First, drink
Drinking tea in the south is also called drinking tea. Southerners drink all kinds of tea, while northerners only drink scented tea. They think scented tea is fragrant and strong, but I don't know that it is floral rather than tea. Southerners put it in specially to deceive northerners. Northerners don't appreciate real tea products, such as Longjing and Biluochun. They think it's too light, so it seems to have a little taste if you chew it slowly, which is not suitable for cattle drinking. From the perspective of drinking soup, there is a great difference between the north and the south: Southerners eat soup as a dish, mostly in hot summer, and Guangzhou and Fujian drink soup before meals and drinking, especially Guangzhou Renbao soup. Northerners, on the other hand, drink soup all year round, but the soup is eaten after meals, which is generally not served as a dish, and it is mainly eaten in winter, which makes them feel warm and warm. From the point of drinking, northerners are generous, and the average alcohol consumption is greater than that of southerners, especially in Shandong, Northeast China and Inner Mongolia. Liquor is produced in the south, such as Kweichow Moutai and Sichuan Wuliangye. In summer, beer may be dominant in the north and south, but in winter, northerners prefer to drink white wine, but in winter, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the south like to drink yellow wine, such as Shaoxing Daughter Red, Shanghai Hejiu and Shikumen. Northerners drink in big bowls, eat vegetables and talk loudly. Southerners are relatively meticulous.
Second, food
When it comes to the difference in diet between the north and the south, you may first think of rice as the staple food in the south and flour as the staple food in the north. The eating habits of the south and the north of China are different. Southerners love rice and northerners like pasta, which is actually related to the different agricultural production structures in the north and south. The climate in southern China is hot and rainy, and most of the cultivated land is paddy fields, so local farmers plant rice with high temperature and rainy growth habits according to local conditions. However, there is less precipitation and lower temperature in northern China, and most of the cultivated land is dry land, which is suitable for the growth of dry and cold-resistant wheat. The so-called "eat what you plant", in the long run, will develop the eating habits of the south and the north. Northerners like to eat meat in chunks and drink in large bowls; Southerners should cut the meat carefully, simmer it rotten, fry it tender, and scald the wine warm. Southerners like to eat green leafy vegetables, and if they don't eat them for a few days, they won't get shit; Northerners don't care, they can shit just by eating meat. Northerners like to eat jiaozi, which is their greatest contribution to China's diet. Southerners like to eat wonton. Jiaozi just dip it in vinegar, one bite at a time. Wonton should have a soup bowl and complete seasonings, and only half a bite. Southerners like to eat onions and northerners like to eat garlic. Southerners eat pickles and northerners eat pickles; Southerners eat peppers to get rid of dampness, while northerners eat peppers to drive away the cold. Southerners are salty, spicy, oily and sweet, while northerners are dry and sour. Northerners eat simply, which is directly related to regional products. The pursuit of simplicity in the north and beauty in the south is also largely caused by regional characteristics.
Because of the difference of staple food, the whole diet structure and eating method are greatly different. South and north, apart from eating rice, eating noodles and eating fish and meat. There are also great differences in cooking habits, tastes and styles. For example, porridge is millet porridge and rice porridge in the north, with a few dates at most. But southerners, not only put vegetables in porridge, but also put ham and preserved eggs in it, and even zongzi are wrapped in sausages and preserved eggs. In addition, southerners like sweet and northerners like salty. Southerners like to fry their dishes separately, while northerners prefer to cook them in one pot and so on. “
Generally speaking, the diet in the north is rough, while the workmanship in the south is fine. It's strange to hear that a northerner can cook, just like hearing a southerner eat casually. Southerners eat casually, and most of them don't want to live. Northerners, on the other hand, only want to live and have a good meal. Therefore, in such a situation, southerners and northerners have their own ideas and unique skills. So that the dishes in the north and the south have their own advantages.
Southerners' dishes are known for their delicacy and delicacy, and they pay special attention to emotion. The biggest feature is that they pay attention to the selection of materials. Perhaps it is because the southern mountains and rivers are beautiful and colorful, and the aesthetic ideas of southerners are mostly soft and elegant. The dishes in the south are naturally branded with this distinctive regional brand, which is not only full of color, fragrance and taste, but also the design and color of the utensils, the detailed decoration of the dishes and, of course, the dining environment, which is particularly exquisite and everything is pleasing to the eye. This is evidenced by the fact that most Chinese restaurants in major cities in China are decorated in southern style. As far as cooking methods are concerned, whether it's roasting, stewing, steaming, stewing, broiling, frying or mixing, Southerners have a set of complicated and exquisite procedures, pursuing freshness, tenderness, fragrance and smoothness in order to satisfy all kinds of subtle experiences of taste buds.
Northerners' dishes, on the other hand, win with bright colors and heavy tastes, and the biggest feature is that they use local materials and pay attention to heat. The raw materials for cooking in the north are not as rich as those in the south, and there are not many patterns, but they are extremely ordinary things, and chefs in the north can also make distinctive flavors. For example, the famous roast lamb head in Lanzhou is cooked half-cooked, then cut in half with one knife, brushed with a layer of sheep oil, and then barbecued on the oven with a quick fire. The whole process of roasting sheep's head is very complicated. It takes nine times to brush oil, two times to brush soy sauce, two times to brush vinegar, two times to brush cumin, three times to sprinkle Chili oil, one time to sprinkle fennel powder, one time to sprinkle pepper, one time to add sesame seeds, one time to add chopped green onion, one time to brush coriander and one time to add onion. About half an hour or so, you're done. The whole sheep's head is purple-black, although it is not very beautiful, but its fragrance is particularly attractive. When you eat it, you feel better: the sheep's eyes are crisp and juicy, the sheep's brain is soft and tender, as smooth as tofu, and the sheep's face meat tastes like arctic shellfish, even the sheepskin that is a little black, and it doesn't have a taste when chewed. If you add garlic and cold beer, it will feel even better.
In cooking dishes, it is difficult for northerners to compete with southerners in materials, knives and colors, but only when they are ready, northerners have the capital and confidence to compete. For example, Beijing Quanjude roast duck, Donglaishun rinse meat, etc., are very particular about the materials and roast workers. Even in the northern folk, there are often amazing "roast squares", such as "choosing a whole piece of pork arm with fine skin and tender meat more than a square foot, hanging it on a rack with an iron hook, roasting it with charcoal fire, sometimes with strong fire, sometimes with slow fire, and roasting it for several hours while the skin is burnt and the meat is cooked. On the table, first a plate of crispy skin, followed by a large slice of white meat, which is delicious. "An ordinary piece of good pork, as long as it is well roasted and handled properly, has become a fine dish. Compared with the southerners' thinking about materials, I think the concept of "making the best use of everything and making the best use of it" in the diet of northerners is more worth promoting. After all, the stomach is not an experimental field, and you can't eat everything.
From the point of view of cuisine, the southern cuisine has obvious advantages, including Guangdong Cantonese cuisine, Sichuan Sichuan cuisine, Hunan Hunan Hunan cuisine, Jiangsu and Zhejiang hangzhou dishes and so on. However, there are almost no independent cuisines in the north. Of course, the cuisines in the northeast are quite distinctive. The overall feature is that the diet in the south is exquisite, while that in the north is rough; Judging from the amount of food, most of the food in the south is small and refined. The north is rich and thick, and the south is rich in vegetables all year round. In winter, there are the most Chinese cabbages in the north, or vegetables in greenhouses, but the varieties are relatively few. Especially in rural areas, the difference may be even greater. In a word, people in the north and south make their lives rich and colorful by their own hands for their own dietary needs.