The reasons and characteristics of Cantonese cuisine 1. The reasons for the formation of Cantonese cuisine 1. Cantonese cuisine originated in the Lingnan region of China. According to archaeological discoveries, about 129,000 years ago, the earliest humans in Guangdong were the Maba people. In this era, they already knew how to use natural fire to cook cooked food. On this basis, Cantonese cuisine began. 2. About 30,000 years ago, ancient humans were in the transition period from primitive humans to clan communes. 3. About 10,000 years ago, ancient humans discovered that clay burned with fire would not dissolve in water, so they mixed wattle baskets with clay to facilitate air-drying, and then burned the wattle baskets until they turned into ashes to make early clay pots. From then on, Our ancestors began to use pottery vessels to cook food. The invention and use of pottery was of great significance, which led to the emergence of cooking methods that use fire heat transfer media, such as boiling and steaming. From then on, cooking methods began to diversify, further expanding the scope of food. Source, some foods that need to be cooked for a long time can now be eaten, reducing human diseases, strengthening physical fitness, ultimately promoting the development of the human brain, and providing basic conditions for the birth of the subsequent brewing process. It can be seen that the invention of pottery Bringing the development of cooking to a new stage. 4. Archeology in Guangdong has discovered the Qingtang Ruins in Yingde and Shixing County in Guangdong during the development period of matrilineal clan communes. The two sites, Linglongyan Site, existed about seven or eight thousand years ago. There are fossil heads and pottery in the sites. This shows that at least seven or eight thousand years ago, the cooking technology in the Lingnan region obtained the conditions for development, and the formation period of Cantonese cuisine began. 5. The cultures of the Han River and Pearl River Delta, which reflect the prosperous period of matrilineal clan communes between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago, and the Xiqiao Mountain and Xiqiao Mountains, which reflect the period from matrilineal clan communes to patrilineal clan communes, dating from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. It can be seen from the Maba Shixia Cultural Site that hoeing agriculture and livestock breeding had already appeared in Guangdong four thousand years ago, and there were material conditions for the development of cooking. After the Qin Dynasty unified Lingnan, three new counties were established in Lingnan, and hundreds of thousands of Han people who went south brought cooking skills from the Central Plains. After the Western Han Dynasty, people from the Central Plains continued to migrate southward in various ways, achieving "Chinese-Vietnamese" integration through "miscellaneous places", and the Nanyue people actually began to be Hanized. The Han people who went south brought scientific knowledge and food culture and blended them with the geographical environment and products of Lingnan and the food customs of the Yue people. This is based on the South Vietnamese food customs. The formation of dietary characteristics that integrate the essence of Central Plains cuisine and craftsmanship has laid the foundation for the inclusive style of Cantonese cuisine in the future development process, as well as the youthful style of continuous advancement and innovation. In the Han Dynasty, the sugar industry in Lingnan was quite developed. The sucrose in Lingnan was not only used as tribute but also sold in the market. Before MSG was born, adding a small amount of sucrose appropriately for seasoning would produce a fresh and sweet taste. This is also the origin of the noble freshness of Cantonese cuisine. 6. In the Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, Cantonese cuisine entered a period of rapid growth. During this period, Cantonese cuisine was able to grow rapidly, stand out, and become unique. There are many reasons for this. A clay model of a paddy field with a boat was unearthed from a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Lanshi, Foshan. It shows the simultaneous harvesting and planting of summer. This model tells us that the Pearl River Delta had produced two crops of rice at that time. This shows that the Pearl River Delta has become As one of China's advanced agricultures, Guangdong's food resources are not only diverse, but also have a stable supply, achieving real abundance and laying a solid foundation for the growth of Cantonese cuisine. Secondly, since the Tang Dynasty, Guangzhou has gradually prospered. Guangzhou in the Song Dynasty has become my country's largest commercial city and treaty port. The development of commerce has promoted the development of the catering industry and promoted the development of the catering industry. In the catering market, exchanges between the north and the south, Guangzhou cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine, and Dongjiang cuisine compete with each other, which has led to the rise of a food style that is convenient, satisfying, novel, and memorable. 7. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to large-scale water conservancy construction and improvements, as well as farming technology, Guangdong's industry had gradually moved to the forefront of the country, and the Pearl River Delta was known as the "land of plenty". Guangdong is endowed with unique advantages in foreign trade. The Ming and Qing governments implemented a no-sea policy and established shipping departments in Quanzhou, Ningbo and Guangzhou. Moreover, Quanzhou only connected to Ryukyu, Ningbo only connected to Japan, and only Guangzhou could connect to Southeast Asia and Western countries. By the Qing Dynasty, as Western colonialists were carrying out piracy-style plunder in my country's coastal areas, fear led the Qing government to implement a more stringent sea ban policy, closing all coastal ports, and leaving Guangzhou alone to handle the Qing Dynasty's foreign trade. From then on, Businessmen from inside and outside Guangzhou gathered in various places, and Western catering and Western meal packages were introduced one after another. The catering market was very prosperous. At this time, the Guangdong food market was a gathering of famous dishes, competing for the best, and "eating in Guangzhou" had begun to take shape. Cantonese cuisine has reached a stage of prosperity. 8. For more than half a century after the founding of New China, although the ups and downs of social and economic development due to natural disasters or external or internal reasons such as manpower directly affected the performance of the Guangdong catering market, this did not affect the reputation of Cantonese cuisine during this period. the rationality of the boom period. After the birth of New China, the economy gradually developed, economic and trade activities were frequent, the society was stable and materially rich, and the government paid attention to the political emancipation of catering workers. At the same time, the development ideas of dishes were also liberated, and ingenuity was given full play, and Cantonese cuisine continued to develop. Opportunities, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the reception work of the two annual China Export Commodity Fairs prompted Cantonese cuisine to continuously develop new dishes and interrupt innovative techniques. In 1978, China implemented the reform and opening up policy. As the forefront of reform and opening up, Guangdong has Shenzhen, The economies of Zhuhai and Shantou, the three earliest special economic zones established, have taken off rapidly, and Cantonese cuisine has once again benefited from economic development.

Especially since Hong Kong and Macao returned to the motherland, culinary exchanges between the two places have become increasingly frequent. Overseas cooking raw materials and seasonings have become more convenient for the selection of Cantonese cuisine. With such an environment and conditions, how can Cantonese cuisine not develop? 9. Guangdong’s culinary education has formed a complete education network with vocational education, a dual-track system of professional studies, short-term training secondary education, multi-level higher education, part-time education, off-the-job training, formal education in many forms, social forces running schools, government investment in running schools, and many channels. , culinary education has gradually embarked on the road of standardization, science and modernization. For Cantonese cuisine to face the new century, absorbing new technologies plays an important role in becoming more scientific and modern. 2. Characteristics of Cantonese cuisine 1. Choose from a wide range of exotic and sophisticated dishes, including birds, animals, snakes and insects. The terrain in Guangdong is complex, the climate is hot and rainy, and it is very suitable for the production of animals and plants. The products are quite rich, with game in the north and seafood in the south. , there has long been the "Top Ten Seafoods", the Pearl River Delta has a network of rivers, fruits and vegetables are evergreen all year round, and poultry and livestock are full of high quality. Moreover, Guangdong is located at the southern gate of my country's foreign trade and can easily introduce foreign raw materials, which creates good conditions for the wide selection of raw materials for Cantonese cuisine. There are many raw materials to choose from, so they are naturally refined. Cantonese cuisine pays attention to the seasonality of raw materials. "Eating fish from time to time" means "spring fish, autumn carp, autumn carp, summer Li, midwinter perch". Eating snakes means "three snakes blowing in the autumn wind." "Fat, eating snakes at this time will bring good luck." There are many such things, such as choosing "seasonal vegetables" when eating vegetables. In addition to selecting the fattest period of the raw materials, special attention is also paid to selecting the best parts of the raw materials. Guangdong has been omnivorous since ancient times. According to archaeological findings, the ancestors of Guangdong ate a wide range of foods. The development of the Dushizi site in Yangchun shows that the foods at that time included rhinos, giant leopards, black bears, clouded leopards, buffalo, sambar, otters, porcupines, small hunting dogs, Golden cats, civets, rats, macaques, snails, clams, clams, etc. In addition to the remains of various domestic animals, there are also a large number of fish, clams, clams, snails, etc. found in many sites in the late Neolithic period. Snakes and snake bones or shells. This shows that the traditional habit of omnivorous people in Guangdong is that eating wild animals is not recommended as early as 2000 years ago in the book "Huainanzi" written by the Western Han Dynasty. There is a record that people eat anacondas and snakes as delicacies, but Chinese ones have different tastes. Until now, snake delicacies are still the best delicacies. Zhou Qufei of the Southern Song Dynasty said in more detail in "Lingwai Daida": "Shen Guang and Xidong "People, regardless of birds, beasts, snakes and insects, eat them." They smell strange smells, some are good and some are ugly. There are turtles in the mountains named Zhe, bamboos named Rat Liu, the feet of barn birds and storks, and those who catch them, the lips of sturgeons. , alive and bewildered, are called fish souls, which are precious. As for snakes, they must be caught, regardless of length, rats must be caught, regardless of size, bats are hateful, geckos are fearful, and locusts are tiny. Take and burn them. The poison of honeycombs, the filth of hemp bugs, stir them up and eat them. The wings of locusts and snakes, stir them up and eat them. (Many birds, beasts, snakes and insects have a strong fishy smell. From this, one can imagine the high cooking skills of Lingnan people at that time.) Qu Dajun in the Qing Dynasty praised in "New Road to Guangdong" that "all the food in the world can be found in eastern Guangdong." All kinds of food may not be available in the world." Regarding birds, the Cantonese people have this saying: "I would rather eat four taels in the sky than half a catty in the ground" (16 taels in the old system is 1 catty). The level of preference can be seen as average. Cantonese people like to eat dogs, especially in winter. Dogs are regarded as delicacies. Guangdong chefs cook dog meat with the three local treasures of Guangdong - tangerine peel, old ginger and grass. The dog is roasted until golden, scraped and cut into pieces, then sauteed until fragrant, then simmered with tangerine peel, old ginger and various sauces. At this time, the aroma is fragrant. In Guangdong, the vivid description of the aroma of dog meat is also the reason why Cantonese people are attracted by the taste and aroma of dog meat. A portrayal of an intoxicating state of mind. There may be many foreign gourmets who can no longer resist the temptation of Cantonese dog meat. However, they are still intimidated by the delicious cat meat, let alone rat meat, dragon lice, bee pupae, and earthworms. . 2. The cooking techniques are our own, and the cooking methods of Cantonese cuisine originate from the folk. Since the "fusion of Chinese and Vietnamese", the cooking methods of Cantonese cuisine have been integrated with the advanced methods of the Central Plains, and the style of Cantonese cuisine has been eclectic and open-minded. After that, through the exchange of food culture and cooking skills in the past dynasties, Cantonese cuisine absorbed a lot of the essence of cooking skills into Guangdong, which brought new inspiration to Cantonese cuisine. Cantonese cuisine widely absorbs the essence of Chinese and foreign cooking techniques, combines its own products, climate characteristics and customs to form its own complete cooking technique system and unique cooking characteristics, which is unique and attracts the attention of the world. For example, the "explosion method" in the north has evolved into the "oil soaking method"; the "steak" cooked in a plastic shape has been improved to the "steak" cooked separately and then layered on the plate, which has expanded the range of ingredients; The method developed into a standardized cooking method for making expensive soups; the stir-frying method was subdivided into five stir-frying methods; the baking method of Western food, Gillette frying method, pork chop, and steak were introduced and transformed into its own cooking methods for famous dishes. Drawing on the sauces of Western food, he pioneered the sauces of Cantonese cuisine and so on. Cantonese cuisine has also created original cooking methods such as baking, stewing, stewing, stir-frying, soaking, and Gillette frying, which fully demonstrates the revolutionary nature of Cantonese cuisine. 3. Five flavors and six flavors, the basic seasoning; seasoning according to the ingredients, the flavor is bright, the usual sauce, the right thickness. The five flavors and six flavors are sweet, crisp, soft, fat, and rich. The six flavors are sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, and umami. Through the optimal combination of five flavors and six flavors, the infinitely varied and beautiful flavors of Cantonese cuisine are formed. Cantonese cuisine always pays attention to applying suitable seasonings and flavors according to the properties of the raw materials. For example: use minced ginger to make boiled chicken, add pig sauce to white sugar and suckling pig, add bean drum to cook melon and chili, add shredded chili pepper to light soy sauce to dip blanched shrimp, etc., which makes the taste wonderful.

Cantonese cuisine will continue to explore the art of seasoning and develop more new flavors. Cantonese cuisine does not have the most flavor types, but the characteristics of each flavor type are very distinct and are not easy to confuse. For example, the eggplant leaf type has a sweet and sour flavor, a rich and meaty Western juice flavor, a lemon juice flavor with a refreshing lemon flavor, and an orange juice flavor with an overflowing orange flavor. It has a lot of aromas and flavors. For the basic flavor. The practice of using sauces in Cantonese cuisine has now spread to all parts of the country and is gradually being widely imitated. Condiment factories have also successively developed mature Dehe condiments into their own products to meet market needs. 4． Dishes focus on good taste, focusing on freshness, freshness, refreshingness, tenderness and smoothness, reflecting the strong Lingnan characteristics. Cantonese cuisine has the meaning of lightness, freshness, refreshing taste and not greasy taste. Qing is definitely not as pure as water, bland and tasteless, but seeks freshness in the clearness, beauty in the blandness, and pursues the original flavor of the unique and delicious raw materials of the food. Cantonese cuisine emphasizes freshness but not vulgarity, natural freshness, and the pursuit of umami is the most prominent and typical feature of Cantonese cuisine compared with other local cuisines. It can even be said that no place has such a pursuit of umami, such an obsession, and such a successful creation of umami. In terms of craftsmanship, Cantonese cuisine is willing to pay any price to preserve, enhance, enhance, replenish, and help freshness. Because Cantonese cuisine regards the soul of umami, the creation of umami in dishes as the highest level of cooking skills, and the taste of fresh food as the most beautiful enjoyment of food. The understanding of Shuang in Cantonese cuisine includes refreshing, crisp, tender, sweet, smooth and elastic. Tenderness is the expression of fine texture and tenderness, it is braised but not woody, soft but not waxy. Smooth means smooth, soft and smooth. It has a rough and non-sharp taste. These are wonderfully nourishing. Cantonese cuisine pays attention to fresh taste, which actually puts forward extremely high requirements for the quality of the dishes. It is much more difficult to make dishes with fresh flavors than dishes with strong and spicy flavors. Because the freshness is like the warm spring breeze, there is no strong stimulation, and people can freely and meticulously variety various pleasant aesthetic feelings. Cantonese cuisine pays attention to the fresh taste, which promotes the discussion of seasoning techniques and the research of cooking techniques. Therefore, it is an important aspect in promoting the development of Cantonese cuisine. 5． Cooking methods are used flexibly, and varieties are created in an endless stream. Since the Tang Dynasty, Guangdong's economy has gradually prospered, and materials are relatively abundant. The food style has become popular and gradually formed the reputation of "Eating in Guangzhou". "Eating in Guangzhou" is recognized by the society as being convenient for eating in Guangzhou. Praise for eating richly, satisfyingly, novelly, and having an aftertaste. "Eating in Guangzhou" was "forced" by the locals. Cantonese people are very particular about their food. They are picky about the taste of their dishes and almost demanding about the novelty of their dishes. Without novel dishes and novel tastes, the store will be closed soon. "Food in Guangzhou" is what makes Guangdong prosperous and is driven by the economy. Merchants from various places who trade with each other have different requirements for the taste of dishes. Cantonese dishes must meet their tastes and be of higher quality. "Food in Guangzhou" was born out of fierce market competition. Historically, Guangzhou has been a place with very active commercial activities for a long time, and the catering industry has been very developed, which has triggered fierce competition among restaurants. As a result of competition, many famous chefs have been created, many branches have been built, and many famous dishes have been created. Today, with the development of the catering industry, the update and development of dishes are showing a rapid trend. Rich specialties are the foundation of "Eat in Guangzhou", strong demand is the driving force of "Eat in Guangzhou", open and inclusive concepts are the capital of "Eat in Guangzhou", and a large number of famous chefs, famous stores and multiple dishes are the basis of "Eat in Guangzhou" "The government's support will enable the long-term development of "Food in Guangzhou". 6. Guangzhou cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine, and Dongjiang cuisine blend with each other and complement each other, which is very distinctive. Guangzhou cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine, and Dongjiang cuisine are the three components of Cantonese cuisine. Although these three local dishes have many things in common, due to their different locations and different evolution processes, their flavors have also formed a certain difference. This difference enriches the content of Cantonese cuisine, broadens the field of Cantonese cuisine, and enriches the image of Cantonese cuisine. If there are differences, there is the possibility of mutual supervision and mutual promotion. In fact, at present, the respective characteristics of Guangzhou cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine, and Dongjiang cuisine are very ideal. People feel that Cantonese cuisine is always novel. They compete with each other in the catering market and appear one after another, which makes people feel that Cantonese cuisine is endlessly changing. Among Cantonese cuisine, Guangzhou cuisine, Dongjiang cuisine and Chaozhou cuisine, although they constitute the above characteristics of Cantonese cuisine, these three local cuisines have their own merits. Guangzhou cuisine has many ingredients and is good at changing. It pays attention to freshness, tenderness and smoothness. Generally, it strives to be light in summer and autumn, while it is more concentrated in winter and spring. It pays attention to the "five flavors" and "six flavors" in taste. In particular, stir-fry requires mastering the heat and oil temperature. Just right. Chaozhou cuisine mainly focuses on cooking seafood, and soup dishes are the most distinctive. They are exquisite in knife skills and sweet in taste. They pay attention to maintaining the original umami taste of the main ingredients. Dongjiang cuisine has outstanding main ingredients, simple ingredients and unique local flavor.