It is necessary to combine what grows beneath the earth, which is compact and vigorously firm, with what extends upwards—light, airy, and fragmented. It is essential to blend the 5 basic flavors (sour, spicy, bitter, sweet, salty), the 6 levels of flavor (fresh, fragrant, fermented, fatty, strong), the 4 textures (melting, crispy, dry, soft), and add color.
Eating is an act of balance and beauty, and in cooking, one uses without hesitation traditional ingredients such as chrysanthemums, which symbolize fish, jellyfish, and the mixture of bird saliva and mud (the famous "Swallow's Nest").
These traditions, which still thrive in markets today, have roots even in mythology, and ingredients like rhinoceros horn or monkey brains are considered aphrodisiacs—essentially, virility enhancers to which the Chinese dedicate obsessive attention.
Fundamentally, Chinese cuisine is very rich, extremely delicate, and always easy to digest. Cooking methods range from steaming, quick frying, to the "red" technique, which involves soaking ingredients in soy sauce until they are marinated.
Added to this are the use of minimal fats, the cooking of vegetables, and serving neat portions—free of any inedible parts—so you can taste a little of everything. The preferred cooking utensil is the wok, a specially shaped hemispherical pan. Besides meticulous attention to presentation, atmosphere, and table setting, in China, the collective sense of sharing food is very important; one plate is never meant for a single diner, but rather shared among all.
