小吃是一类具有特定风格和口味特点的食品的总称。可以作为宴会之间的点缀，也可以作为早晚餐的主食。世界各地都有各种特色鲜明、风味独特的小吃。地方小吃可以反映当地的物质和社会生活，这是一个地区不可或缺的特色，也是无家可归者想家的主要对象。现代人通常不会为了饱腹而吃零食。除了满足他们的渴望，他们还可以通过品尝异国小吃了解当地的习俗。那么，中国特色小吃英文介绍是如何描述的呢？
Realize Special Snacks
认识特色小吃
For the Chinese, snack time is more than just filling up one’s growling tummy to drive hunger away. It is a time to socialize, bond, and enjoy the pleasures of good food and a good time. Good food, they say, speaks to the heart as well as the stomach.
Little wonder that for many Chinese, snacks are just as important as regular meals. Cheap and nourishing snacks such as those found at night markets are known collectively as xiaochi, or “little eats”. Restaurants that specialize in them are called xiaochidian; they sell different types of noodles or dumplings, stuffed bun or pancakes. Open early for breakfast, they may serve simple stir-fried dishes too, and shut only when the last guest leaves. The setting is usually basic, but the food is hearty, tasty, and very reasonably priced. Every city has its own local varieties, but the ultimate “little eats” are the snack of Cantonese cooking.
Shanghai Snacks could be traced back to as early as the Southern Song Dynasty and became more exquisite in cooking when Shanghai grew into an important city in early Ming Dynasty. After Shanghai was listed as a trading port by the end of the Qing Dynasty, various regional snacks were assimilated, developed and refined, bringing forth the specialty of Shanghai style. Shanghai snack is famed for being light, fresh and tasty, and has long been diners’ favorite for its characteristics. There is such a vast range of street food available in Beijing that we couldn’t possibly describe all of it. In Beijing outside schools and big office buildings are great places to find street food as the sellers set up stall to tempt Beijingers of all ages when they arrive at work, during lunch breaks and when they leave. Besides these two places, there are so many different snacks in other regions of China, such as Hunan, Zhejiang, and Shandong and so on.
在国内，小吃通常不作为家庭的正餐，人们会到小吃店或小吃摊位上购买。然而在台湾、新加坡等地，小吃经常作为正餐的替代品。经过若干年的发展，特色小吃成为美食文化不可缺少的一部分，各地的特色小吃也走出了地方特色，比如四川的酸辣粉、麻辣烫，“酸辣粉”是重庆、四川城乡间广为流传的传统名小吃。小吃一般根据本地的特产制作，中国北方的小吃讲求制作需时短或可以比较长时间储存，随吃随取，不必像烹调主餐那么费事。