| Sunday, May 06, 2007 |
| East Meets West...In the Kitchen |
As a Westerner living in an Eastern culture, I am almost daily reminded of the vast differences between these two sides of the world. Life here becomes a constant process of learning and adapting to Chinese culture. We know at the same time, our Chinese friends are learning about American culture by knowing us. Well, thanks to us there is one Chinese girl that now knows America's pride and guilty pleasure-chocolate chip cookies!
A few days ago, we had our language tutor/Chinese friend and her twin brother over for the afternoon. At our friend's request I taught her how to make chocolate chip cookies. You can hardly imagine what a fascinating process this was for her. She was amazed at the huge differences between American and Chinese cooking.
First of all, Chinese don't own ovens. They don't eat a lot of baked goods, and when they do, they buy it from a bakery. Our kitchen in our apartment did not come with an oven. We were able to buy a microwave sized oven that sits on our kitchen counter. So the first thing I had to do in the cookie making lesson was introduce my friend to our little oven. Then I began pulling out the ingredients and cooking utensils. She had never in her life seen measuring cups and measuring spoons. "Do you use these every time you make cookies?" she asked, finding it hard to believe that one would need to measure ingredients so precisely.
This major cultural difference in cooking is what makes it difficult for me to learn how to cook Chinese food. Some friends have tried to teach me to cook some Chinese dishes. They use phrases like "some of this" "a little of this" "a lot of this." They wonder why I am baffled.
My Chinese friend was equally baffled by the need for exact measurements. She was intrigued by the ingredientsas well, asking where I got each of them. I had to tell her that most of the ingredients were sent to us by people in the US. She decided that vanilla would be the most difficult thing to find in Chinese stores. (She could cut up pieces of chocolate for the chocolate chips) She asked if it would be bad to leave out the vanilla if she makes them. I told her I had never tried, and that I thought it was a pretty important ingredient. She said that it smelled just like a famous Chinese medicine that people use for sore throats. Could she use that instead? Umm...well, I guess you could try.
Our cookie making lesson continued. As the daughter of a dentist, and a typical slender, health conscious Chinese girl, here is what she had to say during the cookie making process:
"Wow, so much sugar."
"Wow, so much butter."
"Wow, so much chocolate."
A few minutes later, "Wow, really delicious!"
She, who is normally very shy to eat anything we put in front of her, didn't hesitate to down several cookies, and was thrilled when I sent her home with a bag of cookies to share with her parents.
Cultural exchanges are one of the most exciting parts of living here. I don't know whether I feel guilty or proud for introducing the wonder of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to a small part of the Chinese world. But I will say that she added her own Chinese twist by dipping the warm cookies in sour milk (i.e. yogurt). So there you have it...East meets West in the kitchen, and in one delicious cultural exchange we now understand each other a little better. |
posted by Danielle @ 10:27 PM  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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I totally understand what you are going through. Our Chinese au pair is also amazed at our oven. She used it for the first time to bake some pork chops for dinner for us.
The few times I have baked while she was here, she was fascinated to watch. Although Charlotte and her cousin Josh usually help when I bake cookies,so it was hard for Maggie to see much.
FYI... Vanilla in the recipe makes the chocolate flavor more pronounced.
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Wow! Would love to have been there! How do chocolate chip cookies taste in China?
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well, you know what they say... "A girl, like a rabbit, but sometimes, a horse."
... and BTW, no, don't make cookies without vanilla. i know from experience.
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I may be wrong, but I seem to recall from my economic botany class (some 13 years ago) that in Asia Osmanthus Flower syrup (A tree in which the leaves are often grown for tea blends) is sometimes used as a vanilla substitute. ..just a thought.
ger
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I totally understand what you are going through. Our Chinese au pair is also amazed at our oven. She used it for the first time to bake some pork chops for dinner for us.
The few times I have baked while she was here, she was fascinated to watch. Although Charlotte and her cousin Josh usually help when I bake cookies,so it was hard for Maggie to see much.
FYI... Vanilla in the recipe makes the chocolate flavor more pronounced.