Transformation of the Lifestyle of Chinese People

The history of Chinese cuisine stretches back for many centuries and produced both change from period to period and variety in what could be called traditional Chinese food, leading Chinese to pride themselves on eating a wide range of foods. Chinese people feel very proud of their various kinds of dishes. Diet is one of the most important factors in Chinese culture. There are eight cuisines in China including spicy Sichuan cuisine and light Cantonese cuisine and Chinese restaurants enjoy wide popularity all over the world. These styles are distinctive from one another due to factors such as available resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favour the use of lots of garlic and shallots over lots of chilli and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats and fowl. Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing, while Sichuan cuisine employs baking, just to name a few. Hairy crab is a highly sought after local delicacy in Shanghai, as it can be found in lakes within the region. Beijing Roast Duck (otherwise known as 'Peking Duck') is another popular dish well known outside of China. Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation and cultural differences, a variety of foods with different flavours and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.

However, the lifestyle of Chinese people is changing gradually, no matter having meals at home or dinning out, there have been brand new diet habits. For example, cheese and tomato ketchup are added into some traditional dishes and city consumers frequently visit some fast-food restaurant chains such as MacDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut. The market research shows that in the next few years, the consumption of western fast-food in China will keep increasing at the speed of over 45% every year while the number of Chinese fast-food restaurants is expected to increase by 15%.

People’s income is increasing constantly, and many people know more and more about international food combined with the convenience of supermarket shopping so that a new generation of consumers that prefer to try packaged and battled food appeared in China. With the fact that more and more households have fridges and constant increase of frozen food in the supermarket, everything that you need ranging from quick frozen dumplings to fried chips can be found in the supermarket. In addition, green and organic food also shows in the shops in the big cities while the price is more expensive compared with traditional food. Because of the change of lifestyle, more and more Chinese people are not willing to purchase food every day, which makes packaged food more easily for the common people to accept. More and more people having cars and new city districts springing up, supermarkets are becoming more and more popular.