In what order to properly eat Chinese foods?

LOL @ James W's answer, he really knows a lot! The Chinese he met love to force outsiders drink (outsiders include people from Hong Kong, Singapore or opposite side of the mainlanders). When we (my family in Hong Kong) host a banquet for celebration, we normally do not force our guests to drink too much and we would like the guests to enjoy the food! Therefore, any part of the whole fish pointing to whomever means totally nothing at all. We usually reserve the fish head and tail to the most honored guest of the table (that implies we refer him/her as the leader of the table and we nickname the fish's head as dragon's head).

OK.., I would like to concentrate on food, and perhaps I should post a sample menu of a traditional Cantonese banquet here for your reference and you would have a rough idea of how we "eat" -

firstly, we start with something served cold that require to be prepared in long hours and the ingredients are from different regions of China - dried fruits or nuts, cold dishes (jelly fish or roasted meat),

secondly, we would have quick stir fried dishes - seafood / or meat with seasonal vegetables and deep fried dishes - these dishes require fresh ingredients and mostly the tastes are mild

then, we would have some dishes that require to prepare in days like shark's fin soup, braised abalone or sea cucumbers, the tastes are strong in flavours

steamed fish, deep fried chicken (or deep fried pigeons) and clear soup would be served as the compliment dishes after the strong flavour ones.

finally, rice and noodles for big eaters and desserts.

Below is a banquet with 6 main courses and 4 accompanying dishes (one of which is shark's fin) that can be served as any ordinary feasts for any occasions (birthday, new born or wedding).

APPETIZERS

1) two kinds of fresh fruit (e.g. pears, apples, oranges, pomelo, mandarin orange)

however, in nowadays, we usually serve fruit as the last course of the banquet

2) two kinds of nuts (e.g. roasted peanuts with spicy salt, candied walnuts, baked cashew nuts or pine nuts)

The nuts are served on small plates on the banquet tables and when the guests reached the table, they are free to pick up the nuts and have a little chat, the waiters will serve the guests with drinks (tea or soft drinks)

While if the banquet is for a new born, the appetizers are red eggs (hard boiled eggs with red food coloured shells) and pickled ginger

While the banquet started ...

FOUR ACCOMPANYING DISHES

Two cold dishes

1) Roasted goose or duck & roasted pork (Char Siu)

2) Shredded Jelly Fish & Smoked Pig's Trotter

Nowadays, we serve a whole crispy roasted baby pig, only one big cold dish! If the host wants to stick to the number of 2, mostly the second dish would be boiled lobster with mixed fruit salad

Two hot dishes

1) Stir fried scallops and conch with snow peas

2) Deep fried crab claws

SIX MAIN COURSES

1) Braised shark's fin with chicken or crab meat

2) Steamed Garoupa

3) Braised Abalone with mushroom and lettuce

4) Stuffed sea cucumber with dried mushrooms, dried scallops, diced bamboo shoots, fresh shrimps, roast duck meat

5) Deep fried whole chicken

6) Stewed pigeons and bird's Nest soup

(Nowadays, some of us only serve 4 main courses because most people cannot finish up the food!)

RICE AND NOODLES

1) Stir Fried noodles with straw mushrooms and yellow chives

2) Yangzhou fried rice

DESSERT

1) Red bean with lotus seed and lily root soup

2) walnut cookies and deep fried sesame balls

(Nowadays, we also serve assorted fruit to end the banquet)

If you are going to have a banquet in Shanghainese style, you would have 8 cold dishes served as Appetizers while you would be served RICE, NOODLES AND STEAMED BUNS

Chinese never serve 7 courses in the banquet and we like to have even numbers - even numbers like 2, 6, 8 are lucky numbers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To answer the question about when to serve soup in a Chinese banquet...., here is my answer.

Chinese do not serve soup as the first course in banquets, therefore, only cold dishes, dried fruit or nuts would be served as appetizers.

While having meals at home, we are free to start with whatever on the table that we like, most of the time, my mom advises us to start with a bowl of soup then serve the other dishes with steamed rice. My mom would "force" us to have another bowl of soup to end the meal - this is a habit from most Cantonese families because Cantonese believe long boiled soup are good for health.

However, if the banquet is prepared after a funeral, then the first course of the banquet would be a hot sweet soup (dessert comes first because we believe that we want something sweet to heal the sadness).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Punchie,

In a formal banquet, no one should turn the chopsticks around for picking up the food! We should use either the spoon or the serving chopsticks on the table to pick the pieces we want. Since 2003, we had "SARS", most of us are being encouraged to use serving spoons or chopsticks on the table to pick up the food from the dishes even though we are having meals with family or close friends.

We do not mess up both ends of our chopsticks in formal banquet!

Nowadays, the waiters would always serve the first round, i.e., the waiters should serve the food on the guests' plates and the guests are free to get more from the dish if there is some left over from first serving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to recommend a very interesting book about Chinese culture to the asker.

Five-fold Happiness - Chinese concepts of luck, prosperity, longevity, happiness and wealth

by Vivien Sung

Publisher : Chronicle Books, San Francisco

www.chroniclebooks.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok.. here is my answer to your additional detail of your question.

As I have mentioned above, dried fruits, nuts and cold dishes are the starters of the meals, when you host a dinner for 4 to 6 persons, you would order at least 2 to 4 and up to 6 or 8 small starters depends on the portion size of the restaurant, the common ones for appetizers are

candied walnuts

candied lotus seeds

candied lotus root slices

candied dried red dates

roasted peanuts

roasted or deep fried cashew nuts

Desiccated coconut

The common cold dishes are :

roasted pork (Char Siu in Cantonese)

roasted goose

soy sauce with rose wine chicken

Spicy steamed pork tongue

Spiced Shin of beef

white vinegar pig knuckles

jelly fish salad

Spicy duck tongues

bon bon chicken (Northern / Shanghainese cuisines)

cucumber salad (with vinegar and garlic sauce)

drunken chicken or chicken wings (Shanghainese cuisine)

drunken hairy crabs (Shanghainese cuisine)

soy sauces stir fried fresh water baby shrimps with shells (Shanghainese cuisine)

lotus root slices with sticky rice filling & honey sauce

boiled green soy beans (edamame - Shanghainese / Northern cuisines)

Tea & spices soaked eggs (Shanghainese / Northern cuisines)

boiled pumpkin / sweet potatoes / carrots with rock sugar and sour plums

celery and fresh lily root salad

tofu and century eggs salad

sour pickled gingers / radishes / cucumbers / cabbages

boiled small yams dip with table salt

hawthorn berries jelly/pudding

Then, we would order 1 or 2 accompanying dishes which usually are some quick stir fried seafood with vegetables / seasonal ingredients or deep fried food, the common examples are

Stir fried scallops with sweet peas

Stir fried fresh water shrimps with Lung Jing tea leaves

(Shanghainese cuisine - best in spring season)

Stir fried squads with celery and onion

Stir fried dried oyster dices with chicken and water chestnuts wrapped in lettuce

Stir fried garoupa fillets with seasonal greens

spring rolls (with different kinds of fillings / vegetables or shrimps / pork / chicken)

deep fried shrimp balls / crab claws

deep fried milk puddings

deep fried squads with 5 spices powder

deep fried prawns with garlic, chili and 5 spices powder

The main course would be dishes that require long preparation time or special ingredients like shark fins, dried scallops, dried abalone or some other expensive dried seafood like sea cucumbers or fish maw. When you are hosting a general meal for guest, it would be a steamed whole fish or a meat dish. The examples are:

braised shark's fin with chicken (for banquet)

braised abalone with mushrooms and dried scallops (for banquet)

braised sea cucumbers and fish maw with oyster sauce (for banquet)

braised pig's trotter with soy sauce

braised Chinese ham with honey and dried lotus seeds

braised spare ribs with soy sauce

Deep fried whole chicken or pigeons (Cantonese cuisine)

Crispy smoked duck with peppercorn (Sichuan cuisine)

Peking duck (Northern cuisine)

Braised whole duck with 8 treasures fillings (Cantonese / Shanghainese cuisines)

Steamed whole sea fish (Cantonese cuisine)

Steamed whole fresh water fish (Shanghainese cuisine)

Deep fried garoupa with sweet and sour sauce

braised whole carp with spicy bean paste (Sichuan cuisine)

Sweet and sour whole yellow fish with pine nuts (Shanghainese cuisine)

Steamed whole chicken with Chinese ham and dried mushrooms

HERE COME THE SOUP - The courses after the main dishes would be a long boiled soup or vegetables dishes, the common ones are

steamed whole winter melon with seafood, dried mushrooms, lotus seeds, roasted duck meat, Chinese ham (Cantonese cuisine - best served in summer)

steamed chicken with mushrooms and fish maw soup

steamed pigeons with bird's nest soup (for banquet)

long boiled chicken's feet with dried mushroom soup

long boiled duck with Chinese herbs soup

long boiled whole fish with sour pickled cabbage, radish and pepper soup (Northern or Sichuan cuisines)

Spare ribs with tomato soup

At a Chinese banquet, the dishes of food will be served one by one so you won't need to worry. Usually there are appetizers that are very small dishes, then come big plates of maybe roast pig, chicken, shark's fin soup, stir fry dishes, maybe another soup, then a fish, rice & noodle, and dessert. In a buffet, there is no fixed rules although most people would start with "dim sum" if there is any, then soup, then anything else. In reality the serving of Chinese food is not as strict as western banquets when you definitely know what is next because they have only one appetizer, one soup, one main dish, one dessert. There is much more food in a Chinese banquet, and different parts of China have different culture. Till this day I don't know if soup should be served first or last because people just do it differently, sometimes once before meal then again after meal, and I am Chinese.

Long Live & James W gave great answers. A few things that come to mind:

Chopstick etiquette:

*When eating at a communal dinner table, do not reach for food with the "eating" ends of your chopsticks. It is considered bad manners as it is not hygenic. You should always turn you chopsticks around to pick up a pc. of food and then resume eating with them as you normally would. Now, contrary to that...if you are with "family" or a "family that has included you into their family", then it is ok to eat and pick up food from the same "eating" end of the chopsticks.

*Never place both chopsticks standing straight up and down in the food (like a bowl of rice). It is in bad form as it imitates the act of buring & placing incense at a funeral (eg Death- Not a "lucky" topic for the Chinese).

Noodles:

*When it is a person's birthday, you serve them long noodles. This is symbolic of "Longevity" / "Long Life". Never cut the noodles.

Tea:

*When you want a refill of the little tea cup as a person is pouring a round for the table, you put your index finger and middle finger together. Then, tap the table lightly, twice is good. This tells them to pour some for you too.

*When you've run out of tea and you need the waitstaff to add more hot water, you either flip the lid of the teapot over completely or if it has a hinge, you simply leave it up and open. They will either bring more hot water to the table or take the teapot to be refilled.

If the chinese food was at 131 degrees or higher 3 hours prior to being put in the fridge you may be safe, but you really only have about 1.5 hour at the cooling stage before bacteria can start to grow, once they start they are in there even if you put the food in the fridge, unless you reheat to above 131 for atleast 5 min. The bacteria wont kill you it will just make you sick, if you have fresh ginger have some of that with the chinese food it will kill bacteria.

longliveabcdefg pretty much nailed the question. Thumbs.

I'd like to add that you do not want to stick chopsticks into any dish and leave them there. This is a big no no. You could stick your chopsticks into things but you really don't want to take your hands off your chopsticks while doing it.

Try not to point your chopsticks at any person. This is considered very impolite.

Do not bang your chopsticks on anything. This is bad manner. Things have changed a little in recent years and some Chinese in some regions started to bang their chopsticks on wine cups. But, don't try your luck and be the first one to do that. I'v done this in the 80's and it took me less than a second to realize that I've done something very wrong. LOL

If you are the host and the party is formal, you should be the first one to pick up foods from the first dish and give the foods to the most honored guest; luckily, this only applies to the first dish. If you are the guest, you do not want to do the first one to pick up your chopsticks. Younger generations are not as concerned about this. But when there are people over 55 on the table, you want to pay a little more attention.

Fish. If you are in Northern regions of China, watch out for whole fish. That dish was used as an excuse to drink. If the fish head pointed at you, you drink. If the tail pointed at you, you drink. If one of the fins pointed at you, you drink too! If you picked up wrong parts of the fish, you drink some more! I've never learned which part of fish to avoid because I was too drunk to remember. Now, I just tell them I don't drink at all and I am terrified to see a whole fish looking back at me.

Smoking. Chinese smoke A LOT on a dining table. If you smoke, it is advised that you carry a minimum of 3 packs on you. Whenever you want to smoke, you should pass a cig to every single smoker on the table before you light up; other smokers will do the same to you. It is impolite to refuse cigarettes passed to you. I have killed up to 8 packs of my regular cigs (Benson & Hedges) within one day while doing this! If you want to avoid this, put a pack of Camel on the table. Most Chinese do not handle Camel very well (except those who smoke Marlboro). When they saw that pack of Camel, they will try not to smoke as much when you are around. By the way, Americans do not handle Chinese tobacco well. Chinese cigs tasted pretty harsh and you will need a long time to adjust to the taste. If you are afraid of excess smoking, tell them that you don't smoke. Luckily, younger generations do not pass out cigs as frequently as older generations.

Drinking. Depending on which region you visit, you do not want to tell some Chinese that you could drink. In general, you do not want to tell any Chinese from northern regions that you drink. Not even beer! If they found out that you could handle any form of alcohol, they will try to drink you under the table. My first experience took place at a factory. I walked into that guy's office one early afternoon, said hello, and shook hands. As soon as I sat down and the guy asked if I drink. When I replied yes, he opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out two glasses and two bottles of Chinese hard liquor. He offered me 3 glass full of Chinese hard liquor before saying a word. Those glasses were better suited for juice and ice water but they use those as shot glasses! Its either three quick shots (or cannon blasts) or no business at all. I woke up around 2 or 3 in the afternoon the next day and the guy came to the hotel around 6:00pm with the contract. It was a very weird experience because I couldn't remember a thing! I was told I was able to "walk" to the side of the car before collapsing. LOL The theory behind this is: If you dared to get drunk in front of a stranger, you do not intend to lie to the person and you don't have anything to hide from the person. You also trust the person enough or you will not do something like that. As soon as you got drunk like that, you'll immediately gain A LOT of trust. I've learned to tell them that I got a very bad case of ulcer and drinking could cost me my life. It will take much longer to gain their trust but I think the wait is good in this case. By the way, Chinese hard liquor will not give you any hangovers. :)