Status Updates From Invitation to a Banquet: Th...

"The meal was typical not only of Chongqing cooking, but of a particular style called ‘river-and-lake dishes’ ( jianghu cai), which has been wildly trendy in recent years. This is hearty folk cooking, lavish with chillies and Sichuan pepper, often served in colossal dishes, and eaten in cacophonous restaurants with wild abandon."

"For Cantonese poached chicken, the bird is steeped in a measured amount of boiling water and then, when it is barely cooked, shocked with an ice-water bath that arrests the juices between skin and flesh as a layer of jelly and tightens the skin, while the rest of the meat cooks in its own latent heat until perfectly done, a little pinkness still visible in the bones."

"Earthier greens like chards tend to be seasoned more boldly, with fermented black beans or chilli bean paste, while pale-flavoured Chinese cabbage is boosted by savoury stock, assertive sesame paste or fragrant vinegar. Fresh, perfectly tender greens are usually swiftly blanched or stir-fried so they are kissed by heat but still vibrant, with a sprightly hint of crispness, enhanced but not overcome by seasonings."

"Later eclipsed by cabbages, mallows have all but disappeared from modern China, except in Sichuan, where they are still boiled into rustic soups and congees, their broad, fan-like leaves folding modestly into the liquid, their mouthfeel silky and slippery, like a sigh from the distant past, a sweet breath of the Sichuanese terroir."

"Modern tourism, like its ancient counterpart, typically revolves around sampling local delicacies, whether they may be expensive hairy crabs from the Yangcheng Lake near Suzhou or the more affordable tofu of Xiba in southern Sichuan, made with water from a renowned limestone terroir."

"[Westerners] spoon oily food into their ricebowls rather than picking up pieces of food with their chopsticks and leaving the oil in the serving dish – thus consuming more oil than was ever intended. [...They] guzzle boldly seasoned dishes while neglecting the neutral fan, and then brand Chinese food as ‘salty’."