Asian cuisine is a colorful intermingling of many ingredients and contrasting flavors; a marriage of strong flavors, spicy elements and subtle nuances and hints.
Asia is a vast melting pot of clutures and religions, its cuisine is also a hybrid of various influences; the moguls in India, Spaniards and Americans in the Philippines, the French and Chinese in Vietname, Dutch in Indonesia and the British in India, among them. Each ruling conqueror brought with them new ingredients and ways of life and inevitably left their mark on the dishes in the countries they influenced.
There is no such thing as an "Asian Cuisine" , in the strict sense of the word. Asia is a region that is diverse culturally, geographically, climatewise such that there are various culinary styles to be found in the countries that make up that region. Prawns might not be cooked in Japan, they are freshly cut into thin slices and served with wasabi and soysauce for dipping. In the Philippines, prawns will be cooked as the star ingredient in a sour soup, made interesting by the addition of green vegetables and the "souring " fruit. Prawns, could be pulled out of a fish tank, quickly steamed and served in a light green onion, ginger, oil sauce in the Chinatown restaurants of any Asian city.
Common to the table of Asian countries is rice, which is important to the Asian meal as the meat or vegetable dishes. Most often, rice is eaten just plain and steamed, the blandness of it providing contrast to what will be eaten with it.There are country preferences as to the kinds of rice one serves during the meal; the Japanese and the Koreans have the starchy, sticky shortgrain kind whereas the Chinese prefer the long-grain rice.
A fondness for noodles is an Asian characteristic. Each country has its own signature noodle dish. The thickness and the kind of noodles cooked with varies as well as the ingredients one puts into making the noodle dish flavorful, dependent on what is at hand. Asian cuisine shows off the varied ways of cooking with soybean and its other products like soy milk.
The Asian table is a communal table. All dishes with the exception of dessert are presented at once and rice is put on the table at the same time . Diners help themselves to whatever they want and to as much as they desire of course. Asian
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