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🌍 Country of the Week · A Spin the Globe Teacher's Guide
China
ChinaAsia · This week's dish comes from Sichuan
About China
China holds eight great regional cuisines within one border, the fire of Sichuan, the delicacy of Cantonese dim sum, the wheat noodles of the north, and more. Techniques like stir-frying, steaming, and braising, plus soy, ginger, and rice wine, unify an endlessly diverse table.
A meal here is built in two halves: the staple that carries the calories, rice in the south and wheat noodles or steamed buns in the north, and the dishes that go with it. Each person keeps their own bowl of the staple while the dishes sit in the middle and are taken a mouthful at a time, which is why ordering is done for the table rather than for yourself.
The eight traditions have names worth knowing: Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan and Anhui. Sichuan pairs chilli with the numbing tingle of its own pepper; Cantonese cooking is arranged so ingredients still taste of themselves; and Beijing's own noodle is zhajiangmian under fermented bean sauce, while the hand-pulled kind belongs to Lanzhou.
The wider picture: From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
This week's dish: Kung Pao Chicken
Diced chicken stir-fried with dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and peanuts in a sweet-sour-savory sauce with real má-là kick.
Serves 3 · Prep 20 min · Cook 10 min · Difficulty: easy
See the full recipe: ingredients, steps and dietary swaps →
Grown-up jobs: any step that uses a hot stove, oven, boiling water, or a sharp knife is for a teacher or parent. Children can measure, mix, and assemble.
Discussion prompts
1. Find China on a world map or globe. It sits in Asia. Which oceans or neighboring countries does it touch, and roughly how far is it from where you live?
2. Kung Pao Chicken comes from Sichuan, in China. Read its ingredient list together. Which of those foods do you think are grown or raised nearby, and how might the country's climate and landscape explain that?
3. Read the short story behind Kung Pao Chicken. How have the people, trade routes, and history of China shaped what ends up on the plate there?
4. Compare Kung Pao Chicken to a dish your own family cooks. What is similar, what is different, and what one question would you ask a family in China about how they make and share it?
5. After you cook Kung Pao Chicken, add China to a classroom map and give it a stamp. Write down one fact about its food or geography that you did not know this morning.
🌍 Spin the Globe · Geography through food · spintheglobeofficial.com/for-teachers