I accidentally found this video dated 2 years ago. Off course we can't see is there actually an 8 years daily pictures image by image in this web video, but his work sure deserves my sincere admiration, cause I can hardly do anything repeatedly more than 3 days.
More daily photo project:
1.18.2009
1.12.2009
Non Chinese cooks Chinese food?!!
Prove me. Convince me if you can.
Chinese food is the most complete and delicious cuisine in the world.
Chinese cuisine owns countless dishes and most vary tastes from all over the great China, which makes impossible to compare with any other cuisine.
I live in France for the half of my life and love French cuisine deeply. And yet. I can't hardly say I can cook french food, but I know what's a good French cuisine. But still. France is as small as a province size of China. No matter how exquisite the French cuisine can be, it just can't compare with the complicity of more than 10 millions people's five thousands years' daily need.
I often meet western people believe all Chinese eat rice, or they thought if I invite them home for a dinner, they will expecting some bowls of rice (Of course. I'm from Taiwan. So I've been also often believe "I was a child labor to make toys." or "I know how to massage." What a insult!). What can I say? Call them the frog in the well? Tell them that their world is as big as their belly button? Or they're simply too white?
20 years live outside of Chinese world. I've never meet any non Chinese cook can actually cook a really typical Chinese food. I've heard about Fuchsia Dunlop an english gourmet writer who speaks Chinese and learned to cook Sichuan food in Chengdu. Beside I sincere respect her effort to introduce the "Chinese" cuisine to the world, I yet had opportunity to taste her Sichuan food and to be convinced. And of course. To be on the justice of the rest of Chinese. Sichuan is just 1 of 22 (if not counting Taiwan) provinces, Sichuan food is just 1 of 8 biggest cuisine lines in Chinese cuisine. So severely speak. A non Chinese native learned to cook Sichuan food can't considering as expert of Chinese food. Plus. If by chance you know any Sichuan native. You note how heavy their taste are in general. Nothing is spicy enough for them anymore, nothing is typical Sichuan food if is not red, oily, tear running spicy and numb. And it's not difficult to understand that their palettes are probably already damaged by the extremely hot Sichuan spices. Which I'm sure non of any other 7 cuisine lines experts or any 21 provinces people will believe Sichuan cuisine can represent Chinese food. It's like a champion of one discipline in martial art doesn't mean who's the champion of the martial art.
My husband is a big mix of north and south European. He has a long family gourmet background, loves Scandinavian eel, Swedish meat balls, he lived many years in France, Poland and Spain, and he cooks the best and unforgettable Goulash. But even after 13 years with me, ate all sort of Chinese dishes and learned to cook Chinese like the big chef's flaming wok work. He's still far from cooking a real Chinese food. And sure I'm unable to cook any French dishes well enough to call it typical in return.
Because we all know the palette of the taste is based on one's childhood memory. The memory creates the taste in our mouth, and create the dish with the memory and the knowledge. So logically. More vary tastes one experienced at young age, more complete one's palette is. Remember the Japanese movie "Tampopo" about a widow learns to cook Ramen? How can a simple bowl of Ramen worth a remarkable cult Cuisine movie ever? It's all about the soup base, the slices of the BBQ pork ... And with her memory of the best Ramen she ever ate, makes the heroin understand the secret hard work behind a bowl of each Ramen.
And Yes. I've met some non Chinese who grow up in China speaks and acts just like a Chinese if no one noticed the blond hair and the blue eyes. Which I'm sure there is some non Chinese grow up in China, can really cook the typical delicious Chinese food, and can convince me easily one day soon. So please post me a note when you know any non Chinese cooks real Chinese food that I'm craving to try.
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