Asian Food Traditions: Where Is Your Food From?

Just like Asian people themselves, Asian food traditions are incredibly diverse and nuanced, centering on the local resources and cultures of each region. This map highlights some of the traditional foods and flavors found in different regions of Asia.

Learn about some Asian foods by examining the map below. What patterns do you notice? Which foods are you familiar with? Are any foods new or surprising to you? Consider how the foods documented here compare to what you may have seen at Asian restaurants in the United States.

Central Asia

As pastoralists, many Central Asian cultures center their diets around animal products. Commonly consumed animals include sheep, goats, and horses, and yogurt has been a mainstay for centuries. Flatbreads, stews, pilafs, and savory pastries are common dishes.

Southwest Asia

Like many other cuisines, Southwest Asian food has largely been shaped on what grows in the region. Southwest Asian cuisine commonly incorporates olives, honey, sesame seeds, fruits, and sumac. Rice, barley, and bread are staples in Southwest Asian meals, which are often served with meats, especially lamb and mutton, and pulses, such as lentils and chickpeas.

South Asia

South Asian cuisine is known for its use of rich sauces and curries, strongly featuring spices such as turmeric and ginger, and often eaten with rice and/or flatbreads.

East Asia

East Asian cuisine is known for its use of rice, seafood, noodles, and soybeans. China, the dominant cultural center of East Asia, is very large and diverse, and its cuisine is often categorized by subregion. Cantonese cuisine, which features many sweet and sour combinations, is the Chinese food those in the United States may be most familiar with. Popular dishes include char siu, chow fun, dim sum, and sweet and sour pork. Huaiyang cuisine is known for its sophisticated technique and use of a black rice vinegar known as Chinkiang vinegar. Traditional foods include fried rice, bao, and dumplings. Shandong cuisine incorporates a lot of seafood, such as prawns and shrimp. Sichuan cuisine is known for its use of spices, including chilis and Sichuan peppercorns. Popular dishes include kung pao chicken. Japanese food is known for being simple, yet sophisticated, incorporating ingredients with a lot of depth, such as miso and dashi. Japanese cuisine includes many rice-based dishes that are served with pickled vegetables known as tsukemono. Korean food also typically features rice, vegetables, and meat. Korean cuisine also includes fermented foods like kimchi and gochujang.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian cooking is known for its use of ingredients like shrimp paste, fish sauce, chilis, lemongrass, and fresh herbs. Thai cuisine is renown for its complex soups like tom yum and tom kha. Vietnamese cuisine is often very light and centers on vegetables and herbs.

Western imperialism left its marks on Southeast Asian foods. Many popular Filipino dishes, for instance, have roots in both the archipelago’s many native cultures and in the legacy of Spanish colonialism. Lechón and adobo are two popular dishes that have connections to the country’s Spanish colonial past.

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