Why do you say "East sour and west spicy, south sweet and north salty"?

Because China is vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with different climate, products, customs and habits, it has formed many flavors in its diet for a long time.

There has always been a saying in China that "southern rice goes north", and the tastes are divided into "sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the east and spicy in the west", mainly in Bashu, Qilu, Huaiyang, Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

This sentence reflects the regional differences of China's food culture to some extent, and also reflects that people's tastes are related to the geographical environment.

Nantian: Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai are the main sweet places, and sugar is an essential seasoning for cooking. The concentrated representative of Nantian is Su cuisine, one of the eight major Chinese cuisines.

Northern salty: pickles are mostly concentrated in Shandong, commonly known as Shandong cuisine. It is the earliest local flavor dish in China and one of the "eight famous dishes" in China.

Extended data

As early as the Song Dynasty, the diets in different areas of China were already different. As mentioned in Volume 24 of Meng Qian Bi Tan, there were two main tastes in China at that time. Northerners liked sweets and southerners liked salty taste.

At that time, China didn't eat "spicy" food, because, at that time, peppers had not been introduced to China. In the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of northerners immigrated to the south, so the sweetness gradually spread to the south.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of northerners moved south. Gradually, the food culture in the north influenced the south. Formed its own faction in the southern region. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, China's diet was divided into Beijing flavor, Su flavor and Guangdong flavor. Beijing flavor is salty, Su flavor and Cantonese flavor are sweet.

In the Qing Dynasty, according to Tsui Hark's "Clearing Cang Li Chao", "Yao Zhuan has its own characteristics, such as Shi Jing, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangning, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Huai 'an and other places. Later, it was summarized into four major cuisines: Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine and Jiangsu cuisine.

Since the Republic of China, cultures in various parts of China have made great progress. Gradually formed the most influential and representative cuisines, which are also recognized by the society: Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Huizhou and other cuisines, often referred to as the "eight major cuisines" in China.

Baidu Encyclopedia-China Food Culture

Baidu encyclopedia-sweet in the south and salty in the north