Your local Chinese restaurant may be a
far cry from the cuisine of some parts of China. Not all Chinese
eat only lemon chicken and sweat and sour pork.
Indonesia, consists of about 13,000 islands
and its cuisine reflects the vast variety of
people that live on these islands and the people that came to
trade with the islanders.
The 7,107 islands of the
Philippines have been colonized and liberated twice, which makes its
food as diverse as the cultural groups that make up
the Filipino people.
Thailand sits between
India and China, and its food is clearly influenced by both
India and China. Yet Thailand's food, like Thailand's people,
has maintained its own identity.
Vietnamese cuisine has influences from
French colonization, the Buddhist religion from India and from
its proximity to China which it shares a border with.