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 ...

 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

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

Next to you, how could she ? Or anyone else ?
 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

She misspells a number of well-known place names

 

I found one: "Guanxi" - featured three times in your rant. I am no expert compared to you, but which other numbers of well-known places are you referring to ?

 

6 hours ago, 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. 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. That of course you know far more of the topography of China than the author (or anyone else) nonewithstanding ...

 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

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

If you read the title of the article "How Chinese food in Australia has evolved with new waves of migration" you'll realize this is a Australia-directed topic. Sure, 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 ?

 

6 hours ago, 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.

An anecdote, 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". I know, language nitpicking 😉

 

6 hours ago, 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. She means dim sum.

 

 

If I quote my favorite written reference, the OCD OED (Oxford English Dictionary, wholeheartedly endorsed by language specialists all around the Middle Kingdom), it references yum cha as ...

 

But of course they could be wrong. If only I had an expert to clarify ...

So, all in all - thank you for your thorough critical view (that - as you might have guessed - I not fully share) on this article, that nevertheless I found interesting to read. Thanks, @haresfur, and keep them coming 🤗




 

Edited 4 hours ago by Duvel (log)