COMPOSTABLE AND VERSATILE

Something yesterday reminded me of a little story I wrote four years ago. It's one of my better stories, which I reread with wonder (I really wrote that? Golly!), and it prompted me to consider whether there might be any market for Vegan Chinese Pastries? I rather think not, as the audience that loves Chinese bakery items is, of course, largely Chinese. Who, especially in this city, tend to be Cantonese, and realistic about what tastes good. Adventurous, but not crazy.

Why compete with the white people on that?

We Caucasians are so good at it.


EIGHT LEGS CAFE 
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015
Short story in which flaky charsiu turnovers play a role.

To many Cantonese, an immensely important aspect of food is textural. Mouth feel can make or break a dish, more than presentation or visual appeal. Which are also very important. That, probably, is why broccoli has become such a popular vegetable. It's so nice and green!

The fact that broccoli tastes like broccoli hasn't quite registered.


Imagine a happy little Cantonese girl, at the dinner table, with bright eyes scoping out the steaming platter of fatty pork curls and broccoli. It looks so beautiful! Fresh, verdant, and jade-like! And moistly glistening!
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!
Fragrant steam rises, mingling with the other vapours: sesame oil, reduced superior stock, garlic, the subtle incense-like perfume of ginger ....

She can't wait to try it. She's never had this before!

Her chopsticks fairly dance in her stubby little hand.
First her parents, then the older siblings.
And finally, it's her turn.

That first bite.

Crunch.




"What the bloody hell is this crap?!?!"

[呢啲係乜樣嘅死鬼垃圾吓？！？]




Really, it's a darn good thing that little Cantonese girls are "tactful" and forbearing at an early age. As well as, usually, not entirely fluent in your and my English.
And furthermore it's just as well that I was never a little Cantonese girl, because I would be awful at it. Also, my first exposure to the horror that is every Caucasian Vegan's favourite boiled vegetable didn't happen till I was an adult, as my parents never tortured me.
I can still remember visiting some friends one evening, and wondering what that peculiar odour was. It turns out they had cooked broccoli.


Anyhow, please read Eight Legs Cafe (linked above), and remember that pork and duck and chicken and lobster and fish are all delicious.


They'll make any meal a feast.





This post brought to you by The Crusade Against Lettuce©.
Which is also opposed to broccoli.
And lima beans.



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