Mural guide
Cooks roll dough and fold dumplings beside a steaming bamboo basket, as a family gathers around a hearth-warmed cauldron.
Cooking pots, wine vessels, tea bowls and banquet ware: flavour and feasting told through objects
Fermenting seasonings, brewing fragrant tea, and gathering around seasonal feasts: the culinary wisdom of Huaxia living.
Cuisine
Aspergillus brewing umami, cauldrons gathered around the hearth: distilling the distinct flavors and culinary philosophy of Huaxia through the passage of seasonal bounties.
Grains & Livestock7 branchesRice and millet, pork, beef and mutton, poultry and eggs, along with introduced crops and dairy.
Hotpot Culture5 branchesShared eating over a stove: the Haihun bronze hotpot, the Song boxiagong rabbit dish and the Qing Thousand Elders Banquet.
Table Etiquette4 branchesFrom the use of chopsticks and spoons to seating, toasts and table taboos, the rules and manners of eating together
Tofu & Soy Foods5 branchesBrine-set tofu and bean foods: called "little mutton" in the early Song, its making detailed in the Compendium of Materia Medica.
Wheat Foods3 branchesMillstones turned wheat from whole grain into flour; leavening, steaming, wrapping and griddling made it into buns, dumplings and flatbreads.
Fermentation Condiments7 branchesKoji-fermented sauces and vinegar: the Rites of Zhou's sauce and vinegar officers, and Confucius refusing food without its sauce.
Cured Meats6 branchesSalted, air-dried and smoked meats and jerky, recorded in the Rites of Zhou's officer of dried meat and in the Qimin yaoshu.
Cooking Techniques11 branchesStir-frying, steaming, stewing, roasting and frying, with the knife work and heat control that turn ingredients into dishes.
Spirits, Wines & Folk Drinks12 branchesFrom baijiu, yellow wine, fruit wines and kumis to sour-plum drink and sweet soups: the drinks of China other than tea.
Tea Culture10 branchesGreen, oolong and black tea, and teahouse customs such as brewing in lidded bowls and pouring from long-spouted kettles.
Regional Cuisines27 branchesA map of Chinese cooking, where each region has its own style, shaped by local produce, climate and people.
Produce & Seafood3 branchesFresh foods from gardens, hills and forests, rivers, lakes and seas, changing with the seasons.
Banquet Traditions4 branchesFrom the court and official households to village feasts, the set menus and famous dishes of the Chinese banquet.
Pastries & Snacks6 branchesCakes, sweets, morning-tea dim sum and street snacks: regional flavor in small, tasty bites.
Food Customs14 branchesThe food customs of the festival year, of life's milestones and of everyday meals.
Noodles10 branchesStrands and sheets made from many kinds of meal, pulled, cut, rolled, extruded, steamed or dried, and eaten in soup, tossed or stir-fried.