Sichuan pepper production at home?
Look at this beauty! It’s a tiny Sichuan pepper tree! It was a present from Richard S., a friend of the Oxford Food Symposium’s, who managed…
Fuchsia and the giant peach
Driving through the countryside near Beijing on the way back from the Great Wall, we passed through a fruit-growing region, which advertised its wares through this…
Sunday night supper
“Hmm, this black garlic is delicious.” “Actually it’s made from the single-cloved garlic of Sichuan.” “Is that like the wild elephant garlic of Iran?” Such is…
Room service
Of course, you can get a club sandwich from room service at any international hotel in China, and probably anywhere in the world, but how about…
Quiz answer!
Yes, many of you guessed correctly, the dagger is a fishbone! To be precise, it’s a bone from the head of the Ya fish (é›…é±¼, a…
Quiz time!
Can anyone guess what this is? (see picture on the right) Clue: I was given it at the end of a grand banquet in Chengdu a…
Chinese food emergency helpline?
Every so often, I have an SOS telephone call from a friend in desperate need of information about some aspect of Chinese food. Usually they are…
Płetwa rekina i syczuański pieprz
The Polish edition of Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper is now out! Do please tell any Polish friends who you think might be interested! And here…
Year of the Rabbit
Dinner at home to mark the start of the Year of the Rabbit: lotus root salad and preserved duck eggs to start; then Cantonese steamed sea…
Happy New Year!
Photographs from Chinese New Year’s Eve in Hunan, 2004. New Year’s Eve feast