Some 3000 years ago in China, a scientific approach was formulated for cooking. The basic rule was that the five flavors - sour, sweet, bitter, hot and salty - must be combined in a meal to achieve balance and harmony.

However the five-flavor rule isn't really adequate to describe the full kaleidoscope of Chinese cuisine. Any one of these flavors may dominate in a certain region. For instance, vinegar is indispensable for people from North China's Shanxi Province; people from East China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are fond of sweet food; spicy food, which makes some diners sweat, is preferred in the humid Southwest China; and salty food is popular in the cold north.

The diverse geography, climate, and history in different regions may offer a clue to why particular flavors dominate in certain areas.

  Sour

People from North China's Shanxi Province are most known for their love of vinegar. It is even said that vinegar is a must at their tables and a meal isn't complete without it. Locals say, drops of vinegar make a bowl of noodles more delicious and chefs all over Shanxi usually use vinegar to give a distinctive sour flavor to dishes. Diners are in the habit of dipping dumplings and steamed stuffed buns into vinegar for a second before eating them; and people from Shanxi are even jokingly said to sip or gulp vinegar like a soft drink.

A Vinegar Bar

Vinegar helps make food digestible. In the past, grains like corn and buckwheat that are not easily digestible were the only food available in Shanxi apart from wheat and rice. The predominance of wheat-based products in modern day Shanxi is a major reason for the wide popularity of vinegar, as the two are believed to go well together.

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