![]() ![]() Yum cha etiquetteĮvery culture has its dining etiquette and eating Chinese food, including dim sum, in or out of China, is no exception. Many diners treat dim sum food as appetizer - a precursor to the heavier dishes of meat, seafood and rice. In teahouses and some restaurants, dim sum items are available from breakfast until closing time. Today, dim sum with yum cha is more than a light meal to recuperate from the hardships of travel. What is known is that, at some point, someone realized that the tired merchants needed more than tea to replenish their energy and prepare for the next leg of their journey. When exactly food was offered along with the traditional tea, no one really knows. Caravans travelled from China to as far as Africa and Europe, and weary merchants stopped at roadside teahouses for refreshment. The Silk Road is an ancient route used by the Chinese to transport silk and other goods for sale. Yum cha (“drink tea”) is a very old custom in China but the practice of serving tea with snacks, or dim sum food, came later - its history intertwined with the merchants that plied the Silk Road and the teahouses where they sought refreshment. When the contents of the baskets are gone, you choose another round of dishes and the empty bamboo baskets are replaced with new ones. When the trolley stops at your table, you pick out the dishes that you like, the food attendant places the bamboo baskets on your table and you dig in. So you like eating at Chinese restaurants and you’re particularly fond of the wheeled trolley that contains stacks of bamboo steamer baskets each containing a delicious dish. ![]()
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