5 Foods in China That You Need to Try

When you travel to China there are 5 traditional foods you need to try.

5. Wonton Soup

Wonton soup can be many different flavors. It can be spicy, sour, sweet, or just the original flavor. This dish contains wontons and soup. Wontons are similar to dumplings, except they are usually smaller. The soup base usually contains flavors of chicken backs, pork trotters, dry-cured ham, dried shrimp, and glutamate-rich seaweed. The wontons can vary though, they can contain ham, pork, beef, veggies, and much more! Wontons can also vary in flavor, shape, size, and even color! I suggest trying the traditional wonton soup before experimenting with other flavors.

4. Spring Rolls

Spring rolls can also vary. This dish is usually served with a sweet sauce or soy sauce to dip. Spring rolls filling usually contains veggies, noodles and different types of meat. The roll can be wrapped in different colored skins, but the traditional wrap is a light brown crispy layer around the filling inside. This wrapping is made of wheat flour, water, and salt. This dish is usually a side dish, which would be eaten with the main meal.

3. Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese hot pot is where there are multiple soups that are hot and you cook raw foods in the steaming broth and eat. In my opinion, hot pot is about the experience of cooking your own food and spending time with family. In hot pot, there can be multiple soup with different flavors and spices to flavor the foods you cook in the soup. You can cook almost anything at hot pot, from meats, veggies, rice, noodles, and seafood. In Chinese hotpot, you can even drink the cooking broth at the end if you want! Chinese hot pot symbolizes warmth, family, and the joy that meals with families mean.

2. Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu is a traditional Chinese dish that comes from the Sichuan providence. It comes in many flavor such as spicy, sweet and sour. Mapo tofu is made with simmered medium-firm silken tofu flavored with fermented bean paste, beef, plenty of red-hot roasted chili oil, and peppercorns. Mapo tofu is said to have originated in Chengdu in the late 1800s. Ma translates to “pockmarks”, while po refers to an older woman. Together these reference the dish’s inventor, Mrs. Chen, an elderly woman with smallpox scars.

1. Peking Roast Duck

Peking Roast Duck is different from roast duck because it is not stuffed. This is because it already has all the flavor from just the Peking duck, showing that you don’t need stuffing. Peking duck has a very deep meaty flavor. Peking duck is known for its flavor and crispy skin. It is usually served with cucumber matchsticks, carrot matchsticks, thinly sliced scallions, boiled water pancakes, and additional hoisin sauce. Peking Duck, with its rich flavors and luxurious appearance, symbolizes abundance and prosperity.