Hangzhou. During this great migration, a large number of celebrities, dignitaries and working people from the north moved south and settled in Zhejiang, bringing the northern capital's cooking culture to Zhejiang. This led to extensive exchanges of cooking skills between the north and the south, a prosperous catering industry, continuous improvement in cooking techniques, and the emergence of famous dishes and delicacies. Books such as Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty by Wu Zimu, Records of the Prosperity of the Old Man of West Lake by West Lake Old Man, and Old Things in Wulin by Zhou Mi all record the prosperity of Hangzhou’s food market and the diverse delicacies of the city. According to the "Tea and Wine Shop" in Volume 16 of "Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty", there were more than 280 kinds of dishes in Hangzhou at that time, with more than 15 kinds of cooking techniques. There were many exquisite and luxurious restaurants, and ordinary restaurants "all over the streets and alleys, everywhere you look." There were cooking styles from both the north and the south, and it was a prosperous scene. For hundreds of years since the Southern Song Dynasty, although the political center was in the north, Zhejiang must be one of the provinces with the richest material resources, most developed culture, and most prosperous industry and commerce. A large number of famous chefs from the north gathered in Hangzhou, which made Hangzhou cuisine and Zhejiang cuisine move from their embryonic stage to the development stage. Zhejiang cuisine has since been listed among the national cuisines. Famous dishes from the Southern Song Dynasty, which are more than 800 years old, such as crab stuffed with orange, steamed lamb with turtle, Dongpo jerky, stir-fried eel, immortal soup, and two-color kidney, are still popular dishes at high-end banquets. In addition to the Yue chicken in clear soup, Shaoxing also has chicken with salted roe, frozen salted meat, chicken with shrimp oil, and shrimp balls in straw raincoat; Ningbo's yellow croaker in pickled vegetable soup, grilled moss cubes, and rock sugar

Soft-shelled turtle, pot-roasted eel, Huzhou's traditional shrimp, colorful eel shreds, Jiaxing's fried crab roe, fried shrimp and crab, etc., all have a history of hundreds of years. Wenzhou is close to Fujian and is influenced by Fujian cuisine. The cooking style is light and mainly based on seafood. Dishes like three-shred fish rolls and three-slice shrimps also have a long history.

After the Republic of China

Hangzhou cuisine was the first to introduce new dishes such as Longjing Shrimp. However, Zhejiang cuisine, which is mainly based on Hangzhou cuisine, is basically divided into three major factions. One is the "Beijing Bang" restaurants that cook northern flavors, that is, the "Da Bang" cuisine that is unanimously valued by the culinary world. It mainly cooks high-end ingredients such as shark fin, sea cucumber, bird's nest, bear paw, as well as roast suckling pig and hanging oven duck (Beijing roast duck). This faction is the strongest in Hangzhou. The other faction, the Hui Bang, specializes in braised dishes and is mainly distributed in Hangzhou, Huzhou (Wuxing), Ningbo and other places. Their dishes are characterized by being flavorful, rich in oil, starch, colorful and economical. The other group is local cuisine, which is the real native cuisine. The larger one in Hangzhou is Xihu Louwailou, which was opened during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty and is famous for its West Lake vinegar fish and Longjing shrimps. There was a man named Wang Runxing from Qinghefang in the city, who was known as "Huang Faner". The specialty is fish head tofu, also known as Mulang tofu, sliced ​​meat and pickled bamboo shoots. There is Lanxiang Restaurant in Shaoxing, which serves standard Shaoxing dishes such as shrimp balls in straw coat and fish with vinegar and head belly. There is Dongfuyuan in Ningbo, eastern Zhejiang. Its famous dishes such as yellow croaker soup with pickled vegetables and soft-shelled turtle in rock sugar are authentic traditional Ningbo local dishes.

Zhejiang cuisine has its own unique cooking method. In addition to people's regional taste preferences, rich specialty products are also one of the factors.

Song Sao Fish Soup is made by boiling mandarin fish in water, removing the bones from the fish and returning the fish meat to the original soup with a little soy sauce, sugar and more

The vinegar is made without adding oil, and a similar "West Lake Vinegar Fish" was created. West Lake Vinegar Fish is simple to prepare. The fish is slaughtered, cut with a knife, boiled in water, then fished out and seasoned, but it requires very high technical standards. This cooking method is unique among the country's famous dishes. A similar situation applies to Shaoxing's famous dish, chicken with white croaker. The chicken and white croaker (a salty dried yellow croaker) are placed in a bowl without adding oil. After steaming, the dish becomes fragrant and tasty. Ningbo is rich in yellow croaker. Cooking yellow croaker with pickled vegetables makes a thick, fresh and refreshing yellow croaker soup with pickled vegetables. Jiaxing used to be rich in hairy crabs. Except for snack stalls, restaurants and hotels did not sell whole lake crabs. Instead, crab roe (i.e. lake crab meat) was used to cook dishes. Wenzhou, an important city in southern Zhejiang, pays great attention to the use of soup. Both the "three-slice shrimp" and "three-shred fish" are cooked with high-quality soup. In addition, Hangzhou's mud-baked dish "Beggar's Chicken" and "Longjing Shrimp" with tea vegetables as ingredients are all unique cooking techniques.

After the founding of New China

Zhejiang cuisine, like other major cuisines across the country, has developed rapidly. Zhejiang Province has also established various schools and cooking research institutions dedicated to training culinary talents, carried out extensive cooking cultural exchanges, and further improved the equipment and conditions of the catering industry.

Since the 1970s and 1980s

Traditional dishes still play a leading role in Zhejiang cuisine. By the late 1980s, some traditional dishes had fallen out of favor. Instead, "soft-shelled turtles and river eels" are replaced by current shrimps, scallops, blue crabs, crab roe, fresh ark clams, abalone, small sand fish, etc. The most important thing is that the catering service outlets are getting bigger and bigger every year, especially the development of the private economy is fierce. By the end of 1992, the number of private restaurants in Hangzhou had soared to more than 4,000. In terms of the variety of products and cooking methods, private individuals basically implement the method of "killing alive and cooking immediately", and the taste is subject to the requirements of the diners, which forces large state-owned stores to follow suit. Under the influence of the "South Wind", some varieties of Hangzhou cuisine have been replaced by shrimps, scallops, etc. Some traditional dishes have been innovated, but Shaoxing cuisine still takes the main place. Ningbo has made use of its advantage in seafood, and Wenzhou cuisine has developed many famous dishes using seafood as the raw material.