Cuisine is best defined as a cooking style characterized by distinct ingredients, cooking techniques, and specific to a geographic region or culture. Continental and oriental cuisines are often confused to be the same when it is not. Though both these cuisines have similarities in terms of the ingredients used and cooking techniques, they do not originate from the same place.
Oriental Cuisine vs. Continental Cuisine
Oriental cuisine refers to the food habits of the Southeast Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan. Their dishes are spicy and dry with abundant use of plum and apricot. The primary cooking technique is stir-frying, quick frying, and boiling. Pickled products and fermented sauces are also widely used.
Continental food, on the other hand, refers to the food habits of the European countries like Spain, Italy, and France. This type of cuisine mainly includes olive oil, herbs, wine, and very little spices. Their cooking technique includes frying, baking, and roasting. Continental cuisine is high in calories.
While you can find the influence of Asian cooking techniques in oriental cuisine, continental food is mainly cooked in European style.
Why is Oriental Cuisine preferred all over the World?
The intimacy of different cuisines and the logical methods of cooking with respect to the climatic conditions make oriental cuisine a preferred choice worldwide.
The geographical area making up the Orient stretches from the east of Siberia to the south to Indonesia and includes Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, most of China, and Korea. Oriental cuisine primarily refers to Asian cooking methods from the far eastern region, avoiding most dishes from Indonesia and Siberia.
Common Oriental Cuisines
- Chinese: Cuisine of China is a part of oriental dishes. Unique cooking style of China, adding a lot of spices and sauces, makes it delectable. Chinese foods include chicken preparations, rice, vegetables, sauces, and other exotic ingredients.
- Japanese Cuisine: Japanese culinary culture depends heavily on seafood and fish. Sushi is a popular Japanese dish having a unique taste. Less frying, more steaming and healthy preparations, and even raw foods are a part of Japanese cuisine.
- Korean Cuisine: It is also more of an Asian cooking form that falls into the category of Oriental cuisine. A popular Korean dish is Kimchi, which involves putting vegetables in a spice mixture and burying it for fermentation. Seaweed, snails, and rice noodles are a part of Korean cuisine.
- Southeast Asian Cuisine: Though well known in the Western countries, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine is a part of Southeast Asia. Hence, it qualified as Oriental cuisine. Different types of curries, noodles and hot spices make the cooking style distinct from other nations.
