The Globalization of Chinese Foodways

1
The Globalization of Chinese Foodways

• Sidney C.H. Cheung
• Department of Anthropology
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2
Origins of ingredients

• Food is global. In terms of their historical
  development, we can see how food spread out
  through imperialism, colonialism, capitalism
  etc. of course, these all involves world
  politics, power relations, cultural exchange,
  national and transnational trade, economic
  development etc.

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• Tomato believed to be native to the Andes of
  Peru and probably also Chile, Ecuador, and
  Bolivia, also in Argentina, Brazil and Columbia.
• Potato originated in the Andes mountain of Peru
  and Bolivia and have been cultivated for at least
  2400 years it was introduced into Europe in the
  16th century after the conquest of Peru by the
  Spanish.

4

• Pepper domesticated in Mexico. As early as 6000
  years ago, red peppers were used in tropical
  South America as a spice to disguise the taste of
  bland or unpalatable food. An antioxidant, chili
  is also useful in preserving food. Chili peppers
  are called chile in Mexico and Central America
  and aji in South America and the West Indies.
  Columbus took peppers back to Europe where they
  rapidly became popular.
• Cucumber originated in India where they have
  been cultivated for 3000 years. The cucumber is
  a member of the gourd family as are melons,
  squash and pumpkins. Cucumbers grown for
  pickling and those grown for fresh market are the
  same species.

5

• Okra In the cotton family, okra originated in
  West Africa and was brought to the Americas with
  the slave trade.
• Black pepper native to Malabar, a region in the
  Western Coast of South India today, this region
  belongs to the union state Kerala. In the New
  World, Brazil is the only important producer
  pepper plantations there go back to the 1930s.
  Pepper reached South East Asia more than 2000
  years ago and is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia
  since about that time. In the 1990s, pepper
  production increased dramatically as new
  plantations were founded in Thailand, Vietnam,
  China and Sri Lanka, especially black pepper from
  Sarawak in Malaysia and Lampong in Indonesia.

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• Chicken domestication of the Malaysian jungle
  fowl was a distinct event separate from the
  domestication of migratory birds (ducks, geese).
  Breeding in the later half of the 20th century
  has also involved the development of pullets,
  capons, and incubators. Alongside these
  developments, we have seen the intensification
  and transformation of the chicken into the
  creation and elaboration of registered standard
  breeds selected for survival in large confinement
  operations with rapid growth and with efficiency
  in producing desirable meat and eggs.

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Ingredients in Chinese foodways

• Sea cucumber
• Bird nest
• Scallop
• Abalone
• Fish maw
• Salty fish etc.

8
Concepts of taste

• Delicacy
• Gourmet
• High cuisine
• Country food
• Home-style cooking
• Chefs recommendations
• Celebrity cooking (shows)

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• In Hong Kong,
• Western mixed food in tea café
• Nouvelle cuisine
• Nostalgia food as well as local country-style
  cooking that has been getting popular under
  globalization
• Cooking performances in the media as part of the
  global trend initiated by the Japanese Iron chef

10
Nouvelle Cantonese cuisine

• Developed in the business area of TST East since
  the early 1980s
• Fusion food with the emphasis upon western style
  service
• Decline because of the migration wave in the
  early 1990s
• Nowadays, commonly seen in banquet food

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Shik puhn and puhn choi

• A kind of festive food prepared in ancestor
  worship rites and wedding banquets among the
  indigenous inhabitants of New Territories.
• Prepared in the kitchen of the ancestral hall,
  only dish served in the meal.
• Ingredients are served in one basin from which
  everyone together.
• With ingredients such as dried pig skin, dried
  eel, dried squid, radish, tofu skin, mushroom and
  pork stewed in soy bean paste. The banquet may
  occasionally have several side dishes.

12
Puhn choi/ local food (low cuisine) in the New
Territories

• Popular Food with varieties

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Private kitchen

• Si fohng choi in Cantonese
• Speakeasies described in World Food Hong Kong, as
  a similar kind of underground as well as illegal
  club in the 1920s Prohibition era in the US when
  alcohol sales were banned
• Food prepared by home chefs in rich family in the
  late Qing Dynasty
• Private club developed in the post-war era

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• They are places with no registered company name
  and are located in residential buildings there
  are no walk-in customers, and reservations need
  to be made, sometimes more than one month in
  advance.
• No menus from which to choose items food is
  determined by the owners. No service charge, no
  credit cards are accepted. Some private kitchens
  advertise their price, menu and location through
  their own Internet homepages.
• Prices for a meal range from HK200 to 500,
  which is not considered inexpensive compared with
  other restaurants serving similar food.

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• Besides those few that actually serve food in the
  owners home, most of the venues are located in
  old neighborhoods with relatively lower rent.
• The interior decor is simple, but attempts to
  recreate an ambience of home, albeit artistic
  in nature, due, in part, to the fact that some
  owners and promoters are practising artists.
• The domestic atmosphere is created by using dim
  or soft lighting and stylish rather than
  industrial furniture, reflecting the individual
  taste.

16

• With such underground and seemingly exclusive
  operations, and with culinary techniques always
  promoted as home-styled cooking, food offered in
  such private kitchens carries an image of comfort
  and hominess. The majority of the customers are
  middle-class, sometimes celebrities and artists,
  who are attracted both by the homemade food
  milieu and the distinctive personalities of the
  hosts or owners operating these eateries.

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Foodways in the Globalized world

• Slow Food
• Organic Food
• Local Food
• Healthy Food
• Food as information
• Food as entertainment