Hunan? Maybe not.

[liuzhou]

 

I’ve muttered and mumbled more than once about Chinese foods in the west usually being unrecognisable to many Chinese – even in so-called ‘regional’ restaurants. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Guardian reviewed a ‘genuine Sichuan’ restaurant near London, in which most of the menu wasn’t Sichuan at all. There has been a ‘fine dining’ restaurant in London for years, called Hunan. There is nothing at all Hunanese about it. It’s Taiwanese, if anything. Normal. However it isn’t only in the west.

 

According to this article, Hunan restaurants are now the most popular in China, outnumbering Sichuan (So, yesterday!). However in Beijing and elsewhere many such Hunan restaurants are under fire for their Hunanese food being heavily altered to suit tastes local to Beijing etc. Beijing is approx 1,500 km (932 miles) from Changsha, Hunan’s capital. Shanghai is 1,100 km (680 miles). Hunanese people living and working in those cities and others are not happy!

 

There is no doubt, that all these new restaurants are popular, just not so much with Hunanese people. One of my good friends is Hunanese but has been living in Shanghai for 20 years and craves ‘real’ Hunan food which, she can’t find in Shanghai. There are many accounts on Chinese social media complaining about the same.

 

According to the article,

 

“as Hunan restaurants become increasingly popular, their purveyors stand at a crossroads: Do they spend more and stick to the traditions and flavors that have helped propel them to where they are today, or do they further adapt to local demands to the detriment of authenticity, making it a true national food.”

 

 

They also mention Shenzhen in Guangdong bordering Hong Kong as having a large number of Hunan restaurants, but without mentioning that a huge number of people there are Hunanese. Almost all of Shenzhen consists of in-migrants from other parts of China. When I arrived in China it was an obscure fishing village; now one of China’s biggest cities. Despite being slap in a Cantonese speaking area, the lingua franca is Mandarin as spoken in Hunan. Hardly surprising it’s full of Hunanese restaurants. I ate in one 20 years ago.

 

The article is more nuanced and detailed than I may have painted here so please, read it if you are at all interested.

 

Incidentally, there has been a Hunan restaurant here in Liuzhou for 40 years, but we do border Hunan province.

 

For more on Hunan food in Hunan, see this topic.

 

[C. sapidus]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

There is no doubt, that all these new restaurants are popular, just not so much with Hunanese people. One of my good friends is Hunanese but has been living in Shanghai for 20 years and craves ‘real’ Hunan food which, she can’t find in Shanghai. There are many accounts on Chinese social media complaining about the same.

 

 

I am surprised that Hunan restaurants in Chinese cities with large Hunanese populations don't offer traditional options as "off-menu" items. In the US, those from the particular culture can often request off-menu items, or on-menu items prepared traditionally.

 

I have even heard of separate traditional menus being printed in something other than English (which I assume would not be necessary in China).

 

Edited September 7 by C. sapidus
Clarity (log)

[liuzhou]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, C. sapidus said:

 

I am surprised that Hunan restaurants in Chinese cities with large Hunanese populations don't offer traditional options as "off-menu" items. In the US, those from the particular culture can often request off-menu items, or on-menu items prepared traditionally.

 

I have even heard of separate traditional menus being printed in something other than English (which I assume would not be necessary in China).

 

Sorry, maybe I didn't explain myself clearly. The article didn't explain clearly either. The restaurants in Shenzhen do prepare traditional Hunan food, to cater for the large Hunanese population there.

 

However the Hunanese populations of Beijing and Shanghai are much smaller at least in percentage terms. The Hunan restaurants there are not primarily catering to Hunan people, but people from elsewhere all over China - people who want to experience 'the Hunan experience' but don't necessarily know what that is, so are less judgemental.

 

You are correct in saying that separate menus would be unnecessary - written Chinese generally remains the same no matter how it's pronounced, even if it sounds totally different to another place.

 

 

Edited September 7 by liuzhou (log)