No smoke without fire – is Cantonese cooking cleanest in China?

A national debate is underway in the Chinese press to find out just how damaging cooking is to the environment after a Beijing government official said that Chinese cooking was the main source of air pollution in the capital.

A local Jiangsu paper reported that although cooking was not a major source of air pollution, in an enclosed environment, the effect could be significant. Especially when cooking Hunan and Sichuan dishes, the smoke was much heavier than in Cantonese cooking, which used steaming and boiling as the main cooking methods.

Large amounts of oil, frying chillies and other spices, a lot of heat and frequent stirring are some of the elements of Hunan and Sichuan cooking that produce smoke.

“Frying spices at high temperatures is what makes Sichuan cuisine delicious,” said chef Deng, owner of a Sichuan restaurant in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. “Of course it produces a lot of smoke, but if your smoke extractor is good enough, it should not be a problem.”

According to Deng, a good smoke extractor could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But many smaller restaurants skip this step to save money.

Beijing newspaper, Beijing News, invited environmental protection organisation Nature University to test PM2.5 – atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less – while frying potato chips, boiling corn, steaming buns and stir frying traditional Chinese dishes.