Chinese sausage: Getting to the meat of the matter

Sausage is no stranger to China, but many foreigners are doubtful about Chinese varieties, because they assume they are sweet, bland, greasy or perhaps not of good quality. Liu Dahua, a Chongqing native in his 60s and an established food critic and photographer in China, has lived in Beijing since 1979. He offers some hints on appreciating the country's links.

How did Chinese sausage originate?

Chinese sausages originated in China's agricultural society, before refrigerators, when Chinese found this special way to preserve meat. In many areas, people call sausages la chang, literally the "12th-lunar-month intestine", because in times of scarcity, only at the end of a year would common people slaughter pigs for meat to celebrate the coming Spring Festival. For many families, that was probably the only time they would get meat, and they needed to preserve it for days to be eaten bit by bit. Gradually, people found meat stuffed into pig casings could be preserved for a long time because the intestine coat could block the air and prevent the meat from going bad.