This time it was Kaili’s turn to teach me how to cook: We made real Chinese dumplings filled with onions, fried egg and carrots. She showed me how to roll the dough, fill it and clos
e the dumplings. Rolling the dough the way she did was not easy for me, so my part in the preparation was to fill and shape the dumplings. In the meanwhile, she told me how the Spring festival is celebrated in China. A Chinese friend of Kaili’s came over to visit. It was very interesting for me to hear Kaili and her friend talk in Chinese, because I rarely hear people speak Chinese. I admire this language for its pronunciation. Kaili also taught me the Chinese word for these dumplings, but I realized that this language is really hard to pronounce (maybe particularly for Europeans) Later, her Japanese flat mate came home. She told me that there is a similar dumpling dish in Japan, and they talked about the different ways of preparing it (i.e., boiling or frying and different shapes). I hadn’t known that, and I’m glad I caught this conversation because for me as a European, it’s very interesting to learn more about the similarities and differences of Asian cultures and dishes. What I also didn’t expect was that they said that it is not easy for vegetarians and especially for vegans to find food in China and Japan. This surprised me because many vegan recipes I know are made with tofu, tempeh, soy sauce and other Asian ingredients. Therefore, I thought that there are many more vegan dishes in Asia.
Kaili also cooked a Chinese black tea for me, and her flat mate offered me a cold brewed buckwheat tea. We talked a lot about traveling and I realized once again how privileged Europeans are to travel easily within the EU and to receive a visa for countries outside the EU. For example, it is very uncertain whether Chinese will get a visa for the USA or not.
We really enjoyed sharing and learning more about the other cultures while preparing and relishing this special dish.
Comments