Articles about HONG KONG dim sum

Hong Kong

As we climbed the stairs to the first floor of the Lei Garden dim sum restaurant in Mongkok, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, the sights and sounds of the lunch hour seemed to coalesce. There was the noise of the customers; the orders the waitresses passed to the kitchen; the clatter of bowls and chopsticks. And dressed entirely in white other than her black waterproof boots, one woman was keeping the whole enterprise going by taking care of the vast dishwashing challenge that a dim sum restaurant poses.

This business has been famous for its dim sum for over 20 years. At this branch we ate in a small private dining room for seven, with the best view in town of the local Water Supplies Department, and its sign proudly proclaiming "Water Tanks Cleaned Every Three Months". Around the table sat two British wine merchants who had relocated from London's St James's to Hong Kong, two American-educated bond traders, and an old Chinese friend, whom we immediately entrusted with ordering the food.

No sooner had she done so than she gave us a lesson in the etiquette for enjoying what was to follow. The dark chopsticks on the outside were for serving oneself and others; the pale pair on the inside were for eating with. There would be a series of hot and spicy sauces to accompany the dim sum - but no soy sauce. "So western," she said, with obvious disdain.

At which point, one of the wine merchants said something that I thought could have had him dismissed from the table. He opined that, while he was enjoying Chinese food in Hong Kong, nothing he had so far eaten had touched the heights of the very best Japanese food in Tokyo. Fortunately, the possibility of a diplomatic incident was averted by the arrival of several waitresses with the first wave of dim sum.

Over this meal, and an excellent Cantonese dinner later that day at Celebrity Cuisine on the first floor of the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel in Central district, I bore this comment in mind as I analysed not only what I ate but also how it was presented. My deliberations led me finally to disagree with his verdict.

There is admittedly one respect in which the Japanese do outshine the Chinese, and that is in the presentation of their food. If I had to dine only with my eyes I would choose Japanese food every day for its colour, the precision with which it is arranged and its overall aesthetic appeal. A plate of Japanese food brings a smile to my face even before I have tasted it.

Lei Garden's dim sum were distinguished by their thin wrapping, the freshness of the steamed dishes, particularly the char sui buns, and the clean taste of the fried dishes, but their range of colours was indeed limited. The only dish that ventured beyond a pale-to-dark-brown spectrum was the thin slices of green pepper topped with minced fish that was served alongside braised tofu with peanuts and excellent barbecued pork. After that came three clay-pot dishes of rice, topped with chicken with mushrooms, spare ribs with black beans and, our particular favourite, spicy Chinese sausage.

A similarly limited range of colours, but happily the same delicious flavours, were in evidence at Celebrity Cuisine where, despite the glamorous name, the plastic-coated menu comes with photos that do the dishes no justice. We began with the classic turnip cake with spicy sausage, which was light brown in colour, and again proceeded quickly along the spectrum to dark brown.

There was a small stuffed crab shell; then deep fried oysters with leeks; then their version of eight-treasure duck, a whole duck stuffed with chestnuts, ginko nuts, barley, lotus seeds and more, roasted and then quickly fried; and finally an unctuous rendition of pork belly with preserved vegetables that was lip-smackingly good. The bowl of almond paste and egg white to finish was light relief, certainly visually.

Over my final dinner - an excellent western meal at The Principal, recently opened - I expressed my curiosity about the apparent Chinese disinterest in the colour and presentation of food to Lingling Huang, an art curator who has lived in Beijing and Shanghai. When I asked whether it would ever change, she was adamant that it would not.

"We're very practical people," she explained, "and in this area looks do not matter for us. After all, when you are served a clay-pot dish, invariably the best bits are those at the bottom that have been closest to the flame. They may not look too attractive but they always have the best flavour." I have to agree.

WORKS CITED

Nicholas Lander.  "Hong Kong dim sum. " FT.com  23 Mar. 2012: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web.  16 Apr. 2012.

Food in different communities

After reading the article “ ‘Breaking Bread with a Spread’ in a San Francisco County Jail” written by Sandra Cate and the article “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen” written by Mary Ann O’donnell. I found that food played a different and important role in the communities they studied.

In Cate’s article, the author talked about a new definition “spread”. It did not represent a kind of food, but meant the food the prisoners cooked for themselves and shared with others. The food in the jail was very simple and tasted very bad. There were always potatoes in their meals. At the same time, the arrangements for their meals were terrible. Prisoners had their dinner at about 4:00 P.M. Consequently, they would feel hungry at night. So they need to use some sources they saved from their meals and then cooked for themselves. Generally, they would like to share the food they cooked using microwave ovens with other inmates. “Spread” did not only mean food to them, but also a symbol of relationship with other inmates.

In O’donnell’s article, the author discussed about Shenzhen’s eating cultural politics. Unlike other cities in China, Shenzhen played a special role of Chinese cities. Local Shenzheners just occupied a very few percent of the population in Shenzhen now. Old Shenzheners contributed all their lives in constructing this city better than before. They preferred to eat in alfresco restaurants. In their minds, these kinds of restaurants could define the spirit of Shenzhen accurately and properly. However, people came to Shenzhen later had different viewpoints. They took advantage of the harvest the old Shenzheners had created, and the resources Shenzhen had and made benefits for themselves. They did not prefer to eat like old Shenzheners in alfresco restaurants; they liked to eat in the restaurants with better environment. Food for them was no longer a spirit of Shenzhen, but a necessary to satisfy their tastes.

In my mind, the most interesting part in Cate’s article is once Sean Cooper has cooked spread for his children, and surprisingly, his children like to eat spread. It is hard to imagine the spread will have a good taste because it is invented and cooked in jail. The most interesting part in O’donnell’s article is the change in the people’s mind leads the change of the food. Old Shenzheners make their mind to build Shenzhen better and they prefer to eat in alfresco restaurant. However, the reason to come to Shenzhen for people who come there later is probably that they want to take advantage of this city, so they prefer to eat in restaurants with better environment. Because in their mind, they come there for better lives, so eating a restaurant with better environment may probably be a good choice for them.

Reading Yuan's blog

Yuan's blog


I have written the differences between two different coffee brands Nestle Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee, Yuan has the same topic as me. Compare his essay with mine, I think the conclusion of his research supports my viewpoint. Nestle Coffee is instant so that people with busy schedule will probably choose to buy it. Blue Mountain Coffee is high quality coffee, people with more leisure time would like to buy it. However, there is a litter difference between his conclusion and mine. In his opinion , people choose Blue Mountain Coffee may probably depend on their wealth. But I do not agree with this viewpoint, people such as white-collar and blue-collar people may be a large group of consumers to buy Nestle Coffee because they are always very busy, but we cannot say that they are poor to afford a cop of Blue Mountain Coffee.

Differences between advertisements of Nestle Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee

Nestle coffee and Blue Mountain coffee are two famous coffee brands which I did a research on, aiming to differentiate their different strategies on advertising.

       Nestle Coffee focuses more on first impression, which means they try to impress customer for the first sight. They draw customers’ attention by using a concise but attractive sentence as their advertisement: “Taster’s choice.” When consumers see this advertisement in the supermarket, they will easily be attracted as in their minds, only the company with fully confidence of their product dares to assure customers that their products will always be better than others and should doubtless be customers’ choice. There are two other advertisements on the package of this product, “ON THE GO” and “100% PURE COFFEE”, indicating another advantage of Nestle, which is convenience. “ON THE GO” means this kind of coffee is instant coffee. This series of coffee has 7 packets, once people want to drink coffee, they just need to pick out one packet, and put it into hot water. After a while, they can enjoy the tasty coffee they have made for themselves. “100% PURE COFFEE” shows the quality of the coffee. Even though consumers know nothing about the quality of coffee, when they see the advertisement above, they may probably decide to buy it because it makes people feel good, as the word “pure” seems to guarantee people a feeling of original taste. Apart from advertisements, the package of this coffee looks very beautiful and attractive. What’s more, there are pictures showing how to make a cup of nice coffee on the package, giving customers an easier access to make coffee by themselves. Considering the convenience of this Nestle Coffee, customers such as white-collar and blue-collar people who are always very busy will most probably buy this kind of coffee. The existence of instant coffee also represents a kind of American culture. Most employees in the U.S are white-collar or blue-collar people. They are quite busy during their working hours. So when they want to drink coffee, they probably may not have time to make coffee by themselves, sometimes, they do not even have enough time to find a Starbucks. The best choice for them is to buy instant coffee like Nestle, which save them a great amount of time. The culture, reflected from this group of people is that convenience is quite important for their lives. Nestle provides these kinds of people a chance to enjoy a cup a coffee or just to refresh themselves through the help of coffee in a extremely short time. Alongside, this sort of culture could be seen everywhere in America such as fast food industries. The reason why this kind of culture exists is the U.S develops very quickly; employees have to live in a high pace of live so that they are able to face the difficulties.

       Unlike Nestle Coffee, Blue Mountain Coffee has its own characteristics. The advertisement of Blue Mountain Coffee is “Organic Food Mills”. The word “Organic” indicates a healthier quality. Nowadays, people focus more on healthy than before did. More and more high-class food brands promote organic products. The package of Blue Mountain is different from Nestle by using an image of farm with green grass and blue sky, corresponding well with the word “organic”. There is also a shovel with milled coffee beans standing near the package. In my mind, the motivation of this part of advertisement is that Blue Mountain Coffee is confident with its way of milling; the company dares to show the milled coffee beans to consumers directly. Blue Mountain Coffee is very exquisite, intending more to people who are not busy and enjoy their free times. In my mind, drinking great quality of coffee is a way of enjoying themselves. As consumers nowadays concern more about on health, resulting organic products become prevalent. This is another reflection of American culture. Coffee is no longer a drink for them, but a symbol of relaxation. Pursuing high quality of food such as coffee shows their passion of lives in this area of U.S culture.

       The research about Nestle Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee makes me realize even though both coffee products as they are; they reflect different consumer class and diverse American culture. Nestle represents the culture of convenience while Blue Mountain links the culture of enjoyment. The combination of these two cultures makes up the intact American culture known today. A small sign can indicate a great trend and so does the advertisements, through which I obtain more ignored American culture, and this research about Nestle Coffee and Blue Mountain Coffee proves it effectively.

How to make an appropriately food advertisement

Having read the article “Authenticity in America, Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising”, written by Joshua Freeman and Dan Jurafsky, I have a new understanding of food advertisement.

In this article, the authors discussed the upper class and lower class of people by explaining their differences when speaking English. Then the authors made a research using twelve different kinds of potato chips. Firstly, they divided these twelve kinds of potato chips into two groups, expensive chips and inexpensive chips.  Secondly, they compared the advertisements of these products; they mainly focus on the pattern of the sentences, and the words of the advertisements. Finally they found that advertisements of expensive chips would probably show them off as if they are unique and comparative, and emphasized they were natural and healthy. However, advertisements for inexpensive chips mainly laid stress on their locations and histories. Otherwise, the advertisement for expensive chips might be much more complex than that of inexpensive chips.

Through this conclusion, we know that upper class people focus more on their health, and lower might care more about locations and histories of the products. So a good advertisement for upper class people should pay attention to show how natural and healthy the product is, and for lower class people, the advertisement should demonstrate its advantage of locations and histories. Because expensive chips have their special consumer groups, so they do not need to worry about how complex their advertisements are.

This way of making food advertisement could be also used in making an oil paint advertisement. I think oil paint has the same characteristics in some areas as food does. 

In my opinion, when a company finds the right way to create a good advertisement, this good Ad could help them earn more customers and make more profit.

Dumpling, my emotional bond

        Every time when I eat dumplings here in the U.S now, I miss my parents very much. My parents always cooked dumplings for me when I was in China. I enjoy the taste of their dumplings very much. How I wish I could come back to my home and enjoy the delicious dumplings my parents cooked for me now.

        Dumpling is a kind of traditional Chinese food. When family members get together, Chinese people prefer to eat dumplings to celebrate the happiness of family union. Dumpling is made of two parts, stuffed dumpling skin and stuffed dumpling stuffing. The stuffed dumpling skin is the mixture of flour and water. People could choose different kinds of meat and vegetables as stuffed dumpling stuffing depend on their tastes. My parents often choose ground pork and green Chinese onion as stuffed dumpling stuffing. Most Chinese people will choose to make this kind of dumpling, and this kind of dumpling is really delicious. In my family, we regard dumpling as daily food and often eat it a lot because my parents and I enjoy the taste of dumpling very much.

        I still remembered the last day in my home before I came to the U.S. My parents tried to did everything as usual to cook the last meal for me. But I could feel they were unwilling to apart. The last meal was very simple, but was very meaningful. What contained in that last meal was just dumpling. My father chopped ground pork, green Chinese onions and then mixed them together with some condiments as stuffed dumpling stuffing. My mom mixed flour and water together and then made the stuffed dumpling skins. Usually, they did not prefer me to stay in the kitchen because I might cause troubles to their work. However, they said nothing about my existence in the kitchen and they even began to talk with me on that day. I could not remember what they have talked with me in the kitchen, but in my opinion, they did not want to say something meaningful, they just wanted to talk with me as much as possible. It was my first time to study abroad, obviously, they did not prepare well for my leaving, so did I. Otherwise, I would be so sensitive on that day.

        After 3 hours of working, it was time to enjoy my last meal in my own home with my dearest parents. It is very strange because I have never imagined that they would like to choose to cook dumpling for me as the last meal. But I believe that they have thought a lot and made this decision cognitively. Although we often eat dumplings, at that time, I felt a little bit sad. Because Chinese people often eat dumplings when they get together with their family members, but I have to leave my home and my parents to study abroad after eating up these dumplings. In that meal, the dumplings were very delicious, and left a deep impression on me. The taste of the dumplings was so good. When I ate the first dumpling, I feel the salty of ground pork, savory and hot of the green Chinese onions. The atmosphere of that meal was a little unusual, so they tired to make a change, because I did not speak a lot. My father even made a joke, he said to me, “when you come to the U.S, you will feel like this taste of dumplings much more and miss it”. After that terrible joke, I lapsed into deep silence for a few seconds. I understood clearly that it was not as wonderful as I thought to study abroad after having felt excited for a while when I got the offer of my favorite university. I have to learn to be independent and try to make my decisions all by myself. I know there are so many hot potatoes waiting for me. Suddenly, I felt it would make my parents feel unhappier if I carried on becoming silent. So I was also trying to say something interesting to make a change to the atmosphere. There’s no doubt that it was really a delicious and meaningful meal.

        I am in the U.S now. Whereas there are so many different kinds of food, such as Mexican food, middle east food, American fast food and so on, I still like Chinese food best. Dumpling is still the best Chinese food I like. Luckily, sometimes I have chances to eat dumplings there in some Chinese restaurants. In China, not only can I enjoy the good taste of dumplings my parents cooked for me, but also enjoy the happiness of family union. Yet, I could just eat the dumpling with a so-so taste and miss my parents very much.

        I really miss the taste of dumplings my parents cooked for me, and the happiness of family union the dumplings has represented. For me, dumpling is not just a kind of traditional Chinese food any longer; it is an emotional bond. It has comprised the deep emotions of homesickness, and the care between my parents and me.

                

Response to 2 articles

Having read the articles “Eating White” written by Geoff Nicholson and “Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food” written by Roy Ahn, I found that these 2 authors expressed their honor to their relatives by writing something about food.

In the article “Eating White”, Nicholson wrote that he was eating food now; it was hard to eat the food he used to eat in England because he lived in the U.S. He thought of his mother who liked to eat white, because when he was young, he always ate cheese sandwich made with white Cheshire cheese on white bread and a glass of cold milk, and his mother made all of these for him. He also mentioned that his mother was a CATHOLIC, white food had a special meaning of a white soul to her. This might be a reason why his mom preferred white food so much. Otherwise, the author also wrote what his mother has cooked for his father. Through writing the characteristic that his mother preferred to eat white, the author showed that he missed his mother so much.

In the article “Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food” written by Roy Ahn, he talked about his special feeling about Korean food by writhing one day he and his wife were having food in a Korean restaurant. He immigrated to the U.S when he was only 4 years old. As a Korean American, he preferred American food to Korean food. However, his parents were quite different from him. They felt hard to adapt the food there, and his mother always bought food in Korean supermarket and cooked the food in Korean ways. There were even two refrigerators in his home because his mom preferred to put the Korean food separately. At the beginning, the author felt puzzled, because he did not like Korean food and he could not understand his parents, especially his mother. Now, when the author became a father, he thought his child should know Korean food and Korean culture, because the child was a descendant of Korean. He tired to make some Korean food and make his child know more about Korea. In my mind, the author did these things in order to remind of his parents and keep his Korea background.

As with Nicholson and Ahn, sometimes I also have some special feelings coming from food, especially when I have come to the U.S. When I am in China, I do not like to eat spring rolls because I think they are so fatness. But now when I have chances to eat spring rolls, I feel so felicity as if I have come back to China and stayed with my family members. However, I know it is impossible.