How Chinese food in Australia has evolved with new waves of migration

[haresfur]

Interesting article from the ABC News site, particularly the recent diversification and the bit about students now being the core demographic. Makes me want to get down to Melbourne more often.

 

How Chinese food in Australia has evolved with new waves of migration

[liuzhou]

Hmmm.

 

I don't know anything about the author of this piece, but she clearly knows nothing about China or its cuisines.

 

She misspells a number of well-known place names and points out that Gansu is "semi-arid and the soils are not productive enough to grow rice or green leafy vegetables". The rice part is true of all of north China, not just Gansu. Rice is very much a southern staple. Wheat has been the staple in the north for centuries for the simple reason that the north is too cold for growing rice. The vegetable part is just nonsense. Many vegetables are grown in the north, especially brassicas.

 

Yes, more regional food is becoming more available, not only in Australia but across Europe and the English speaking countries. And usually carried by students. And that change isn't new. A dear friend from here in Guangxi (not Guanxi as she spells it*) studied her master's degree in Australia, settled, then opened her Guangxi food restaurant in Melbourne 25 years ago, this year. She wasn't the only one.

 

There are several other errors but my favourite is "they did not want to eat Cantonese yum cha". Lucky for them! Yum cha means 'drink tea'. I don't want to eat 'drink tea' either. She means dim sum.

 

 

*Small difference in English perhaps, but crucial in Chinese. Guanxi means connections or 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' and is often linked to corruption.

 

 

[Duvel]

Hmmm indeed ...

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

I don't know anything about the author of this piece, but she clearly knows nothing about China or its cuisines

I do not share your view. She references her dishes to the regions correctly.
 

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

She misspells a number of well-known place names

 

I found only one, and that might well be a editorial error: "Guanxi" - but featured three times in your post. Which other numbers of well-known places are you referring to ?

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

points out that Gansu is "semi-arid and the soils are not productive enough to grow rice or green leafy vegetables".

And this is correct. A specific statement, not an excluding one. That it does refer to other areas as well does not invalidate the statement. And even if Gansu grows cabbage does not invalide it either. 

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

Yes, more regional food is becoming more available, not only in Australia but across Europe and the English speaking countries.

If one reads the title of the article "How Chinese food in Australia has evolved with new waves of migration" one realizes this is a Australia-directed topic. Again, a specific statement, not an excluding one. Yes, things like this happen anywhere in the world and even I can buy now a instant Luosifen package in my backwater German town, but does that matter to the article ? It doesn't, so why should one hold it against the author or her article ?

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

A dear friend from here in Guangxi (not Guanxi as she spells it*) studied her master's degree in Australia, settled, then opened her Guangxi food restaurant in Melbourne 25 years ago, this year. She wasn't the only one.

Anecdotal evidence, covered in the sentence "Lu Gan said when she and her family migrated to Melbourne in 2008 for better education and lifestyle, there was "barely any authentic Chinese food"." ... note it doesn't say "none". 
 

 

On 7/31/2024 at 10:44 AM, liuzhou said:

There are several other errors but my favourite is "they did not want to eat Cantonese yum cha". Lucky for them! Yum cha means 'drink tea'. I don't want to eat 'drink tea' either.

 

Kindly decribe the factual errors that you are referring to. Concerning the usage of "yum cha" kindly note that it is in line with the often cited OED and does refer in English in a Chinese context to the meal and not the Cantonese tranlation of "drinking tea" alone.

 

So, all in all - I do not agree to your negative (condescending might be a strong, yet apt description) review on the article, especially as the points cited above are factual not correct from your side. And @haresfur - please continue to post  🤗
 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2024 by Duvel (log)

[FauxPas]

 

Isn't yum cha the common term in Hong Kong? 

 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190227-the-yum-cha-rules-you-need-to-know

[Duvel]

Just now, FauxPas said:

 

Isn't yum cha the common term in Hong Kong? 

 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190227-the-yum-cha-rules-you-need-to-know

Absolutely …

 

“Literally meaning ‘drink tea’ in Cantonese, yum cha is as common a meal in Hong Kong as coffee and toast in Western culture, …”

[liuzhou]

8 hours ago, FauxPas said:

Isn't yum cha the common term in Hong Kong? 

 

Yes, but no one would ever say "eat yum cha" in either English or Chinese. They would say "go for Yum Cha" or similar. 吃飲茶 'eat drink tea' sounds as stupid in Cantonese as it does in English. They are even more likely to say go 'eat dim sum', the food served at yum cha.

 

My objection was not to the term 'yum cha', but to its collocation with 'eat'.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

And yet that combination is the first reference in the OED entry …