Cusines by Provinces
Macau Cuisine
Macao was once a Portuguese colony making Macanese Cuisine uniquely different from others. When Portugal positively engaged in adventurous sailing and territory expansion, it established a great number of commercial and evangelistic bases, such as Brazil in South America, Mozambique in Africa, India, Malaysia and Macao in Asia. Meanwhile, it also brought Portuguese dietary customs, cuisines, raw materials and flavourings from around the world. These elements combined with Macao’s great diversity in culinary art gave birth to the unique Macanese Cuisine. A great many of these wouldn’t be present today without the Portuguese admiration and acknowledgment of local cultures. Thus, many delicious and authentic Guangdong dishes still exist in Macao and plenty of famous traditional shops have been greatly popular to date.
Ningxia Cuisine
Ningxia Cuisine is primarily based on Hui ethnic or Islamic dishes and partly on Han ethnic dishes. It absorbs the essence of the cuisine culture of Hui ethnic minority group, being Islamic and practical and adept at cooking beef, mutton and lamb meat. Ningxia has a diverse range of snacks which use beef, mutton, lamb and tripe as the main materials. The Islamic trait of Chinese Hui ethnic foods is characterised by the strict selection of raw materials and pays close attention to hygiene and quality.
Qinghai Cuisine
80% of Qinghai province is grassland and the remaining is the agricultural and semi-pastoral regions of the east. There are numerous wild animals, fowls, vegetables, fruits and a number of local specialties, such as yak, Tibetan lamb, Huangyu fish (a carp from Qinghaihu Lake) and Chinese caterpillar fungus. In terms of cuisine, the agricultural and semi-pastoral regions are primarily based on dishes of Han and Hui ethnical groups. The two types of dishes mutually affect and learn from each other absorbing the essence of Tibetan dishes of the pastoral area. These are the main features of Qinghai Cuisine. The cooking techniques are wild and mostly baked, fried, steamed, stewed or boiled. The flavour is sour, spicy, delicious and salty. The Qinghai dishes are soft, crispy, savoury, flavoursome, fresh and tender.