[CH] Chinese food history
Doug Irvine (dougandmarie@shaw.ca)
Tue, 19 Nov 2002 20:02:01 -0800
About 20 odd years ago, I wrote a Chinese cooking course, using the four
distinct types of cooking in China. Actually, they can also be
subdivided as well, for example, Szechuan food is somewhat different
from the food of Hunan province, but still hot and spicy from the chiles
they use. I first experienced Chinese food in Toronto when I was 14 and
was taken by the brother and sister in law of my best friend, to
Chinatown. The brother had just returned from China, where they had been
missionarys for the prior ten years. He went into the kitchen, and told
the chef what he wanted and that was a meal that still remains in my
memory over 60 years later. I had grown up in a staid English/Irish type
food environment(which is where I developed my dislike for lamb, as my
mother always served mutton!) Chiles entered my life, five years later
when we went to California, and a cousin introduced me to Mexican food
on Olivera Street in LA. Such a long time I have been eating chiles! In
any event, I have been cooking and eating Asian food now for so long, it
is a wonder that I do not speak mandarin! When I dig up my Chinese
history, I will post some of it where it pertains to chiles and how they
got there....Cheers, Doug in BC