Wikipedia:WikiProject Food and drink/Essays/cuisines

The introduction should start by defining the extent of the specific cuisine, whether it be delimited by geography, ethnicity, nationality, religion or social status. When describing a historical cuisine try to match it to an established historical period rather than specific dates, for example, Old Kingdom, Han dynasty, Classic Maya civilization, Songhai Empire, Edo period, etc.

Make a broad summary of what makes the cuisine unique, but also any outside influences. The major changes that occurred during a historical cuisine should be broadly sketched.

Include a short summary of the most common foods and beverages and the most common types of dishes.

Meals
How many meals per day are eaten? What is their general composition? Describe the social norms surrounding meals, if possible with a short explanation of the reason and origins of these norms. How are meals eaten? With utensils, crockery, bare hands, etc.? How are people seated and what how is social status and hierarchies expressed? Elaborate on table manners.

Food preparation
An outline of the most common and preferred forms of preparing foods. Which techniques are known and practiced? Describe the way cooking areas are designed and the differences between small-scale and large-scale operations. What preservation techniques are involved?

Foodstuffs
Describe the primary and most common sources of nutrition. Contrast the diet of different social classes. Are there food taboos and hierarchies? If so, explain their origins.

Drink
Summarize the most common beverages. Alcoholic or non-alcoholic? Beer or wine? The status of animal milk, if at all used.

Dietary norms
Describe in broad terms the cultural, religious and social norms concerning foodstuff, cooking and eating.