The history of soy sauce is a bit like the sauce itself, kind of murky. What is consistent is that the precursor to soy sauce is something called jiang. Jiang was a method of preservation popular with the prehistoric people of Asia involving preserving meat and fish with salt. This process produced a bi-product,...
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Tags: China, fish sauce, Japan, Korea, sauce, shoyu, soy sauce, Tawain, Thailand
Posted in China, Japan, Special Ingredients, Thailand, condiments, culture, history, hong kong, traditions | 34 Comments »
Imagine you are Zhu Yuanzhang living in the 14th century, and are of the Han tribe of China. You are tired of living under an oppressive Mongolian overload of the Yuan Dynasty, and desperate to overthrow this ruler. You hatch upon a brilliant plot to unite your people to rise against the conquerers. You...
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Tags: celebration, China, mooncakes
Posted in China, celebrations, food, history | 31 Comments »
When you think of curry, which country or region comes to mind?
India
Thailand
Caribbean
Japan
China
Britian
Any of the above, and indeed many other countries would be correct, and you would still be thinking in the right direction if your mind wandered to Germany or South Africa and a host of other locations, but where did it all begin?
If...
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Tags: Caribbean, China, curry, India, japa, Thailand
Posted in Britain, Caribbean, China, India, food, history | 27 Comments »
As I previously mentioned, I think street or fast food can go a long way to providing a multi-sensory cultural experience that accurately captures the current culture of the country, region, or city in question. Every time I bite into a conchita pilbil taco, I am transported back to Merida, Mexico, or a gelato reminds me of...
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Tags: Africa, Canada, China, culture, fast food, India, Italy, street food, United Kingdom, United States
Posted in Africa, Britain, Canada, Caribbean, China, India, Iran, Japan, Middle East, New York, Peru, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, country, culture, fast food, food, travel | 18 Comments »
Hot off the presses! Oxen were spotted running through the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown and reports are coming in that this phenomenon is playing out in Chinatowns around the world. Your intrepid reporter raced to the scene, and the following is an eyewitness account of what she found.
Approaching Chinatown via Kearney Street with...
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Tags: China, New Year, San Francisco
Posted in China, San Francisco | No Comments »