115 Overlapped egg pancakes

Chinese egg pancakes

Yesterday, when I was browsing online, by a chance, I came across an article about Chinese food in the ‘Independent’, which, to be honest, was rather disappointing.

Well, I mean, Chinese cuisine is very difficult to describe in a few words, or even in a short article. There are huge regional and ethnic differences, not to mention that there are different kinds of food that are used for health and  medical purposes; there are also plenty of common/everyday recipes as well as rare ones, traditional ways of cooking and modern ways. Not all the dishes I would like to have myself, and sometimes I even find some of them can be too strange to eat, but to judge Chinese cuisine fairly, I think you have to look at the whole picture.

Hopefully, if I am not lazy and can be persistent enough on this blog, I will gather enough information on Chinese regional, and ethnic dishes, as well as more different kinds of cuisines within China. :))

Talking about modern Chinese dishes, there are lots of changes, or say new ‘inventions’ these days. Most of these ‘new’ dishes, I have never even seen or heard of before, until my friends and family introduced them to me when I went back to China on holidays.

These modern ways of cooking  normally involve using new ingredients ( new vegetables, herbs, or even Western ingredients) into the dishes, or ‘playing around’ with the usual ingredients, by using different combinations to create a new taste or a new way of eating, or just simply bringing the recipes from almost hundreds years ago, and adapt them to modern taste.

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Culture Note: Spring Day in China and spring flatbread recipe

立春 和 春饼的做法

Spring Day is one of the twenty-four "solar terms" in Chinese tradition. It is called ‘Li Chun’, ‘Li’ （4） in traditional Chinese terms means ‘begin’, ‘Chun’ here refers to Spring. It means from this day onwards, the spring is beginning. It is normally on the 4th February each year. Sorry, this post is supposed to be posted yesterday, but I didn't get the time. :)

Yesterday, I wrote on my FB page saying that ‘spring is coming eventually’. However, a friend replied, ‘well, spring is still so far away’, since over here, it is really cold, and snow covers most parts of England. But in Chinese culture, even it is called ‘Spring day’, (or the beginning of the spring’), it does not really mean that we can have the ‘spring weather’ already. It simply means that we can feel the signs of that spring breeze, and see the spring greenish is starting to come.

In the next 15 days, there will be dramatic change in nature. In ancient China, these 15 days are divided into three parts, each five days as one part. The first five days means that wind is originated from the east now, the frozen ground is gradually defrosting; the second 5 days means that hibernating worms and animals are waking up from their caves; the third 5 days means that the ice in the river is starting melting, fish begin to float up to swim towards the surface. This is why Chinese people celebrate the ‘Spring Day’. Thus, ‘Chun’ / ‘Spring becomes a very ‘happy’ or ‘blessed’ word.

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