liuzhou

Costco aren't able to sell that in the EU or 25 other countries including the UK and China, which still respect EU food regulations. Of course, that includes Greece, although Costco don't have a presence there. It even includes China where Costco sells genuine Greek Feta. By law in the EU and EU regulation respecting countries, due to its PDO status, Feta can only be made with sheep's milk or a blend sheep's and up to 30% of goat's milk. Feta-like cheeses can be made, but the name can't be used. Salad cheese is one such rename I've seen a lot.

For more Chinese, Yauatcha Soho is fun. More Cantonese in outlook. Best to sit in the basement. 15 Broadwick Street, Soho. For a blowout, two Michelin starred A.Wong is interesting, if pricy. His three hour tour of China tasting menu was amazing. 70 Wilton Road, Victoria, London. Oh and Bar Shu mentioned above is at 28 Frith Street, Soho. The menu was designed in consultation with writer, Fuchsia Dunlop.

Don't go to Chinatown for good eats. It's an overpriced tourist trap. For genuine Sichuan nearby, I recommend Bar Shu. The restaurants know most of the customers are never coming back anyway, so why bother trying to impress.

Maybe. But certainly not in China. They'd be as well describing it as disgusting crap! Great advertising slogan.

Of course, things like this don't help Sino-Italian mutual understanding. This was advertised on the largest on-line shopping service in China. So far so good. Then they describe it as "Italian Chaotic Dumplings". (My literal translation.)

Several years ago I was having a dinner with a group of Chinese students and asked what they thought of western food. Few of them had knowingly eaten it. Those who had only knew McD’s and KFC and thought it disgusting. This didn’t surprise me. Most Chinese visit once out of curiosity then never return. Yet these two chains do well here – by catering to children at celebratory birthday parties and by giving ‘gifts’ of toys to children on regular visits. The kids then pester their parents to return, not for the food but for another ‘gift’. The gifts are cheap crap. China’s government has criticised the practice but done nothing about it. And Chinese parents are notorious for never refusing their precious little darlings anything. Western non-chain restaurants in China are 95% execrable and run and cheffed entirely by people who have never eaten western food. The few good ones never last outside of large cities with an ex-pat presence. But back to those students. I asked them what they thought western people eat. Bread, steaks, pizzas and hamburgers were the top answers. I said I rarely eat steaks, seldom hamburgers and told them they’d never eaten real pizzas. Chinese pizza place’s offerings are bizarre and Pizza Hut are no better. Durian pizza, FFS? So I asked them if they eat bread, fish, pork, beef, shrimp, etc., listing the common proteins. Yes, they said (as I knew they would). I then went on and listed common vegetables, then starches, then spices. Yes, yes, yes,… When I told them we eat all the same things, they were astonished. When I said we eat rice and noodles they were dumbfounded. They thought only Asia eats rice and didn’t know that tomatoes and chillies originated in the Americas as did many of the fruits they eat. And these weren’t dumb people, by any means. They were master’s degree or PhD candidates. They didn’t know that potatoes (also from the Americas) are a staple food in much of the world. I explained that if my mother served a meal to my father without potatoes, he would have thought she had lost her marbles, just the same as they would if their mothers served dinner with no rice. This misconception I kind of understood. For a start, China produces more potatoes than any other, with 25% of the market, but most of that goes to animal fodder or some industrial uses, Until very recently potatoes were only regarded as peasant or emergency food for humans. Still, they are only ever used a yet another vegetable in Chinese cuisine; never as a staple. They only real difference between western food and Chinese food is the serving. Nearly all meals are served family style with sharing plates to be sampled bite by bite at random. I’m not trying to put my students down. Most western people know little about food in China. Even chefs!

Too much plastic here for me. I tend to use something like these. I only use them for storing leftovers or other food in the fridge or freezer. Never utensils.

菠萝炒饭 (bō luó chǎo fàn) Pineapple fried rice is not only common in Thailand but among many of China's ethnic minorities, especially the Dai people in Yunnan Province which borders Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma. It also borders Guangxi where I live and the ethnic minorites here also make it. This which I put together last night is 菠萝虾仁炒饭 (bō luó xiā rén chǎo fàn), pineapple shrimp fried rice, to which I also added a little chicken that needed using. Made it slightly spicy, too. So technically 菠萝虾仁鸡肉炒饭 (bō luó xiā rén jī ròu chǎo fàn), pineapple shrimp and chicken fried rice.

For many years I have made my beer money by writing and translating for one of China's top wine trade publications. The editor-in-chief is an old friend. This is one such article of mine which appeared bi-lingually in their flagship magazine, several years ago. I have spared you the Chinese version. In Lombardy, Italy, in the town of Desenzano del Garda, on the banks of Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, it is a warm spring Sunday morning. The Gallo family are gathering together for lunch. Four generations will be present for the meal. A large table is set out in the garden and the noise of chopping, the banging of pans and the voice of Mama Gallo issuing instructions is emanating from the kitchen. Eventually all the family arrive and take their places around the table, which by now is covered with food. A short prayer of thanks is said and everyone begins to eat. This meal will last for hours. The excited talking and laughing dies down as the Gallo family start to eat, eagerly tasting every mouthful. Mama apologises for the plainness of the food and everyone assures her it is delicious, which it certainly is. After a while, people start to slow down, but continue to nibble and sip at their wine until, finally they begin to feel sleepy. All over Italy, many families are doing the same. Thousands of kilometres away, in a small town in central China, the Li family are gathering together for dinner. Four generations will be present for the meal. A large table is set out in the sitting room and the noise of chopping, the banging of pans and the voice of Mama Li issuing instructions is emanating from the kitchen. Eventually all the family arrive and take their places around the table, which by now is covered with food. A short welcome is said and everyone begins to eat. The excited talking and laughing dies down as the Li family start to eat, eagerly tasting every mouthful. Mama apologises for the plainness of the food and everyone assures her it is delicious, which it certainly is. After a while, people start to slow down, but continue to nibble and sip at their wine until, finally they begin to feel sleepy. All over China, many families are doing the same. Yes, despite the distance between the two countries, the descriptions of these meals are almost the same. Like no other European country, Italy holds food dear to its heart. They live to eat, not eat to live. Food and eating together is central to the culture. To not offer guests at least a snack or, better still, invite them to join the family meal is almost unthinkable – just as in China. But the similarities do not end there. Let’s look at what they are eating. On the Gallo family table are several dishes featuring pork such as a spicy pork stew called Lo Stufato Dell'Adriana, On the Li family table there may also be a spicy pork stew such as Chairman Mao’s favourite, 红烧肉 (hóng shāo ròu), Red-Braised Pork. The Gallo family will be enjoying several types of sausages and hams. Italy’s Parma ham is enjoyed all over Europe and the Americas. Chinese sausages are also world famous and Jinhua ham from China’s Zhejiang Province is enjoyed all over China and beyond. Both countries are known for using every part of the pig from the nose to the tail. Parts of the animal which are thrown away or used only to feed pets in some countries are loved by both Italians and the Chinese people. The Gallo family are also enjoying fresh carp which, earlier this morning, was still swimming in Lake Garda, the beautiful lake they can see as they eat. The Li family are enjoying fresh carp from their nearby river. Mama Li bought it, still live, in the market earlier in the day. On both tables is a wide selection of beautiful, freshly picked and carefully cooked vegetables and a wide variety of mushrooms is used in both countries. Of course on the Gallo family’s table, there will be pasta. And the Li family are also eating noodles. Who can imagine Italy without pasta – or China without noodles? Italians like to say that noodles were introduced to China by Marco Polo, while the Chinese people like to say that Marco Polo took them from China to Italy! Actually, neither story is true. There are certainly records of noodles being eaten in China and pasta being in Italy long before Polo was even born. The truth is noodles probably evolved separately in each place. A plate of ravioli lies on the Gallo family table while a plate of jiaozi is on the Li family table. The shapes and flavours are a little different, but they are essentially the same thing. Tortellini look so much like wontons that they are known in Chinese as “Italian Wontons”. And like wontons, they are often served in soup. Due to the pressures of modern life, the large, four hour long dinner which was once a daily event in Italy, is now usually confined to the weekends and holidays. Similarly, the Chinese large dinner is usually only held for special events and festivals. But the busy worker in Rome and the busy worker in Beijing may eat a remarkably similar lunch. In Rome, a quick bowl of tasty pasta al pomodoro (pasta in tomato sauce); in Beijing a quick bowl of tasty zhajiang mian. While China is the world’s top rice growing nation, Italy is top in Europe. Whereas in China rice is mainly grown in the south, in Italy it is the opposite. And while Chinese stir-fried rice is known the world over, Italy is also renowned for its classic rice dish; risotto. Italian food and Chinese food are the top two international cuisines. There are Chinese restaurants in almost every country of the world; just as there are Italian restaurants. Of course, not everything is similar. Ingredients and flavourings are sometimes very different. Italy relies heavily on dairy products such as cheese and cream in its cooking; something many Chinese people cannot accept. And, of course, there are many Chinese foods and tastes which would be unacceptable or unfamiliar to most Italians. Also, the wines and other drinks accompanying the meal will probably be somewhat different. The Gallo family will be drinking a locally produced wine, possibly a very local Bardolino or a Valpolicella from nearby Verona. Papa Gallo and the older men may finish the meal with a drop of Grappa, the strong liquor made from the skins, stems and seeds used in winemaking. The Li family will more probably celebrate with a rice or grain based wine, but red grape wines, both imported and domestically produced, are becoming more fashionable. And Papa Li would probably appreciate a small glass of that Grappa while Papa Gallo toasts him back with a glass of Baijiu! But overall, the Gallo and Li families could change places and be familiar with much of the food they find and perhaps surprised to find that the two cultures aren’t as different as they imagined. Gustoso！好吃！

... not read the delivery app more carefully. I attempted to restock on my favourite jellyfish snack which I buy in these 150 gram bags, So, I happily ordered four bags. 30 minutes later I received 600 grams in one pot. They weren't selling it bagged for rehydration! I'll never get through this lot before it goes off.

For many years I have made my beer money by writing and translating for one of China's top wine trade publications. The editor-in-chief is an old friend. This is one such article of mine which appeared bi-lingually in their flagship magazine, several years ago. I have spared you the Chinese version. What makes a wine memorable? What makes a wine stick in your memory in a way that you can recall every nuance of its bouquet, colour and taste even decades after you have drunk it? The depth and quality of an expensive fine wine? Perhaps. Or maybe a perfect match with a perfect dish in a perfect meal in a perfect restaurant? Yes, it could be that, too. Or sometimes, it is the company or social circumstances that you find yourself drinking in that remains with you. I suppose one should remember the Champagne at one’s wedding, but in fact, few people do. I can’t even remember what we drank. Although, I’m sure it wasn’t tea. Thinking about this recently, I racked my brains trying to think of examples of wines which remain with me, not necessarily for their great quality. It doesn’t have to be a wine which has had the critics in ecstasies, although those, too, can be memorable, of course. But, perhaps surprisingly, I decided that the wine I remember most vividly is a simple cheap wine which I drank from a plastic cup n the middle of a rather smelly fishing port dock area. I was sitting on an abandoned and broken chair which threatened to collapse at any minute. The food, eaten from a paper plate, certainly didn’t match the wine even remotely and the whiff of rotten fish and gasoline hardly contributed to the experience. But it remains one of my happiest wine drinking memories. About 25 years ago, I went on a family holiday to a tiny resort village on the French Mediterranean, near to Perpignan on the border with Spain. This is Languedoc-Roussillon territory, home to Vin de Pays d'Oc and the world’s largest wine producing area, responsible for more than one third of all France’s wine. No one will pretend that the wine is in the top grades, but it produces some perfectly acceptable everyday drinking wines. So armed with my high factor sunscreen, I settled down to a lazy couple of weeks by the Mediterranean. Parts of my body which hadn’t seen sunlight for years (i.e. most parts) were exposed to the elements and I spent the first few days doing nothing very much at all. But all that lying around doing nothing quickly became boring, so we took to strolling into the nearby village, visiting the market and generally being tourists. We stocked up on beautiful breads, local cheeses and grabbed flagons of what appeared to be the very local vin ordinaire wines. The locals would look at the cheeses we had selected and make their wine recommendations, which we were happy to go along with. They were dirt cheap, but a fine accompaniment to our simple lunch. The afternoons were happily spent sleeping off their effects. We got in a bit of cultural tourism by fitting in a couple of day trips into the mountains and to the beautiful city of Perpignan where we temporarily abandoned France and, bizarrely, had a lovely meal in an Indian restaurant which had been recently opened by someone from London! I’d be astonished if it were still there. We visited the ancient historic walled city of Carcassonne, where we had a more sensible traditional meal of the local specialty, cassoulet, a slow cooked dish of preserved goose, local sausages and beans. This was again washed down with a local wine, but sadly I can’t tell you what it was. I doubt it had a name, as such. It was served from a jar and everyone in the restaurant had the same wine. It was the kind of place which doesn’t do a menu. There is one dish and one wine. And both were delicious. Towards the end of the first week, while wandering near our holiday apartment, we turned left instead of right and found ourselves in a less picturesque area. This was clearly where the locals really worked when not looking out for the tourists. There were car repair places, decorating material shops, carpenters, metalworkers, stone masons, builders etc. And coming from the centre of it was the most wonderful smell. Garlic, wine and herbs and the unmistakeable smell of fresh seafood. It was a little early for lunch and far too late for breakfast, but we forced ourselves into this tiny shack and asked for the menu. When we did, the woman serving us pointed to the wall where it said a) 20 Francs Déjeuner; b) 25 Francs Déjeuner; c) 30 Francs Déjeuner. We were greedy people, so we went for the 30 Francs lunch for two. (The kids were playing on the beach.) Huge shivering plates of seafood arrived. Lobster, crabs, mussels, oysters, clams, prawns and much more. Again, this was served with anonymous local wine which matched the food perfectly. We went back every day for the rest of our holiday. On the last week, we discovered from the woman in the restaurant shack her restaurant would be closed that Friday for Feast of the Assumption, the Catholic Christian festival and that this was to be celebrated in the traditional manner. Further questioning revealed that this consisted of the local fishermen supplying the entire village’s lunch. We were assured that we would be very welcome and she kindly pointed out the location. The empty loading yard on the dock beside the main fish market. So, on the Friday, we rolled up at noon to find the place packed. The fishermen and their families had set up long barbecue grills along one side of the square where they were grilling sardines so fresh they had realised they were dead yet. There were tables piled high with crusty French baguettes, then more tables piled with fresh peaches. Then, barrels and barrels of wine. The locals were picking up paper plates, loading them with smoking hot sardines, grabbing some bread, a plastic cup of wine and finding anywhere they could to sit and enjoy this simplest of lunches. Then they would go back for more. And I did too. The wine was a red Pays d'Oc and probably not the best match for grilled sardines or for peaches. But I sat on my broken chair, looking out over the Mediterranean lying behind the boat sheds, feeling exquisitely happy and very, very full, but ready for just one more cupful. What's your most memorable wine experience?

Salt or pepper never appears on Chinese tables, at home or in restaurants, irrespective of pandemics. I always carry these little sachets. OK it isn't freshly ground pepper but in an emergency...

I think not. Where I live they might miss out the salt but the chilli? Never.

I agree!

Here in China, every day I carry sachets of salt in my wallet in case I come across hotels serving what they imagine to be western food. They never season it! I think that is largely because they are more used to reaching for the soy sauce for seasoning. When travelling wider I also carry ground coffee (which I grind myself).