Surprising Chinese Food

There is a big surprise in Chinese food. Cumin and cilantro, staple ingredients in Latin food, are also prominent ingredients in a lot of Chinese food. Before coming to Beijing, I considered garlic, ginger, and soy sauce as Chinese staples. Well, come to find out, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce are certainly prominent. But, cumin, cilantro, sizchuan peppers, cloves, cinnamon, and star anise are just as widely used to add flavor to a variety of dishes. How these spices are used is a subject to be covered some other time.