And in Northern China, you cannot grow rice because the weather is too cold. So because of the weather, geography and soil, they can grow wheat, and the wheat ends up on the table, as the main staple. So that's why you have a lot of potstickers, noodles, dumplings, all kinds of buns and all kinds of baos, all wheat based. Canton is known for seafood, the simplicity of cooking, the integrity of the ingredients. So there's a lot of steaming, stir-frying, seasonal ingredients.
Canton is in the southern tip of China, exposed to a lot of rivers and lakes as well as the ocean.
So you see a variety of seafood, and it's also an area of four seasons, which are not available in the north and the west of China. And also, Shanghai being a coastal city, you have a lot of seafood. They are very famous for red-cooked dishes, which means that meat, chicken, or seafood is cooked in a rich, brown, sweet sauce and they are cooked to a point that end up like stews, and braising. So they are very famous for that. So Shanghai sounds a lot like Venice, which as a port town, had all of the different spices and flavors there because of the trading ships.