liuzhou

People have known for a very, very long time that grain usage preceded agriculture. Never in the history of human life has anyone woken up and thought, "I've got a good idea. I'll start planting these seeds no one ever never uses and set up a chain of bakery shops as soon as I invent bread and cakes. And while I'm at it, I'll use these new things I'll call crops to make a drink that makes people talk garbage and then fall down. There is nothing new in that article.

2. 雪里红腌菜 (xuě lǐ hóng yān cài) - Salt Cured Potherb Mustard (Brassica juncea var. crispifolia) This is another local treatment for mustard. It is exactly as described in the name. "雪里红" means "potherb mustard"; "腌" means "salt" and "菜" means "vegetable". Unlike the suancai above, this is dry cured, so the final product retains some crispiness, unlike suancai which has a more "cooked" texture. Whether or not it is available elsewhere, I don't know. Suancai is everywhere - I've bought it in London. Most Asian stores or markets should have suancai. If you can also find this one outside China, please let me know.

For centuries, the Chinese have been pickling and preserving foods. There is almost nothing that they haven't pickled, salted, dried or whatever. Even Germany recognises that sauerkraut originated in China, while most Koreans patriotically deny that kimchi came from China, but it almost certainly did. So, in this thread, I want to mention some of the most common, but also some of the more unusual. It could be a long ride! 1. 酸菜 (suān cài), literally 'sour vegetable' Suan cai is common across China. However, there are two main types. In Northern China, the preference is for for the vegetable in question to be napa cabbage (大白菜 - dà bái cài), whereas here in the south, we go for stem mustard (芥菜 - jiè cài). Northern style preserved napa cabbage Southern style preserved stem mustard (made in Liuzhou) Whichever vegetable is used, the production process remains basically the same. The whole vegetable is placed in a large jar of water and salt - a simple brine - then compressed by placing a heavy weight on top. Spices may or may not be added. In Hunan, chilli and ginger are often added to the mustard. Suancai is sold in most markets and supermarkets, but many people make their own. Commercially produced suancai as found in supermarkets etc. The preserved vegetable is often served by being finely chopped and served alongside meaty dishes to cut through any fattiness, or can be stir-fried along with the meat. Unchopped suancai is also used in my favourite Chinese fish dish, 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú), a Sichuan soupy mix of suan cai and fish. Fuschia Dunlop has a very good recipe in her "The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)". Most recipes that I can see on the internet are not very inspiring. Chopped suan cai as served alongside meat. Note: Excessive consumption of pickles and salted preserves may be linked to certain cancers, according to many sources including the World Health Organisation and the Chinese Journal of Cancer

No need to be sorry. It has been a long topic. And if it's worth posting once, it's probably worth repeating!

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/161684-food-funnies/?do=findComment&comment=2245086

Even before I was properly awake, I knew this was going to be breakfast. I had literally been dreaming about it. BLT

For no particular reason, I picked these up in the local supermarket. I don't go for all the superfood, antioxidant BS. OK, these have more phytochemicals then the red variety, but that only proves they have more phytochemicals then the red variety. Not that they do anything super. So, these are 黑枸杞 (hēi gǒu qǐ). Black goji berries. Much smaller than their red variety. Round here they are used to make a 'tea' or, more correctly, 'tisane'. That's where the fun comes in. When I drop them into water, the water turns this lovely blue colour. Unfortunately, within 30 seconds, it darkens and becomes a less lovely purple. Oh well.

Certainly is.

In a restaurant, they would normally be taken home. However, this meal was in a friend's home and there were very few leftovers. There were ten for dinner in total.

Just a small dinner with some friends, tonight. All Liuzhou specialties. All homemade. 壮家醸豆腐 (zhuàng jiā niàng dòu fu) - Zhuang Style Stuffed Tofu Puffs Spicy Beef (Bull) Tripe White Cut (Organic) Chicken Loofah Spicy Beef Pickled Daikon Radish Eggplant / Aubergine Wax Gourd Pickled Mixed Vegetables 扣肉 (kòu ròu) - Steamed Pork Belly and Taro Red Vinegar Pickled Ginger (centre) ; Pumpkin Flower Soup (top) 酸菜 (suān cài) - Pickled Cabbage (believed by some to be the original Kimchi) 腐竹(fǔ zhú) - Dried Tofu Skin Roll Rice and beer. Lychees and fresh Chicken Skin Fruit.

Sylvia Plath - June 26th, 1951

Most buckwheat noodles in China contain regular wheat too, but I'm not sure of proportions. A number of foreigners, new to China, have asked me over the years where they can get buckwheat noodles. I always ask if they want them because of gluten issues and, if so, I tell them "Every supermarket, but be careful; most contain wheat." Then I have to teach them the Chinese characters for buckwheat and wheat, so that they can check the ingredients list. I'd still like to know where these Shaanxi people are getting their mustard seeds, though. Shaanxi was the first place I lived in China and couldn't find them.

I have made them in the past, but those were bought in the local supermarket, as was the roast duck. No one here makes Beijing duck at home - they don't have ovens. All I did was slice the cucumber and daikon.

Yes, I know about the potential for gut issues in some people, but decided to risk it. I'll let you know if I made a mistake! Yes, but bakpia were introduced to Indonesia by the Chinese.

北京烤鸭 (běi jīng kǎo yā) - Beijing Duck. Clockwise from top: Pancakes (春饼 - chūn bǐng) , duck meat (鸭肉 - yā ròu) and duck skin (鸭皮 - yā pí)， cucumber (黄瓜 - huáng guā) and daikon radish (白萝卜 - bái luó bo)，sweet bean sauce (甜麵醬 - tián miàn jiàng。） Assemblage Down the hatch!

It happened again. I was sitting here working on something when my phone bleeped. A text message telling me my delivery had been deposited at the collection point two minutes from my home. What delivery? I have no outstanding deliveries due. Anyway, I popped out and sure enough there was a box waiting for me. The description on the box read "绿木， 无糖 [1 件]", which means "Green tree, sugar-free [1 packet]. Well, that is helpful! Back home, I opened it, still wondering who was sending me suger-free trees and found ten little cakes labelled "木糖醇绿豆饼 (mù táng chún lǜ dòu bǐng)", which rather unromantically translates as "Xylitol Green Bean Cakes". Xylitol is an artificial sweetener, I learn. Still nothing ventured - I tried one. They are not particularly sweet (which, in my book, is a good thing). They are 1½" / 2cm in diameter; an inch / 2.5 cm tall. The pastry shell is soft and slightly sticky. The mung bean filling is soft, flaky and again not sweet but not beanish, either. All, in all, not bad! There are only four in the first picture, because I ate the other six before reaching for the camera - purely for research reasons, you understand. I have tracked down who sent them. Thanks Han Rong!

Pork fried fresh ramen noodles with morels and Welsh onions. Garlic, ginger, chili, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.

12b. The Decline and Fall of The British Pub - A Bad Business An article in The Conversation by Liam Keenan, lecturer in Economic Geography (T&S) at England’s Newcastle University, dated July 2020 suggested another cause for the decline in the number of pubs in Britain. The rise in the number of Pubcos began in 1989. Prior to that many pubs were owned by the brewers who installed managers to run the pubs. Of course, these managers were tied to only selling the owners’ own products or other products which the owners deemed acceptable – but these, too had to be bought from the brewery and not on the open market. I remember the first time I visited England from Scotland and being confused by the signs everywhere saying “Take Courage”. It turned out these was not some sort of motivational advice but advertising for the Courage Brewery Company, which owned thousands of pubs in England but not, at the time, Scotland. The Boatman, a former Courage pub on Jamaica Rd, London SE16. Closed in 2016 and demolished. Image by Ewan Munro; licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 By 1989, the UK government decided that this practice discouraged competition and so, was unfair to the consumer. So, they introduced new regulations limiting to 2,000 the number of pubs any one brewing company could own. Thousands of pubs had to be sold off and the new pub companies stepped in. There are no restrictions on how many they can own. So, basically the situation was that the pubcos bought thousands of pubs with borrowed money, then with the global financial turndown in 2008 couldn’t repay the loans and so sold off a great number of those pubs, but for the land and property value, not as viable businesses. Pubs were either converted to apartments or more often, simply demolished and the land used to build new housing or offices. The pubcos still exist and are under a lot of pressure from Covid, as are all businesses involved in hospitality – not that the pubcos are primarily hospitality businesses; they are investment businesses. Landlords are also under pressure as many of the pubcos have continued to charge full rent, despite the tenants being unable to trade throughout the three Covid lockdowns Britain has had. One pub company with more of a background in hospitality is J.D. Wetherspoons started in 1979 by the controversial Tim Martin, which has 925 pubs around Britain as of June 2021. The company specialises in taking over large, empty premises such as cinemas, churches, banks and even a former swimming pool and converted them into mega-pubs. Each pub looks and feels the same (apart from the carpets, which are specially made and unique to each pub), with identical products on sale including a standardised pub food menu across the chain. 13 of the pubs are called The Moon Under Water after Orwell’s fictional ideal pub; none of them resemble Orwell’s description in any way. The Moon Under Water, Balham, London - Image by Ewan Munro; licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 If you want to avoid visiting a pubco pub look for one declaring itself a free house. This means that the pub is independent of any brewery or pubco instead normally being owned by the occupants and is free to purchase its wares on the open market. They often have more selection and more interesting choices of beers etc than tied pubs. The Victoria Free House, Barnt Green, England. Image by Elliott Brown; licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 to be continued

Daily life in ancient Rome

Chicken with olives, okra, garlic, turmeric, while wine and couscous. Spinkled with shichimi togarashi before eating, but after I took the photograph.

A visit to a local melon farm.

True. It was a reply to a post which seemed to suggest a link. I made the comment to suggest that it was nothing to do with the topic at hand. Thanks for the reinforcement.

I wasn't sure where to put this. It doesn't seem to fit in any existing topic that I can find. If there is one, no doubt this will be moved. I found this article both touching and remarkably sane. Love and microwaved eggs – my dinners at Dad’s

Any decent British boozer needs a ghost! I think it's decreed by Act of Parliament.

This is probably the laziest and most simple meal I've ever prepared, but also one of the tastiest, not that I can take credit for that. I had a very busy day (and will do so again tomorrow) and hadn't done any shopping. Luckily, yesterday I picked up some sausages from the local supermarket a couple of days ago and had rice left over from yesterday. I am no fan of the Cantonese sausages you may know as "lap cheong" or something similar. I never eat them. These, however, I do. They are 四川麻辣肠 (sì chuān má là cháng) - Sichuan hot and numbing (mala) sausages. Basically they are pork, rice, Sichuan peppercorns and chilli. I also had some fresh bamboo shoot. I always have garlic and ginger. So I fried the ricewith bamboo, sausage garlic and ginger. End of recipe! Damn! It was so much better than I deserved it to be. And very spicy! Take-no-prisoners Sichuan! It would have been nice to have had some scallions for aesthetic appeal, but honestly I didn't need them. Anyway, no one is going to see the dish otherthan me, are they⁈