Zhejiang Cuisine

Zhejiang Cuisine is one of Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese Cuisine. WARNING! DO NOT visit this blog when you are HUNGRY!

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Wrap-Up

Through nearly 3-month work on my blog, I have an all-rounded introduction to the Zhejiang Cuisine and the protection of traditions.

Zhejiang Cuisines have three key points to be defined. First key point is diversity. Zhejiang Cuisines are diversity because Hangzhou (the provincial capital of Zhejiang) was the capital of China. Second is Balance. Zhejiang Cuisines keep an elegant balance between the delicate and the fresh. the Balance is also the point which makes Zhejiang Cuisines and other traditional cuisines be called culinary art. Third is Home-made. Zhejiang Cuisines are home-made, and home-made food are the core of the concept “family”. 

However, Zhejiang Cuisines are disappearing like other traditions. Most of Zhejiang Cuisines are inherited from generation to generation orally. On the other hand, more and more restaurants which serve fast food or innovative food are wasting customers' appetite.

Fortunately, some districts like South East Asia and organizations have already taken actions like making new policies to protect traditional cuisines. And media starts to focus on the significance and inheritance of traditional food.  

When traditional food like Zhejiang Cuisines inherits from generation to generation, their meaning is not only served for eating but also has invisible and enormous impacts on our life and our culture. They bring happiness to a family; they bring positive energy to human beings. They are worthy of being protected and inherited.

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Wine In Chinese Literary

In Chinese literary, wine has a strong connective with poem. It is a hobby for many well-known poets to write poem after drinking wine. Wine is an inseparable part of ancient Chinese lives. Chinese believe that wine can relief people's pain. Some poets use it to show their loneliness or sadness. Some poets use it to show their transcendent mood.

Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in China, has a nickname Poet Transcendent. This name shows his fantastic style on poem. In fact, Li Bai has another name Wine Immortal. In Li Bai's work, wine is a typical element for showing his various mood.

Here is the poem of Li Bai translated by Arthur Waley(1979):

       月下独酌      Drinking Alone by Moonlight

    花間一壺酒。 A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;

    獨酌無相親。 I drink alone, for no friend is near

    舉杯邀明月。 raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,

    對影成三人。 for her, together with my shadow, will make three people

      月既不解飲。 the moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;

    影徒隨我身。 listless, my shadow creeps about at my side

    暫伴月將影。 yet with the moon as a friend and the shadow as a slave

    行樂須及春。 I must make merry before the spring has ended

      我歌月徘徊。 to the songs that I sing, the moon flickers her beams;

    我舞影零亂。 with the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks

    醒時同交歡。 while we were sober, three shared the fun;

    醉後各分散。 now, we are drunk, each goes their own way

    永結無情遊。 may we long share our eternal friendship,

    相期邈雲漢。 and, meet together again in paradise 

URL：http://www.winetour.cn/upic/1105/winetour2011051344669033.jpg

Reference

Waley, Arthur (1919). "Drinking Alone by Moonlight: Three Poems," More Translations from the Chinese (Alfred A. Knopf, New York), pp. 27-28. Li Bai wrote 3 poems with the same name; Waley published translations of all three.

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A Movie of Sushi

A eighty-minute video directed by David Gelb records the best Sushi chef Jiro across the world. It says, "Jiro is the first chef to receive three Michelin stars, but for Jiro the journal is not over"("Jiro Dreams of Sushi", March, 2012). Jiro has spent more than fifty-five years in making Sushi. He created many new types of Sushi and even a new but serious order to eat Sushi. He wants customers feel rhythm like a symphony when they eat Sushi. His restaurant is very small which only has eight seats and he only serves some kinds of Sushi according to the season. The ingredients he uses are from the best and the specific merchants; those merchants think that it is their honor to provide their stuff to Jiro, because it is a big affirmative for their stuffs. Although the process seems very easy which just has several steps, apprentices in Jiro's restaurant should learn how to bake eggs for almost two years first; then, they may be admitted to wash ingredients. In one word, Jiro's Sushi has Jiro's spirit in it, and that is why Jiro is the best Sushi Chef in the world.

This movie make the public know Jiro and especially sushi. In the movie, the director use bright color and light to shoot sushi. He also uses suitable background songs to tell the story about sushi and Jiro. These methods make sushi be an excellent art work while it was.

A good movie is a good way to protect traditional food. It is hard to make a law or a list to put traditional food in it because it is also hard to define traditioanl food. However, a good movie makes the public know what is a good cuisine and what is culinary art so that people can support those traditional cuisines by their real actions like consuming. It is good for chefs to have confidence on their works.

So, Thanks for David Gelb!

Reference

Gelb, D. (2012, March). Jiro Dreams of Sushi [Audio file]. Retrieved from:          http://www.magpictures.com/jirodreamsofsushi/

Picture URL:https://ali-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/8e46e3dbed0e33421c39b7fd5fcbde65-feedv2.jpg

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Delaware's Big Quarterly

I have had a quick look at a book called The Food of a Younger Land(Mar K., 2009). In this book, author thinks that the most marked characters of traditional food are seasonal and regional. Before modern transportation system was built up, American people did not have chain restaurants or frozen tools; therefore, they lived on traditional food. In this book, authors list a lot of seasonal and regional food. Those food, some are for survival, and some are for congratulation. The book also states how the environment influence the texture or the process of producing food.

There is one chapter "Delaware's Big Quarterly" in this book, and I read it more specifically. It describes a annual religious festival on August called Big Quarterly in Wilmington, Delaware. On this festival, the assignments of ministers would be announced. It was also a time for free blacks and slaves to come together and celebrate their faith. And traditional food was an indispensable part of the festival. The varied menu consists of chicken pot-pie, hot corn pone, greens and side meat, frank-furters and many other food which I never heard before. There was no formality to the eating, which was like a buffet; people made their own selections from the stands. This setting also symbolized the free faith of those slaves or blacks. This book describes traditional American food in detail.

It is a precious literary for American culture.

Reference

Kurlansky, M. (2009). The Food of a Younger Land. New York: Works Progress    Administration. 

URL:http://inwilmingtonde.com/media/4065/large.jpg

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Hey, What Do You Think?

Food is one of most important and basic things in our lives; therefore, everyone probably has their own words about food. Let me show you a short interview with my roommates about his opinion on conservation of traditional cuisines.

Q: Lin, do you like eating? Do you like traditional food or new food?

A: Sure, I prefer traditional food.

Q: Why?

A: New food always depressed me. For example, the Chinese restaurants here, they change their original texture to meet the demand of American; the food is awful.

Q: What do you think about conservation of traditional cuisines.

A: I think traditional food should be protected absolutely. Chinese food should be Chinese food and never try new food!

Q: What ways you can think about to protect them?

A: Eat more traditional food!

Q: Thanks!

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Traditions are the Soft Power of a Country

A news from GMA News reports a decision about which one is prior between modernity rubs and conservative traditions made by Qatar government. Qatar is trying their best to make its capital be modern before 2022 World Cup; however, this process will influence the Islamic nature because the foreign cultures start to be carried in to Qatar. The Qatar government leans a lesson from Dubai. They insists that they will never be like Dubai and they will consider the social conservatives as the first. (Regan Doherty, 9, 2012)  

I am totally agree with the decision made by Qatar. I have two reasons:

First, tradition is the spirit of a country. In the Middle East, people shows their obedience for their religion; some could sacrifice for it. In India, society still has its Caste System because of their religion. Chinese has no core religion, because we have our Chinese Communist Party. In conclusion, religion will decide what a country is.  

Second, tradition is the soft power of a country. I prefer to use two examples to explain it. One is Germany and the another is Japan. Germany is famous of its rigorous of whatever its productions, academics or manners. Germany committed a great sin in the Second World War, but they changed the public's view on them soon through admitting their sin and keeping their rigorous attitude on their productions such as Mercedes Benz. Japan is also the country who committed sin. Although Japan is notorious for their stubborn attitude on denying the sin they committed, some of their cultures are attractive; in fact, their stubbornness is the distorted result of its traditional culture either: Bushido. Bushido causes that Japanese extremely tend to inherit their traditional cultures such as Kimono, Haiku, and Shinto. I think Japanese know how to live.

Traditional cuisines also can be a kind of soft power as well as other kinds of soft powers. Disney is a good example. Disney has been well-know all over the world since it was on the screen. Disney has been an impression of American of the children in other countries. It has attracted millions children. It is a part of American soft power.   

In conclusion, traditions are the soft power of a country. We could not abandon them, even because of the demand of modernizing society as well as the traditional cuisines.

Reference

Regan Doherty, R. (9, 2012). Modernity Rubs Vs. Conservative Traditions in Qatar. Retrieved from: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/276015/pinoyabroad/worldfeatures/modernity-rubs-vs-conservative-traditions-in-qatar

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Tradition is My Life.

Losing traditional cuisines, for me, is losing my life. We are likely in a room with two glasses; the one called future is before us and the one called past is behind us. When we look forward, we could see our future vaguely and mottled but familiar past; when we look backward, we could see our past and with the reflection of our future. According to quantum mechanics, we are in a mixture of states, because we do not know what is real of what we see in the glasses. That is exactly what our life is. We should have choices by our individual mind or fate. But if we lost our past, that means we only have future; the mixture of states would disappear. Therefore, we would lose the meaning of our life.

Specifically speaking, losing traditional cuisines also means losing my life. As stated, Niangao was the food my family and I would make every year in the past. It contains our happiness and the memory of being with my grandparents. It is the hint for me to find my root and to find why I am being me. Niangao is sticky that may cause my peaceable mind. Niangao is made for a new year by a whole family that must be one of factors of my love on my family.

Losing traditional cuisines, for me, is losing my life. If one day some cuisines disappeared because they were no longer welcome, it would be hard for me to save even some all of them; it would be my sad day.    

URL:http://www.wulixueyuan.com/uploads/allimg/120618/1IK92924-0.jpg

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"Appetite for a Change" and Our Future

 Here is an American organization called "Appetite for a Change (AFC)". In its website, there are four marked slogans as their purposes and the third one is "Start converting school lunches to healthier menus, using locally grown and/or organic and transition to organic ingredients (no pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, irradiation or genetically engineered ingredients). Offer vegetarian options." They mainly focus on the protection on kids and students.

I am really relieved that there are organization has already started to improve the standard of food. I think we can learn from the way this organization did for protection; then, us Zhejiang citizens can set up an organization for our food. I think we can also persuade our government to enhance the supervision on the use of pesticide or the release of the pollution from some industries through asking scholars or specialists for help.

URL:http://www.organicconsumers.org/images/140photos/afc140.gif

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An Article "Chef for Life"

Xu Junqian records the content of an exclusive interview with a Zhengjiang Chef in the article "Chef for Life" in September 23rd, 2012; it argues that the pollutions on food are increasing, and the Zhejiang chef thinks that food should be nature and fresh.

Through both of the narration of the chef's experiences and some general examples, such as pesticides used on vegetables, in life, Xu develops this article in a smooth way.

The author reveals a big negative change has been made in food in order to appeal to urban dwellers for eating fresh and natural food.

Xu, as a recorder, he tends to use neutral words and he also points out the difficulties of achieving the purpose of the chef; he wants to state a fact and let audience themselves judge or decide whether they should ban fast food or not.

Reference of this article:

Xu Junqin (9, 2012). Chef for Life. Retrieved from:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sunday/2012-09/23/content_15775818.htm

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However...

There are three contradictions about Zhejiang Cuisine.

1. Tradition VS. Innovation

This problem is like the protection of the green in a city somewhat. Engineers should consider the protection of grass or woods as they build up constructions. In this topic, during the intense competition among Zhejiang restaurants, more and more traditional cuisines are being abandoned. Although we can get many new cuisines, the traditional food will lose their significance. Therefore, how to create new cuisines based on keeping inheritance of the traditional food well becomes to be a controversial topic.

  2. Tradition VS. Modern Times

In Chaplin's movie, we can see that, in this century, the demand on effectiveness is huge. AS workers do their work on the assembly line, chefs use more and more artificial materials instead of fresh materials which only get a little bit process. You can feel that The artificial materials influence the texture of traditional cuisines obviously if you have had the food made by your grandmother in the past; moreover, most of fresh food is better than artificial food for our health.

  3. Home-made Food VS. Culinary Art

Some people think that home-made food could not be considered as a culinary art because it sounds too common. Indeed, home-made is a word that cannot be used to be a particular label for any regional cuisines because food can be cooked in any families. However, in my opinion, Zhejiang home-made cuisines are based on diversity and elegant taste so that it can be marked as a culinary art absolutely.

URL:http://www.w8www.com/caipic/image/2010/12/201012100237384615.jpg

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Key Point 3. You Know It is Home-made --Zhejiang Cuisine

In China, the significance of "family" is absolutely important, and the connected word "filial piety" is a key moral standard in society. Chinese believe that harmonious families will lead a harmonious society. Under such concepts, The home-made food becomes vital because the food cooked by parents or grandparents is the core of the concept "family".

There are several festivals settled for enhancing people's concepts on family and relationships as a family such as Mid-autumn Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day, and Double Ninth Festival. As mentioned in my previous article, Niangao is made for every Chinese New Year Festival. When I was young and have not left my hometown for study, my mom brought me to a countryside surrounded by mountains annually. We made Niangao there. During that time, I had a lot things to do. For example, I could catch fishes in the stream nearby with my sisters, race with cocks with my brothers, and learn how to cook by shriveled wood from my grandmother. Therefore, the Niangao was not only tasted good because of its soft, moist, sticky, and light sweetness, but it also contained the happiness from the time we made it. Even now, as long as I see the Niangao, I will recall the time being with my family. That is great!

In conclusion, Zhejiang Cuinse is the culinary art that tends to be easily made at home. When Zhejiang citizens make Zhejiang Cuisine, they are happy. They always have some new inspirations because they cook in the most relaxed envrionment. The following image is "Rabbit" Niangao. Is it amazing？

URL：http://1874.img.pp.sohu.com.cn/images/2011/1/28/16/0/u31753028_12e836679bcg213.jpg

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About Me

Zhejiang is my birthplace, and Xianju, a small town in the East of Zhejiang, is my hometown. I think I am a lucky boy because, in my family, there always has had a person who is good at cooking since I could taste. In addition, they are from several different parts of China; therefore, I get a lot realizations on cuisines, especially on Zhejiang Cuisine.

Moreover, I like life. Travels, ventures, and fine food are the three of my interests. I want to travel around the world and take a taste of all Michelin 3 Stars restuarants. That is why I choose this topic.

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Key Point 2. Balance --Zhejiang Cuisine

From last article, I stated, "Zhejiang cuisine is well-known of its diversity."

However, diversity is far away from being enough for Chinese culinary art. The second symptomatic of Zhejiang Cuisine is the elegant balance between the delicate and the fresh. Steam, fry, stew, and stir-fry are four culinary methods often used in Zhejiang cuisine. The common point of those four methods is keep food fresh.

In my opinion, steam is the best. In my hometown called Xianju, when the new year is coming, every family will prepare Niangao for lucky wish as an important traditional custom. Niangao is a kind of staple food made by glutinous rice processed through soaking, milling, steaming, pushing and pounding, and kneading. Niangao can be reserved in water for half a year. After steaming, Niangao is soft, moist, and sticky. I'd like to cast a little bit sugar on it. It is hard for me to describe the texture by using words, but it is amazing and it is a taste that can move people. It is a gift presented by nature. There are also other ways to cook Niangao. For example, Niangao could be stir fried with mud crab. The mild texture of Niangao brings out the aroma of mud crab while pretty light sweet of Niangao still keeps its moving texture faintly. 

In next blog, I will explain what one of the untraceable texture of Niangao is and why Niangao or other Zhejiang Cuise can move people.

picture.1  URL: http://eat.51ttyy.com/yuanliao/upfile/images/1169178377134.jpg

picture.2 URL: http://pic1a.nipic.com/2008-10-07/200810791119196_2.jpg

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Key Point 1. Diversity --Zhejiang Cusine

On September 12, 2012, Baolong Xia, who was the governor of Zhejiang province, awarded 28 chefs "Great Chef certificates" on the opening ceremony of "the Second Gourmet Festival Session". On the festival, the best 50 Zhejiang chefs gathered here and showed their more than 100 dazzled cuisines. (Sep. 13, 2012., Translated from hangzhou.com)

As more and more civilians are joining to catering industry in order to meet the public demands, restaurants which were sizable are feeling the press from those distinct and fresh restaurants. Therefore, a great chef in a sizable restaurant is required to create new cuisines constantly.

There are two more factors that caused Zhejiang cuisine to be diversified excpet the tense competiton: it has an advantageous location and was an imperial capital.

The most obvious symptomatic of Chinese cuisine is suiting one's measures to local conditions, which is originated and flexibly applied under Chinese wisdom for life. Ningbo, a Chinese mid city, is famous of its fresh seafood because it is a coastal city; Lanzhou, a Chinese Northwest city, is famous of its mutton noodle because it has wild pasture to raise sheep.Therefore, Zhejiang, as a mid coastal province with broad fields, has copious culinary resources.

Then, trace back to 12th century, Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, became the new capital of China because of the establishment of the Song Dynasty. An imperial court, of course, should have top Chefs. In fact, when massive Chefs gathered in Zhejiang, they found that there were so many original materials of food here. Generally, foods such as Seafood of Ningbo, fowl of Jinhua, and civil union staple food of Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Fenkou are all unforgettable. Specifically, flavorings such as tea in Xinchang, lotus leave in Hangzhou, bamboo in Anji, and so on are extraordinary for cooking. As a result, series of Zhejiang cuisines have gotten formed quickly.

Picture URL:

1.

http://www.chinatoday.com/china-map/location_maps/zhejiang_location.gif

2.

http://www.10zj.cn/images/goods/20110506/936ccf1c0e1662da.jpg

reference:

4 Golden Chefs Told You How Serious of Zhejiang Citizens' Tongue (9, 2012). Translated by Pan, Yingda. Retrieved from: http://hzdaily.hangzhou.com.cn/dskb/html/2012-09/13/content_1342773.htm

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Introduction

Zhejiang Cuisine is called "home-made" culinary tradition, and that was what I knew all about Zhejiang Cuisine. However, after I came America, my new friends have asked me a question one by one, "What is home-made cuisine?" I cannot explain so that I start to consider what my hometown cuisine really is. I will give use many references and my personal reflections to introduce Zhejiang Cuisine.

And during this work, I also will discuss on a conroversial tipic on Zhejiang Cuisine. That is connected with many other culture matters. What is the significance of traditions? Therefore, it will be valuable to follow my blog.