Judging from the amount of food, most foods in the south are small and refined. The north is rich and thick, and the south is rich in vegetables all year round. In winter, the northern Chinese cabbage is the most, and it is still a greenhouse vegetable, but the varieties are relatively few. Especially in rural areas, the difference may be even greater.
The crops in the north are mainly wheat and sorghum, supplemented by various miscellaneous grains. Generally, pasta is the main food, such as steamed bread, flower rolls, steamed buns, jiaozi, wonton, pancakes and noodles. Northern cuisine is rough and light, with sauce (such as sauce skeleton), braised pork (such as braised chicken and mushrooms), frying and stewing as the main cooking skills.
Due to the unique soil, water and geographical environment in the north, vinegar has become an essential condiment on the table. Like Shanxi's food culture, it has a strong flavor of the Loess Plateau and traditional life characteristics. Shanxi people like noodles, soup and rice. The soup is rich and delicious, which constitutes the lineage of Shanxi from the kingdom of miscellaneous wheat to the kingdom of pasta.
The main crop in the south is rice, which is generally a staple food. Southerners do fine things, such as pasta and steamed buns in the south, which are tender and smooth, but not big. There are many kinds of pasta in Hainan, including soup powder, Lamian Noodles, fried noodles and fried powder.
Due to the environmental factors in the coastal areas, Hainan people love to eat seafood, and there must be a fish on the table of every household. Shrimp, crab and shellfish are also Hainan people's favorite. Hainan's way of eating advocates freshness and lightness. Many foods are steamed before cooking, and seasoning is rarely put in the cooking process, and then dipped in seasoning when eating. Take the white-cut chicken in Hainan as an example, which is unique. Boiled chicken with water and some salt is probably the most tender and smooth in the taste of medium-cooked chicken. There are also special seasonings, that is, chicken soup mixed with onion and garlic as seasonings, and some places mixed with camellia oil or sesame oil, and seasonings made of shredded ginger, minced garlic, orange juice and refined salt have unique flavors.
The porridge in the south is also very different from that in the north. The porridge in the north is relatively simple, but southerners not only put vegetables in the porridge, but also put ham, eggs, minced meat and even zongzi wrapped in sausages and eggs. It is said that because of the freezing weather, northerners like to cook in one pot, just like eating hot pot, while southerners like to stir-fry separately. This has formed a unique food culture in the south.
The culture of any region is the product of the social and historical development of a certain region and has profound social and geographical roots. In a certain geographical environment, food resources and production activities determine the differences in people's eating styles.
This profoundly shows that the complex and diverse geographical situation and climate environment provide the spatial conditions and natural basis for the diversification of China's food culture. Through the above analysis, we can also deeply understand the characteristics and differences of the north-south food culture, and the integration of the differences between the north and the south will form the rich and colorful food culture of the Chinese nation today and spread through the ages.