No matter in Chinese food or in Chinese characters, the magical word "taste" seems to be always full of infinite possibilities. In addition to what the tongue tastes and the nose smells, in Chinese culture, the perception and definition of "taste" both originates from and goes beyond food. In other words, it is not only our tongue and nose that can really feel the "taste", but also the hearts of Chinese people.

Like all over the world, Chinese characters also use "sweet" to express the feeling of joy and happiness. This is because the first taste that the tip of the human tongue can feel is sweet, and this taste often comes from the same substance-sugar.

For Ah Hong, sugar not only means sweetness, but also everything. Sugar onion pancakes, a famous traditional dessert in Chaozhou, Ah Hong’s craftsmanship is passed down from generation to generation. Today, Ah Hong is going to make more candied onions. Tomorrow is the grand local festival—Winter Festival. In the ancestral hall, with the opening of the drama, people respectfully offer all kinds of brightly colored desserts to their ancestors, and at the same time pray for their own lives. Ah Hong's wish is that his traditional craftsmanship can continue to bring prosperity to the whole family.

Chinese people seem to be very good at appreciating bitterness when tasting the sweetness of life.

In the orchard in October, the tea branches turn from green to yellow, and the smell is fragrant. The bitter and sweet Xinhui tangerine peel comes from these plump fruits. The length of storage years determines the grade and value of tangerine peel. In southern China, tangerine peel can even make or break a restaurant.

On Coloane Island in Macau, Allen returned to the store after purchasing the goods. He is the owner of this seafood restaurant. The restaurant is named after A Lun's grandfather. For more than half a century, the business has rarely been neglected. The secret lies in the restaurant's signature dish - tangerine peel duck.

In Alan's memory, his parents are always just two figures busy in the store day and night. What childhood left for him is hard aftertaste. With the fragrance of tangerine peel, time seems to pass quickly. Now, Allen has a stable job and income. In his opinion, the most accurate way to sum up the life experience of more than 40 years in one sentence is "satisfaction comes after suffering".

Salty taste comes from salt. In Chinese cuisine, the more important mission of salt is to bring out the inherent taste of the food itself and improve the texture of a certain body. In the Chinese culinary dictionary, salt is the first of all flavors.

On the coast of eastern Guangdong, villagers have lived by drying salt for generations. On days when it does not rain, Ah Liu is busy in the salt field every day. The income from drying salt is meager, less than 10,000 yuan a year, and Liu also works as an electrician and fishes to supplement his family. Most of the people in the village go out to work, and the large salt fields have been abandoned, so Liu still chooses to stay behind.

The sour taste can remove fishy and greasy, and enhance the freshness of dishes. When sour and sweet are combined, it can also make the sweet taste more dynamic and more transparent. Sweet and sour is the basic consensus of most foreigners on Chinese food outside of China.

When cooking meat, the sour taste can also accelerate the fibrosis of the meat, making the meat more tender. Of course, the "sour" taste itself does not fully promote digestion and increase appetite. At the same time, in addition to the "sweet" and "bitter" commonly used in the world, the Chinese also use the word "sour" to describe certain foods. Pain, a certain jealousy, a certain embarrassment, and a certain entangled and unspeakable suffering.

In addition to "sour", there is another flavor that can boost appetite and is often used together with the word "sour" in Chinese food recipes, that is "spicy".

Suqiong is a vegetable farmer and the absolute head of the family. In Sichuan, many women are cheerful, tenacious, and decisive like Qiqiong. In Chinese, people use "pungent" to describe this character. The climate in the Sichuan Basin is humid and rainy, and the people who live here need the fierceness and heat of peppers.

In Sichuan cuisine, whether it is used as a main ingredient, an auxiliary ingredient or as a seasoning, chili is the darling, and it has branded a distinctive imprint on Sichuan cuisine. Suqiong deliberately postponed the planting and picking of this chili pepper, and it was sold at a better price in winter. Her husband admired her shrewdness.

Chinese cooking can not only invade our taste so fiercely like spicy Sichuan cuisine, but also moisten things silently and let our tongues appreciate the beauty of umami.

When SC Johnson was 18 years old, he entered the earliest five-star hotel in China and became a chef. In 2000, SC Johnson resigned from the position of food and beverage director and became a professional gourmet and a promoter of Guangdong food culture. He believes that maintaining the original flavor of ingredients in cooking is a kind of delicacy without a face.

"Fresh" is a special taste experience that only Chinese people understand and strive for. Only Chinese in the world can explain the full meaning of "umami". However, the so-called interpretation does not focus on definitions, but more on feelings. "Fresh" is not only within the "five flavors", but also surpasses the "five flavors", becoming the most common but most mysterious state of Chinese diet.

The five flavors make the taste of Chinese cuisine ever-changing, and it also provides a special way of expression for Chinese people to taste and reminisce about their different life situations. In the kitchen, the best way for the five flavors to exist is not to make one of them stand out, but the harmony and balance of the five flavors. The ideal state pursued in governing the country and managing the world.