Chinese people consider food as their central part of life. They prepare special food not only for particular occasions, such as wedding and festivals, but also for health, such as dishes made with herbs and tea. A wide variety of Chinese food may be one of the reason that people from all walks of life are attracted. Chinese people of different regions prefer different ingredients and have their unique preparing techniques. For example, soup noodles are typical food in the northern part of China, and dim sum is a very special kind of Cantonese food.
Northern cuisine has mutton dishes, unheard of in the south.
Northern cooks are also more heavy-handed with garlic and bean paste, while cooks in Szechuan and Hunan on the northwestern part rely on chillies. Northerners eat mantou, a wheat-flour bread as a staple, while rice is more usual in the south. Anyone who loves Chinese food definitely agrees that Chinese ways of cooking are incredible. A little can go a long way when there are several kinds of ingredients cut small, tossed into a hot wok with a little oil and stir-fried with fragrant garlic and soya sauce. Cutting food into bite-size pieces makes for rapid cooking and enables seasonings to penetrate into the food.