If like me, you love quality Chinese tea but aren’t about to pay an arm and a leg to buy it from the fashionable boutiques in the center of Milan nor drive 200 km to get some, then this article should appeal to you.

For some time, I buy Chinese tea online on TeaVivre, a website created by a group of passionate tea lovers that live in China.

The prices, as you’ll see as I continue with the article, are more than acceptable, especially if you consider that we’re talking about certified tea, often organic. As far as shipping goes, once you place your order the tea will arrive at your house within 6-10 days (if you decide to pay 8.9 American Dollars) or 12-20 days (if you opt for free shipping).

To finish, TeaVivre offers a “satisfaction or money back” guarantee for 15 days.

Keep reading to find prices and characteristics of the most popular Chinese teas (note that the prices are all in American Dollars)! [Read more…]

This article was written by Tina Guo.

The abbreviated form of Shanghai is 沪 (hù); hence Shanghai Cuisine is also called Hu Cuisine. In the recent history, Shanghai Cuisine has been regarded as a famous school of the traditional Han culinary culture in the regions south of the Yangtze River.

Formation and Characteristics of Shanghai Cuisine

During the Tang Dynasty, Shanghai was a seaside fishing village. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shanghai Town was set up; and in 1291, Shanghai County was established. Before the Opium War, Shanghai was a medium-sized city, with an advanced catering trade, but Shanghai Cuisine had not been formed yet. After the Opium War in 1843, Shanghai was opened up by the Qing government as a trading port under an unfair agreement signed with Britain. And after that, Western powers began to establish settlements in Shanghai.

Therefore, in the early 20th century, various Western cuisines were introduced to Shanghai. Then, the catering trade developed rapidly. Various local schools of Chinese cuisine, especially the schools of South China, vied with each other for good lots and customers, which provided conditions for Shanghai to adopt the advantages of other schools of cuisine.

Between the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early times of the Republic of China, a large number of restaurants serving 11 kinds of local schools of cuisine ran business in Shanghai, among which those who served foods of Suzhou and Wuxi cuisine ranked first in number.

Since the 1980s，great changes have taken place in Shanghai’s catering trade, and all kinds of schools of Chinese cuisine have flourished in Shanghai. At the end of the last century, the restaurants in Shanghai totaled over 30,000, including more than 650 restaurants serving different foreign food from over 40 countries and regions. Now Shanghai is regarded as one of the most famous food paradises. [Read more…]

This is article was written by David East from Unfamiliar China.

Though Chinese food is popular all over the world, the version that westerners are accustomed is a major variation on the authentic cuisine of China. This change came about as a result of time, local customs, and restaurateurs who wanted to adapt to western palates.

As a result, Chinese food in the west is often a mish-mash of different elements of Chinese cuisine, with a number of western ingredients and styles thrown in for good measure. Traditionally, Chinese food is divided into the eight culinary traditions, each named after a different region of China.

Because of the huge variety in climate, local agriculture, trade, and many other factors, there can be serious differences between these eight varying schools of cooking.

Cantonese Cuisine (Yue Cuisine)

Cantonese cuisine comes from the region of Guangdong. It is conservative in the use of herbs and spices, instead choosing to use modest amounts of very fresh ingredients. Dishes are often stir-fried or steamed. As a coastal province, it makes use of seafood alongside beef, chicken, and pork, but Cantonese cuisine is also famous for using almost anything that is edible, such as frogs’ legs, offal, chickens’ feet, and snails!

As Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, once infamously said: “If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.” [Read more…]

No panettone for Christmas, no Easter cake, and definitely don’t expect lentils for New Year! We’re not crazy, we’re in China. But don’t worry, even here there are typical holiday dishes, so let’s discover these culinary traditions for the Chinese holidays together!

春节 e 饺子 (chūnjié and jiǎozi) – The Spring festival and ravioli

The Spring festival (春 “Spring”, 节 “festival”) is also known as the Chinese New Year, and is the most important holiday for the Chinese people. It falls between the end of January and the beginning of February, and to celebrate it there isn’t a family that doesn’t eat ravioli!

The 饺子, besides having a symbolic meaning (the pasta of the ravioli encloses and keeps the filling together, just like a family, protected and united), is also the perfect occasion for getting the whole family together to prepare the ravioli, to then eat them all together.

For information on the ravioli, you can click this link, and find it under the heading “First dishes”.

As the Chinese New Year is “the” Chinese holiday, eating some ravioli is certainly not enough to honor the traditions. If the Chinese usually eat enormous quantities of food for every important event, for this holiday the custom is even greater. [Read more…]