Chinese Flavour Profile (Wei Xing) Taxonomy
I
Origin
Chengdu, Sichuan — the codification of 23 compound flavours was formalised by the Sichuan Culinary Institute in the 20th century; the flavour system itself is ancient
II
Description
The Chinese system of flavour classification (wei xing) goes beyond Western five-tastes model: the Sichuan culinary tradition recognises 23 distinct compound flavour profiles. Key categories include: salty-fresh (xian xian), sour-spicy (suan la), ma la (numbing-spicy), sweet-sour (tang cu), litchi-flavour (li zhi wei), fish-fragrance (yu xiang), home-style (jia chang wei), strange-flavour (guai wei). Each compound flavour has a specific sauce formula.
III
The Thread
—French sauce-based cuisine (the same codification of flavour compounds — bechamel, velouté etc.)
—Indian masala taxonomy (spice blend classification)
—Japanese dashi variations (soup stock taxonomy)
IV
Flavour Context
A conceptual framework — the taxonomy organises the entire flavour universe of Sichuan cooking into a reproducible system
Pillars V — VII
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