Sneaky Supper: Snack or Busted, Your Call!
I may not talk about my new found love for boardgames and TTRPGs enough, as I actively work on promoting Sinosphere created games, and help western creators produce culturally appropriate games content. It was with this hat on that I found myself at UK Games Expo this year, touching base with creators and generally looking around.
I stopped off at Capital Gains games, drawn in by their Zombie Life Insurance game (which I will be talking about soon), and found a lovely Singaporean company producing small box games with fun graphics, a wide range of subjects, quick playtimes, many of them capturing that Sinophone experience.
So many games of this type are food based. It’s a universal experience, but also carries the specificities of home. Apps and boardgames commonly draw on cooking, hot pot, buffet, dim sums, or ‘guess the dish’ mechanics, and I’ve found myself having to triple check which hotpot deck building dice game I’m playing. I get it. When there is SO MUCH content tied to culinary tradition, it’s hard to be original (says your girl as she edits another “Roll For Noodles” video). Sneaky Supper, however, is a subgenre I hadn’t seen before.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged Asian, food, game, pop culture, review, Singapore, snacks, tabletop
Haidilao: Fresh, Fun and Friendly Hot Pot Dining
This May I had the pleasure of visiting Haidilao’s Birmingham branch. Away from the new cluster of hotpot places in London, I was a little worried that the experience would be rather “phoned in”, but I was pleased to discover it was anything but. While I’ve grown up with Cantonese hot pot, and had plenty of other regional versions in restaurants as well as home cooked in Chinese households, I’ve always wanted to try Haidilao, one of the most well know chains of hotpot restaurants, both in China and now the UK. Being an adventurous eater, and knowing that not everyone will enter with the same open mindedness, I attended with a British friend in tow whose culinary needs are usually met by the stereotypical “Treats Of Beige” School of freezer foods and chips. A very different perspective to my own.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged Chinese, cuisine, food, haidilao, hot pot, restaurant, review
Yuebing: A Quick Guide to Mooncakes
The end of this week sees China’s second biggest traditional festival. 中秋节 Zhōngqiū Jié, or in English, Middle Autumn Festival. You may also hear it referred to as Moon, or mooncake Festival. Veneration of the moon goes back a long way in Chinese history, with offerings of food, fruits and wine on household altars, moon appreciation rituals, and of course, moon cakes (月饼 yuèbing). It is of course this foody aspect of the festival that has truly gone global in the 21st century.
Posted in Articles and tagged cakes, china, Chinese, cuisine, dessert, food, history, mid-autumn festival, moon cakes, Moon Festival
Congee Concepts
I like congee. When my western friends reach for pizza or tomato soup as comfort foods, I do find myself missing that fragrant rice porridge with its accompanying bowls of tasting toppings. It seems I am not alone. I’ve been seeing a lot of social media and articles discussing this south-east Asian dish. They mainly focus on it being the secret of a healthy life, and a pick-me-up when you’re ill. Whilst all of this is true, I can’t help but feel that these representations are somewhat missing the main point, and perpetuating some misperceptions. The Chinese, for one, eat congee as an everyday staple, some even consider a delicious treat. With family roots across central, northern and southern China, I have grown up with a variety of experiences of the 粥zhou (Mandarin for congee).
Posted in Articles and tagged Cantonese, Chaozhou, china, Chinese, congee, cuisine, culture, food, jook, Teochew, tradition
Cheeseburger Jiaozi
Usually, “fusion food” is a worrying term for me. However, having come across the cheeseburger dumpling, it seemed like a dongsi recipe that could work well, so we tried making them at home.
Posted in Articles and tagged cheesburger, china, Chinese, culture, dumpling, food, fusion food, Jiaozi, recipe
Stir-Frozen
Summer is finally coming into full swing this year in the UK. Summer is my favourite season. It’s a time that always reminds me of my hometown, the subtropical city of Guangzhou. A while ago, I was thrilled to find that as part of the renovations of London’s Chinatown, southern Chinese dessert parlours were finally coming to Britain. So as a follow-up to Sweet & Sour, which talks about traditional desserts, let me introduce you to some of the delights of contemporary Chinese sweet treats that are now well within your reach.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, culture, desserts, food
Bao: A Review
After the delays due to the World Cup, I am very happy to see “Incredibles 2” released at last. The major reason for my anticipation for seeing this film in the cinema, is the short preceding the main feature, “Bao”, the first Pixar production with a female director, and one of Chinese heritage, no less. Needless to say, my expectations were high, and this adorable work has met them.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged animation, china, Chinese, cinema, cuisine, culture, Disney, film, food, Pixar
Jianbing Guozi
It has been lovely to hear about Brian Goldberg, who studied in Beijing in his youth and had grown to love the Jianbing so much that he spent almost 14 years studying the art of making this delicious pancake breakfast, and now brings it to the public on the streets of NYC, offering adaptations of the dish with more filling that are great for lunch or dinner. Let me tell you a little about the origins of the Jianbing.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, culture, food, Jianbing, pancake, snack, street food
Eight Festive Dishes & Eight Festive Traditions For Spring Festival
If you’re reading this you probably already know about Chinese New Year, so I won’t spoil the festive occasion with too much scholarly detail. 8 is the lucky number in China so here are 8 festive foods and 8 festive traditions for Spring Festival. Since CNY is as big as Christmas and China is vast, every region has its variation of customs. Having a northern mother and southern father, mine will be a mixture of northern and southern broadly speaking, leaning towards southern because that’s where I spent my childhood.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture, festival, food, Spring Festival, tradition
Shikumen
I select restaurants to review for various reasons. Reccomendations, publicity, invite, occasionally just simple coincidence. We came across Shikumen due to a huge advert in London’s free morning paper. With an enticing dim sum menu, and a website littered with Shangai calendar pics, we thought it would be worth a trip to their Ealing branch.
Posted in Events and tagged Cantonese, china, Chinese, cuisine, culture, dim sum, Ealing, food, restaurant, review, Shanghai, Shikumen, Tianjin