Why is dairy not used in chinese cooking?

There are no vast grasslands in China, therefore traditionally no great herds of cattle. Due to population vs. land available, pork has more popular than beef. Also duck can be raised in a small area, as can pork.

Dairy just isn't that popular in traditional Chinese or Asian cooking in general. It just didn't catch on. As a result, many Asians are lactose intolerant simply because they don't continue drinking milk after childhood.

Mongolian cooking does still use dairy a lot, mainly because the yak is their staple food, and they use every bit of the animal - including its milk.

It's not a "scientific" reason, nor is it a matter of choice on the part of Chinese chefs. It's just cultural/geographical selection.

Traditionally, there isn't much of a dairy industry in China (I'm talking all throughout history, not just the past couple hundred years). No dairy industry equals no milk and no cheese. There is quite a large seafood industry (again, historically speaking) in China, which is why much of their cuisine features seafood.

The same thing applies throughout the world: in places like France and Italy, cheese-making has been part of their cultures for thousands of years. And cheese is featured in many Italian and French dishes.

Because of lactose intolerance, Chinese do not consume large amounts of dairy products

I'm sure that's why.


Hope I helped!!!!



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Milk is not a common ingredient to be used in Chinese cuisine. There is only one milk dish that comes to mind - deep fried milk. But you won't be able to get this in takeout places and I've only seen it a couple times at a few authentic Chinese restaurants.

The poster who mentioned Mongolia is right, milk is more common in Mongolia as they are mainly herders. Chinese people were mainly in the farming and fishing business, so you'll see fish/seafood and vegetables more dominant on menus.

As a Chinese living in Europe, I now enjoy having milk, cheese and butter.

Talking about the reason why Chinese dishes do not use diary materials, generally I would say it is just the unique culture feature.

You know, every culture has its unique feature. Chinese ancient palaces were built with wood while western ancient palaces were built with stone. Chinese do paintings with water color on paper, while western people do paintings with oil on cloth. Chinese have soup at the end of meals while westerners have soup at start of meals. Chinese have black hair while westerners have brown hair....

The following is a site on comparative introduction of Chinese culture. Wish it helps.

Crab rangoon has cheese in it.

Hmmmm... dogs and cats don't give milk?