Once upon a time in China

The conquest of Northern China by the Jurchen Mongols in 1126 AD forced the Sung Court to flee south and establish the Nan (Southern) Sung, the capital of Hangzhou in the province of what we now know as Zhejiang.

Wheat is the staple food of the north; however, because of harsh conditions, the Sung Chefs had to make use of local supplies-like rice-in this new capital. This shift firmly established the use of rice as a staple in Chinese diet.

Earlier in the 11th century, a variety of early ripening rice was imported from Champa, in the region of Kampuchea or Cambodia. This enabled farmers to produce rice up to three times a year. This cereal can support a greater number of people per hectare at a lower cost; hence, more food and more Chinese babies were produced.

This relocation also resulted in a blending of the Northern and Southern cooking styles and a synthesis resulted in the appearance of what we now know as "Chinese Cuisine". As this hybrid developed, purists of the cuisine of North and South styles insisted on their regional preference, hence specialty restaurants sprang all over the empire.

Today, China has 22 provinces (Anhui to Zhejiang), 5 autonomous regions (including Inner Mongolia and Xizang or Tibet), 2 Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and 4 Municipalities (Beijing, Chongquing, Shanghai and Tianjin). That makes up a lot of restaurants!

The Yin-Yang philosophy has also greatly influenced Chinese Cuisine. Some food are classified as "cold" (yin), like bananas, orange, soybean, mangosteen, pineapple, sugar cane and cucumber. While others are classified as "hot" (yang), like durian, pigeon, mangoes and chocolate.

No wonder chocolates are popular during Valentines Day (western influence) and mangoes are never eaten when one has fever (Bisaya tradition). After eating all that durian and nothing seems to work, eat mangosteen (Davao folklore)! "Hot" (yang) foods must be balanced with "cold" (yin) foods.

Fast forward to the Philippines: the Chinese influence on food has been described by my favorite author, Doreen G. Fernandez in her book "Tikim", with a tale of a Chinese merchant cooking a noodle dish, a "fair approximation, but not an exact one" since local ingredients are different. The result was the "first Sino- Philippine pancit, from the Hokkien pian+e+sit, which means something that is conveniently cooked and originally did not mean noodles."

Lonely man ang mga Chinese businessmen so they eyeballed with Filipinas and intermarriage occurred. The husbands taught the wives the food culture of their hometowns. Noodles became bihon, miki, sotanghon and, as a result, pancit Malabon, pancit habhab, bam-i, and pancit Molo came about.

Much later, Comida China was served in panciterias with Spanish names such as sopa de nido (bird nest soup), camaron rebosado con hamon (prawn with ham), pinsec frito (fried dumpling), pescado en salsa agrio-dulce (fish in sweet and sour sauce) and morisqueta tostada (fried rice).



These names persisted even in the fifties and this type of menu was my first encounter with Chinese cuisine in Majestic Restaurant (founded in 1952) in Colon Street.

Today, half a century later, the Chinese connection in our food has grown stronger and your favorite food columnist (slightly older!) still continues to patronize the Majestic Restaurant, now known as Grand Majestic Convention City.

All these dishes were served during a dinner with the best of the Lifetyle editors of Cebu's print media. Accompanying wines were Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc 2005, Terrazaz de las Andes Reserva Malbec 2003 and Mitolo Jester Shiraz 2004.

That was a great dinner and an excellent display of the culinary expertise of Grand Majestic in the mastery of Cantonese cuisine, in particular, and a doctorate of arts in Chinese cuisine, in general.

Many of my friends have complained that while they truly appreciate the food photos in my previous articles, they encounter difficulty in ordering these dishes. They cannot even pronounce it. Well, the truth is, neither can I!

As an aid to legislation...I mean...digestion, it's best to bring this newspaper along and the first group to order the same set of dishes will get a complimentary bottle of Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc 2005. The second group gets a free pot of tea and the third group gets...free parking na lang!

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