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Beijing, China Lotus Culinary Travel's Beijing immersion is designed to introduce travelers to highly diverse regional cuisines of China. Just as one wouldn't go to Europe to try "European food," travelers can expect far more than "Chinese food" in China, a country obsessed with cuisine for more than 3,000 years. And short of traveling to every region of this vast country, the best way to try regional specialties is in the capital, where chefs of every stripe come to show off their mastery of traditional cuisines. Though Chinese food has so much range and diversity that it is sometimes classified into eight or more cuisines, it can also be logically discussed by region, since people living in areas of similar geography and climate have similar food traditions. North, East, South and West: On this Lotus immersion, you'll try them all, dining with locals and meeting chefs who can explain their ingredients, methods, history and lore. You'll also learn to cook classic dishes from each region. And as a result you'll begin to understand where Chinese cuisines originated as well as where they are headed in the new millennium. The Food The northern cuisines are perhaps the most diverse, including the hearty food of its upper, frigid reaches, the refined cuisine of river-rich Shandong and the decadent imperial cuisine of Beijing. The eastern school, often called Huaiyang and including Shanghai, is undeservedly the least known Chinese cuisine outside China, due partially to the fact that many of its popular dishes can only be sourced locally. The southern school, or Cantonese, is the best known Chinese cuisine in the West, since the great majority of China's emigrants have come from the provinces of Guangdong (previously Canton) and Fujian. However, though these immigrants brought their cuisine to their new homelands, Cantonese is not to be confused with American Chinese, which was adapted to the American palate and ingredients. The western school, or Sichuan, is in many ways the most exciting of China's cuisines and the most loved on the mainland--which is why Lotus offers a separate tour of this region. Sichuan cuisine is, as cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop so wonderfully put it, "the Spice Girl among Chinese cuisines, bold and lipsticked, with a witty tongue and a thousand lively moods."
The City Beijing is the number one destination in China not just because it is the capital but because it is a city like no other, its past and present equally impressive and equally on display everywhere you turn. History radiates out from the city center, expanding into the future literally before your eyes: from the Ming and Qing era Forbidden City to the Communist Tiananmen Square to the picturesque lanes and courtyard homes of the People to the cutting-edge architecture and chichi modern neighborhoods of the burgeoning upper and middle classes to the migrant-jammed, ever-enlarging outskirts. There's so much to take in that the visitor needs a shortcut. And in a country and city that is in many ways defined by its love of food, food may indeed be the most fruitful shortcut to the heart of this culture. Business, social and family life all revolve around cooking and eating, and its importance can hardly be overstated in history and daily life. Join the Chinese in the markets, in their kitchens, at the table, raise your chopsticks and your glass, and you'll be experiencing the real China.
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