Xi’an is an extraordinary city, and local cuisine is particularly distinctive. Perhaps many have no idea that a lot of food we eat in Xi’an today can be traced back centuries. Alike, Italy is known around the world for its cuisine. It is safe to say that ancient Roman culinary arts were passed down to form the foundation for today’s Western cuisine.
I like delicious food, but I’m not a gourmet connoisseur. I prefer the gustatory pleasure brought about various kinds of food, from which I can explore the cultures and characters of different nations. This time, while getting used to the food of Xi’an (ancient Chang’an), I came to Rome on the other end of the Silk Road to taste its delicacies.
While enjoying a place’s beautiful scenery, a traveler shouldn’t miss its delicious food. At the picturesque Piazza Navona in Rome, I stepped into a Michelin-starred restaurant. Sitting at an outdoor table facing the square, I felt it difficult to order because there were so plentiful choices on the menu. Finally, I ordered a chief’s meal of the day. Alessandro Chercello, the chef of the restaurant, first served me a cold dish. He told me this was merely an appetizer, and the main course would be a typical Roman dish, which he would personally cook. For Chinese who are accustomed to warm food, they may wonder whether the dishes would cool quickly in an outdoor environment.
Traditional Italian cuisine originated from the diet style created by ancient Romans. This diet style is characterized by fineness, simplicity, and fresh taste. In the cooking process, Roman chefs will maintain the original flavor of ingredients as much as possible. Therefore, they usually simmer food. Even if they have to use deep-frying or stir-frying technique, they do it quickly for fear of destroying the original taste of food ingredients. For this reason, Roman food is never too hot, so as the cooking methods. After learning about local culinary traditions and cultural backgrounds, you will have a different experience when enjoying Italian food. If you taste carefully, you can experience their orthodox flavor.
The chef also told me that it’s better to enjoy Italian food outdoors, because the food cools faster this way and if too hot, the food would paralyze gustatory nerves so that diners couldn’t enjoy their delicacy. Furthermore, it is a great pleasure to enjoy tasty food and picturesque scenery at the same time. It makes sense that Italians prefer cold food. It’s not that Roman cuisine doesn’t pay attention to temperature; it’s just that it has a unique requirement for temperature. Only when you get used to the city’s culinary style will you obtain a preliminary understanding of Rome.
Compared with Roman food, Xi’an food is hot both inside and outside.
Yongxingfang was formerly the mansion of Wei Zheng, an imperial censor in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Nowadays, it has been reconstructed into a recreational and cultural street displaying traditional folk customs of ancient Chang’an, capital of the Tang Dynasty. There are countless restaurants and eateries offering specialty delicacies from around Shaanxi Province, making the street a gourmet paradise. Those restaurants and eateries are always packed with customers all year round. In the kitchen, the chef skillfully operates a frying pan on red flame while steamy ingredients roll inside. “Red and hot” are the eternal theme of Chinese kitchens. Since ancient times, Chinese cooks have been experts in control flame. In fact, the skill to accurately control the heat is the foundation for cooking a satisfying dish in China. To be fair, the taste of Chang’an cuisine that has been passed on for centuries is a product forged by flame.
After busy work in the kitchen, the dishes are served on the table. The warmth of food is then passed from the plates to the heart of every diner. No matter how many members the family has, all would eat at the same table. For Chinese, dinner is a time for family reunion.
Chinese cuisines boast diverse and changing flavors. However, the most important dining tradition of Chinese people remains consistent: Meals must be hot. The pursuit for hot food perhaps stemmed from Chinese people’s health philosophy. According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, the vital organs of the human body prefer higher temperature and are afraid of coldness. In addition, the high temperature of food conveys people’s affections. Just as traditional Chinese etiquettes teach us, treating guests with hot food can warm their hearts.
In a word, Chinese food culture holds that everything is changeable. Chinese cuisines pay attention to fine cooking. Only through a proper cooking process can the essence of food ingredients be extracted. On the contrary, Western cuisines meet changes with constancy. All cooking techniques aim to maintain the original taste of ingredients; after all, their original flavor is a bounty of Mother Nature, which should be most valued. On the surface, Chang’an food sharply contrasts with Roman food in flavor and taste. But in fact, the two contrasting culinary styles just reach the same goal by different routes: They both pursue ultimate delicacy. Whether in the East or the West, people have made every effort to satisfy the taste buds of picky eaters. If you’re a gourmet who is obsessed with fine food, you must not want to miss this journey to taste Eastern and Western delicacies and experience the cultures behind them.
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