Tomatoes are relatively newcomers in China, having arrived approximately 100 to 150 years ago. Still, they has found a niche in certain Chinese cuisinesand are featured in several dishes.
History of Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a New World plant, originating in South America, where a wild species thrived in parts of western Southern America, from Ecuador to northern Chile, and the Galapagos Islands. It's unclear how tomatoes traveled north to Mexico, or whether tomatoes were first domesticated in Mexico or Peru. Tomatoes were one of the many new foods introduced to countries outside the New World following the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The first written reference to tomatoes in Europe comes from an Italian herbalist in 1544, nearly 25 years after Hernán Cortéz is thought to have brought tomatoes to Spain following his conquest of Mexico.
Eventually,the Spanish introduced the tomato to their holdings in the Philippines, and from there it spread throughout Southeast Asia and Asia. They were introduced to China over 100 years ago, where they are called xī hóng shì (western red persimmon), or fān qié (foreign eggplant).
Tomatoes in Chinese Cooking
Tomatoes haven't had the same broad acceptance in China as other New World foods, like sweet potatoes. However, they are readily available throughout China. As K. C. Chang notes in Food in Chinese Culture, both tomatoes and chili peppers improved the diets of southern Chinese by providing a new source of vitamins A and C. "Easy to grow, highly productive, and producing fruit virtually year-round in the subtropical climate, these plants eliminated the seasonal bottlenecks on vitamin availability caused by the lack of good productive vegetables in such seasons as spring."
Today, you'll find tomatoes featured in dishes such as tomato beef, a simple stir-fry with beef and thick wedges of tomato in an oyster-flavored sauce, and tomato egg drop soup.
In Xinjiang, where most of China’s tomato crop is now grown, tomatoes are used in soups, salads and noodle dishes.
Tomato Nutrition Facts
Tomatoes are low calorie and low in fat and sodium. Their red color comes from lycopene, a carotenoid pigment that is thought to have antioxidant properties. Tomatoes are a very good source of Vitamins A, C, and K, and a good source of Vitamin E and Vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, and other nutrients.
What About Ketchup and Tomato Paste?
Despite the sparseness of tomatoes in the Chinese diet, the country is now one of the world's largest producers of processed tomato products. In 2011, 6.8 million tons of tomatoes were processed. However, nearly 90 percent of these products, including over 1 million tons of tomato paste, were exported. While consumption of tomato-based products has increased in the past two decades, people still prefer fresh tomatoes—the average annual consumption of tomato sauce in China was 0.6 kg per capita, compared to over 20 kg in European and American countries.
The tomato industry would like to change this. However, it remains to be seen whether, over time, tomato-based products will find the same acceptance that fresh tomatoes are slowly gaining in the Chinese diet.
Sources: Research in China, China Daily, Food in Chinese Culture, pages 377, 378.
FAQs
Today, you'll find tomatoes featured in dishes such as tomato beef, a simple stir-fry with beef and thick wedges of tomato in an oyster-flavored sauce, and tomato egg drop soup. In Xinjiang, where most of China's tomato crop is now grown, tomatoes are used in soups, salads and noodle dishes.
Why does China produce so much tomatoes? ›
Due to the low cost of tomatoes, the Chinese production has always kept a very competitive position on the world market, to the advantage of China's export activities.
When did tomatoes become popular in China? ›
However, the flamboyant red fruit (or vegetable, depending on who you ask) was mainly cultivated as an ornamental plant instead of food. Tomatoes began appearing on people's tables in China in the late Qing Dynasty (1644 A.D.-1912 A.D.), but large cultivation of tomatoes only started in the past 50 years.
What is the Chinese favorite vegetable? ›
Bok Choy. China's most popular vegetable, bok choy, has a light, sweet flavor and crisp texture. It is a type of cabbage but instead of a tightly packed head the leaves are in a cluster, giving the vegetable a shape similar to celery.
Is tomato considered a fruit in China? ›
They are not Chinese, but in China, you will probably eat them in a way that is different from what you're used to. In China, cherry tomatoes are considered fruit, and just like any other fruit, they are eaten as a snack and can be found in fruit salads.
Does Chinese cuisine use tomatoes? ›
The tomato's brilliant color and natural umami have made it another essential ingredient. In fact, the classic sweet and sour dishes of China now depend mainly on the tomato, where it used to be the haw fruit that colored and flavored in the past.
What culture eats the most tomatoes? ›
To answer our question from earlier, it's China that tops the world for tomato consumption, which is probably not a huge surprise given their huge population.
Why doesn't Chinese food have dairy? ›
Scholars have pointed to genetic, gastronomical, and cultural factors to explain the absence of dairy products in the traditional Chinese diet. This paper, however, makes a case for reframing the problem. The premodern Chinese, in fact, did have a tradition of dairy consumption – as food and as medicine.
Does Japanese food use tomatoes? ›
Surprisingly, tomatoes are often highlighted in Japanese desserts and sweets, playing more of a fruity role.
How much money does China make from tomatoes? ›
About. Exports In 2022, China exported $259M in Tomatoes, making it the 9th largest exporter of Tomatoes in the world. At the same year, Tomatoes was the 708th most exported product in China.
Although one of their most popular dishes is rice, Chinese cuisine also includes noodles, soups and an extensive variety of meats and vegetables. As for their sweets, the best known are fortune cookies, which entertain diners with their hidden proverbs.
Do Chinese eat a lot of potatoes? ›
But while fresh potatoes are a traditional part of the Chinese national diet, they're viewed as a vegetable rather than as a staple, and China's per capita consumption of potato is below the global average.
What are the little green things Chinese eat? ›
Or perhaps you were pickling and you saw blue garlic and got nervous? It's totally safe to eat and is a traditional Chinese dish! The beautiful blue green hue is totally safe to eat and in fact, the garlic is spicy and tangier and amazing to cook with!
Why isn't a tomato a vegetable? ›
The botanical classification: Tomatoes are fruits.
A botanical fruit would have at least one seed and grow from the flower of the plant. With this definition in mind, tomatoes are classified as fruit because they contain seeds and grow from the flower of the tomato plant.
What fruit is native to China? ›
Plum (Prunus salicina), apricot, mume, Chinese cherry (Prunus pseudocerasus), and persimmon are all native to China. They are grown almost all over the country, except mume which is restricted to the South China. Major producing areas are also located in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.
What is the national fruit of China? ›
The fuzzy kiwifruit is the national fruit of China. It has fuzzy, dull brown skin and tangy, bright green flesh. The jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus) is the second national fruit of China.
What country produces the most tomatoes? ›
China is the world's largest tomato producer with 64.768 million mT, i.e. 34.67% of the world's total production. In 2020, China devoted 1,107,485 hectares to tomato production and its yield per square meter stood at 58.5 mT/ha.
Does the US import tomatoes from China? ›
Tomatoes grown in the Chinese region have been banned in the U.S. since January 2021 due to concerns they may have been produced with Uyghur forced labor.
Why does China produce so many vegetables? ›
The technological integration in agriculture has also been the driver in the growth of China's vegetables and fruits market. Cutting-edge agricultural techniques, including greenhouse cultivation, have greatly augmented quality and yield.
What country does the US import most of its fresh tomatoes from? ›
U.S. tomato imports
Mexico is the main supplier of tomatoes to the U.S. market, accounting for about 91% of the total volume imported by the United States.
