Chinese Food & Cuisine...

[ahojunk]

8th China Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival held in Chongqing
(Xinhua) 13:51, October 21, 2016

Photo taken on Oct. 20, 2016 shows the scene of the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Diners eat hot pots at the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing, Oct. 20, 2016. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Diners eat around an extra large hot pot at the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing, Oct. 20, 2016. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Photo taken on Oct. 20, 2016 shows a part of the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Diners enjoy hot pots at the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing, Oct. 20, 2016. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

Diners eat hot pots at the 8th China (Chongqing) Hot Pot and Food Culture Festival in southwest China's Chongqing, Oct. 20, 2016. Chongqing is known throughout China for its unique style of hot pot, which is a popular method of serving food in China. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

 

[ahojunk]

Inventor of famous American-style Chinese dish General Tso's chicken passes away
By Yin Xiaohong (People's Daily Online) 17:14, December 02, 2016

Peng Chang-kuei, the Taiwanese founder of Pengyuan restaurants and the inventor of General Tso's chicken, passed away on Nov. 30 at the age of 97, after a month-long hospitalization. According to Peng's son, General Tso's chicken brought annual profits of over 2 billion RMB to American-style Chinese restaurants.

Peng started out as an apprentice of Cao Jingchen, a famous early 20th-century Chinese chef. After his apprenticeship, he began developing his own takes on Hunan cuisine. According to his family, Peng first cooked General Tso's chicken in 1952 for a banquet to welcome an American commander to Taiwan. However, it was not until the 1970s that the dish was named after General Tso.

Peng Chang-kuei​

Peng immigrated to America in 1973. After Ieoh Ming Pei invited Kissinger to Peng's restaurant, Kissinger became a regular customer - all thanks to Peng's signature dish. Kissinger's patronage soon made the dish famous, after ABC did a report on it. Before long, the dish gained popularity among Americans and began appearing on many Chinese restaurant menus around the country.

 

[TaiShang]

臭豆腐。中国台湾。

From Taiwan, China. Deep fried stinky dofu, my pic. Really the best, if not one of the best.

@Shotgunner51 , @cirr , @AndrewJin

 

[ahojunk]

The year's 10 most tagged foods on social media
2016-12-02 11:23 | chinadaily.com.cn | Editor: Xu Shanshan

(Photo/Weibo of People's Daily Online)​

Step aside, brightly frosted cronut (croissant-doughnut), juice diet and kale craze! Social media users have crowned their new "it" food of 2016.

Food trends hit us all the time in the age of social media, although most don't last. Nevertheless, they allow food brands and businesses to see the consumers' growing appetite for change and that helps them respond quickly with new ideas.

Let's take a look at some of this year's delicacies that created most buzz on social media at home and abroad.

1. Ada Scallion Pancake

Shanghai's Ada Scallion Pancake shop is back after solving the licensing issue. The shop made global headlines earlier this year after being featured on a BBC food show. Expect long lines, and you are only allowed to buy a maximum of two pancakes each time!

2. Coffee in a cone

Talking about East meets West, China's crispy scallion pancake actually goes very well with coffee. And now imagine a cone filled with steaming hot coffee, does it make breakfast or street snack experience more "likeable" on social media? According to CNN, coffee in a cone has been one of the most popular foods in New York, and nearly 1 million images with the #coffeeinacone hash tag had been liked on Instagram within five months after it was introduced in January.

3. Russian ice creams

Ice creams made in Russia became popular in China after Russian President Vladimir Putin brought them as a gift for President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Hangzhou in September. And Xi, turned out to be a fan of it. Well, it seems he is not the only fan of the Russian delicacy.

4. Honeycomb briquette cakes

Made with black rice and chocolate, the cakes look exactly like honeycomb briquettes. Bizarre foods never fail to catch people's attention on social media.

5. Freakshake

The freakshake is another extreme-foodie trends in New York that says the more toppings, the tastier. The indulgent giant dribbling ice cream is topped with cake, brownies, crushed cookies, marshmallows and sauces. Some people say it is an upgraded mile shake, and we think it is more like a shake meal.

6. Bizarre flavored ice cream

You might have had ice creams around the world, but have you tried the flavor of yellow wine, sweet potato and pepper? Chinese businessmen's imagination never disappoints you!

7. Hawaiian poke bowl

The healthy cubed raw fish topped poke bowl has caught the attention of people in big US cities recently, although it has been Hawaii people's favorite food for centuries.

8. Cruffin

Cronut (croissant-doughnut) is out and here comes the latest favorite pastry of New York City– cruffin, the hybrid of a croissant, and a muffin. This buttery and flaky pastry is perfect for breakfast and afternoon tea.

9. Egg yolk and pork floss green rice ball

This traditional sweet snack of Qingming Festival suddenly became hot word on Chinese social media when a Shanghai restaurant filled the rice ball with salty egg yolk and pork floss this April. The restaurant offered a limited number of 3,000 rice balls each day around the festival and drew people to queue every day.

10．Macaroni ice cream sandwich

Macaroni looks pretty and ice cream tastes yummy, which makes macaroni ice cream sandwich pretty yummy, right?

 

[Wolfwind]

A lot of the dish designs on page 1 look quite childish and unappetising actually. It's not refined or elegant.

The chefs are trying to go for pseudo nouveau cuisine (European style) but there's just too much food on the plate for one person, which looks unrefined.

For instance this dish is for one person. But fancy designs are intended for a appetisers in multicourse meals. There's too much prawns on the dish and the design is child-like, as if it's for kids:

This is a dish idea for kids:

Something like this has more finesse and is more aesthetically pleasing:

The Chinese cuisine competition didn't feature many traditional Chinese cooking techniques like stir frying. Even a generic, basic stir fried noodle dish looks more appetising than the plates presented in that competition:

Prior to Mongolian influences, Chinese culture didn't have large communal dishes that are now commonplace. They had lots of smaller bowls, (and so the food tends to look neater) with some larger centrepiece dishes. Perhaps the Chinese cuisine competition should look to its past for inspiration, rather than a poorly executed ~inspiration~ from the West:

 

[ahojunk]

Sugar sculptures made during skill demonstration for food in Shanghai
(Xinhua) 14:49, January 19, 2017

Liu Fuhuan makes a sugar sculpture during a skill demonstration of the food sector in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 18, 2017.

Liu Fuhuan makes a sugar sculpture during a skill demonstration of the food sector in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 18, 2017.

Liu Fuhuan makes a sugar sculpture during a skill demonstration of the food sector in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 18, 2017.

Chen Hao makes a sugar sculpture during a skill demonstration of the food sector in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 18, 2017.

Chen Hao makes a sugar sculpture during a skill demonstration of the food sector in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 18, 2017.

 

[ahojunk]

I don't know what to say ... The cook is a real mahjong lover.

========
Tangyuan and mahjong: Wrapping up fun in food
2017-02-10 20:17:28 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Fei Fei

Sticky rice dumplings traditionally eaten on Lantern Festival, shaped like mahjong tiles have attracted thousands of thumbs-up on social media. The creative idea came from a resident of Liaocheng, east China's Shandong province.[Photo: Asianewsphoto]

Tangyuan, a kind of dumpling made of glutinous rice flour, is a traditional food eaten for Lantern Festival which falls on Saturday this year. A local resident in eastern Liaocheng city came up with the idea of making mahjong-tile-shaped Tangyuan, causing a stir among Chinese net users. [Photo: Asianewsphoto]

Sticky rice dumplings traditionally eaten on Lantern Festival, shaped like mahjong tiles have attracted thousands of thumbs-up on social media. The real mahjong tiles are pictured on the left. [Photo: Asianewsphoto]

Four bowls of boiled mahjong-tile-shaped Tangyuan, in Liaocheng, East China's Shangdong province, Feb 8, 2017. [Photo: Asianewsphoto]

Four bowls of boiled mahjong-tile-shaped Tangyuan, in Liaocheng, East China's Shangdong province, Feb 8, 2017. [Photo: Asianewsphoto]

 

[ahojunk]

Porcelain plates and bowls decorate restaurant
2017-02-20 14:56 | Ecns.cn | Editor:Yao Lan

Porcelain plates and bowls are used to decorate the walls and ceiling at a noodle restaurant in Zhengzhou City, capital of Central China’s Henan Province, Feb. 19, 2017. The 5,000 plates and bowls, all made in the ceramics capital of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province, range from 80 to 10 centimeters in size and are worth of nearly 500,000 yuan ($72,800). (Photo/CFP)

Porcelain plates and bowls are used to decorate the walls and ceiling at a noodle restaurant in Zhengzhou City, capital of Central China’s Henan Province, Feb. 19, 2017. The 5,000 plates and bowls, all made in the ceramics capital of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province, range from 80 to 10 centimeters in size and are worth of nearly 500,000 yuan ($72,800). (Photo/CFP)

Porcelain plates and bowls are used to decorate the walls and ceiling at a noodle restaurant in Zhengzhou City, capital of Central China’s Henan Province, Feb. 19, 2017. The 5,000 plates and bowls, all made in the ceramics capital of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province, range from 80 to 10 centimeters in size and are worth of nearly 500,000 yuan ($72,800). (Photo/CFP)

 

[onebyone]

How a culinary tour around China helped one man rediscover his zest for life

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 04 March, 2017, 11:02am
UPDATED : Saturday, 04 March, 2017, 12:18pm

Kristin Huang

An increasing number of Chinese people are taking a career break to travel and broaden their experiences and horizons. Li Song, 34, from Beijing is among them. Fed up with a routine job and the high pressure lifestyle in the capital, he resigned last August and began his “Eat around China” trip, which he says has helped him rediscover himself. He spoke to Kristin Huang.

How did you come up with the idea to “Eat around China”?

I love delicious food and all my previous working experiences are related to food. Whenever I watch documentaries like A Bite of China, I feel excited and wish very much to sample more special food in the undiscovered nooks and crannies of China. Plus, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve longed to have a carefree lifestyle. My enthusiasm, passion and sense of achievement doesn’t last long if I start my own business or work for others.

Last July, I travelled to Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Southwestern Qinghai province, such a beautiful place that I didn’t want to leave. So I quit my job after my return and started my “Eat around China” tour in August.

Did you tell your family about your “Eat around China” plan?

No. And actually I didn’t have a specific plan. I just had a vague idea to travel around China, meet new people, make more friends and eat the food I’d never tried. At first, my parents thought I was on a business trip and later when they found out the truth from my cousin, I was already miles away.

They objected because they are conventional Chinese parents. They think a man like me in his 30s should have a family and a stable and decent job. A traveller like me in their eyes is a vagrant.

How do you deal with transportation and accommodation?

I left home with 7,000 yuan (US$1,000). Since I didn’t know when I was going to end my trip, I had to be thrifty in every way. I mainly took trains and buses, not the expensive high-speed railways or planes. Sometimes, I took a free ride if I met someone heading in the same direction. And for accommodation, I lived mostly in friends’ houses or in cheap hostels. Looking back, I was fortunate enough to always find a friend for help no matter where I was, which lowered my costs to a large extent.

How did you choose where to go if you had no formal plan?

Before starting, I decided to link my travel with food. I only choose Yulshul as my first stop because I have friends there who could provide me with accommodation.

My next destinations were only decided on the way, depending on what I saw and felt on the previous stop. So it was pretty casual for me to decide where to go next. After Yulshul, I went to Qinghai’s capital Xining, Golmud in western Qinghai, China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and then down to Shaanxi, Hunan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Taiwan. After spending several weeks in the south of Taiwan, I flew directly to Beijing before the Lunar New Year to reunite with my family.

 

[onebyone]

Which place and which food did you enjoy most?

It’s very hard for me to answer because every place has its own special and delicious foods whose unique flavours cannot be replicated in other regions. I’ve savoured oysters in Zhuhai, dry fruits in Xinjiang, dim sum in Guangzhou, beef and mutton in Qinghai, yoghurt made from yak’s milk in Yulshul, oranges just picked from the trees in Hunan and many other foods. I like them all!

If I must choose one, it would be the fresh, tender and juicy oysters I tasted in Zhuhai. These were completely different compared to the ones I ate in Beijing. For people living in dry places in northern China like me, it’s a culinary delight.

What was your most unforgettable experience along the way?

When I visited Golmud, I lived with a Mr Ye and his family. He is over 50 and has three children of similar age to me. He owns acres of land planting black medlar trees. I lived with them for weeks, teaching them how to advertise products on new digital media platforms. Ye’s family are all Muslims. This was the first time I have been able to watch closely and experience the Muslim way of life.

What’s more, I felt I was integrated into Ye’s family as if I was another of his sons because I joined them cooking for the whole family, greeting guests and attending the mosque. This kind of experience was so special and I’ll certainly remember it all my life.

Anything unexpected happen on your journey?

I never expected I would be able to earn money from the trip. Whenever I went to a new place, I would search for some local special foods in the markets and then advertise them through my social media network. Amazingly, lots of people wanted to buy from me.

After my friends put in orders, I handed them to local retailers and charged commission. After five months’ advertising all the way through the trip, I not only covered all my expenses, but also earned about 13,000 yuan.

What has been your biggest gain and loss from your trip?

The “Eat around China” trip has helped me know myself better and prompted me to find a more suitable way of life in the future. The loss is I made my parents very worried. I didn’t fulfil my duty as a son to take care of my own parents.

Will you continue your travels?

Definitely. I will visit more places in China this year. And if money is not a problem, I plan to travel around Asia in two to three years’ time.

What is your message to others after finishing this trip?

Life is short. Young people need to make full use of their precious youth to explore more of the world, which can help you rediscover yourself and find a more comfortable lifestyle to cope with the world.


http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...ound-china-helped-one-man-rediscover-his-zest