63 Chinese Cuisines: The Complete Guide

December 2, 2024 7:34 AM

A survey of all the cuisines in China, probably undercounted. Chinese Cooking Demystified attempts to catalog every single regional cuisine in China, complete with explanations, maps, and of course, the food.
posted by toastyk (13 comments total)

Their youtube channel is great. Insanely comprehensive, always well thought out, nicely presented. I've got no idea how they make money off of it, but they deserve more than whatever they're getting.
I see that they have a million subscribers, more or less. What does that translate into in youtube bucks? Is it enough to live on?
posted by conifer at 7:57 AM on December 2, 2024

Oh wow, this is super cool! I love food history, I love maps. This one has it all!
posted by Kitteh at 8:22 AM on December 2, 2024 [1 favorite]

This is a keeper and we'll be watching it again soon. Beyond the really useful information (the amount of detail, the glorious variety of food!!) is a really good explanation for how they are categorizing cuisines, what makes it different or perhaps a variation of a larger region. We laughed at the very simplistic US map (deservedly so, considering how most US/Westerners think about "Chinese" food) along with its annotated comments.
Been following them for a while and it's always good, always informative. Highly recommend whether you just like to watch or want to learn techniques, flavors, and history.
posted by winesong at 8:44 AM on December 2, 2024

Q: You know what they call Chinese food in China?
A: Food.

[this is great!]
posted by chavenet at 9:11 AM on December 2, 2024

Calling out that any of the Muslim cuisines in China would be markedly distinct from even close neighbors, simply because pork and alcohol aren't options. Pork is used not just as a prime ingredient in non-Muslim Chinese kitchens but also as a pastry-making fat, and cooking with pork can be quite a different experience than cooking with other red meats like beef and goat. And wine is used as a key acid in a lot of non-Muslim Chinese dishes.

China is home to several distinct Muslim groups, the Hui, Uighur, and Salar peoples among them. I don't see any mention of the latter two groups in the video or in the Substack post.

I'm not harshing on this project, it's otherwise great, but as a Muslim who lives in a place where pork and lard should be on the national flag (that would be Spain), it's amazing how much the use of one animal can affect a cuisine.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 10:03 AM on December 2, 2024 [8 favorites]

(correction, the Uighur region is mentioned, but the fact that it's home to a unique Muslim people isn't called out.)
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 10:07 AM on December 2, 2024

rabia.elizabeth, I don't know if this may affect their content, but Stephanie is Chinese (and Chris is not) and they are in the middle of moving back to Xian (if I remember correctly) from some years in Bangkok. My understanding is that China-based youtubers get to do what they do at the pleasure of the government and they may have been less detailed as a cautionary measure.

I don't have time to rewatch but I do think there's a point where it's mentioned a little obliquely. It stood out to me too - other Asia-based channels often do deep-dives into the Muslim aspects of cuisine and culture - and it's unlike them to skim a detail like that when they did dip into some of the other diasporic and ethnic influences in other regions.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:09 AM on December 2, 2024 [3 favorites]

and it’s true that movement within the Tibet Autonomous region is restriction (possible, but restricted)

seems misspelled. other than details like that, this was neat

now i'm hungry for rice cupcakes 🧁
posted by HearHere at 12:10 PM on December 2, 2024

The ‘Mutual Intelligibility’ test is a very good rule. My dad, a talented cook with Shanghai-nese food, couldn't really find any local dishes in Yunnan to suit his taste and had to resort to getting take-out from Dongbei (Northeastern region) restaurants during our trip to Xishuangbanna. "Why is everything both sour and spicy? Sour is good, spicy is good, but together??"
posted by of strange foe at 2:51 PM on December 2, 2024 [2 favorites]

god yes this whole channel is just so good and I cannot endorse it strongly enough
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:11 PM on December 2, 2024

Wow there's a lot in here. Hairy tofu!
posted by away for regrooving at 9:11 PM on December 2, 2024 [1 favorite]

My understanding is that China-based youtubers get to do what they do at the pleasure of the government and they may have been less detailed as a cautionary measure.

They spell out their approach to controversial things in the section and footnotes on Taiwan:

Whenever I include a map of China that includes anything off the west of Fujian, the map needs to be selected carefully. We live in China, not America. Our livelihood is in China, Steph’s family is in China, and we enjoy all of those things being in China. We simply cannot be fast and loose with our words, mindlessly employing the sort of verbiage that would be second nature to many Americans.

…

Of course, when I say these things… your mind may immediately jump to some sort of Orwellian fantasy, but that’s not how any of this works. Put simply, cancel culture exists in China, but it’s performed by the nationalist right. Transgressions are forgiven if apologies are immediate and full throated (see: Nigel Ng). If you’re unwilling, harassment can follow. Doxxing can follow. If you incorrectly use an ‘all claims hashmarked’ map from Wikipedia, the government itself doesn’t really care - but they also aren’t exactly in a hurry to shield you from private consequence.

Our personal political perspective on the topic is nuanced, and will be kept private.

posted by zamboni at 6:42 AM on December 3, 2024 [6 favorites]

This is wonderful. Now, if someone could do this for regional/local opera in China, my life would be, well, if not exactly complete, certainly a note or two closer to that.
posted by dutchrick at 11:15 AM on December 3, 2024