"Sichuan Cuisine, Imperiled by Success"

Very interesting article in today's NYT. Here's an excerpt so you know what it's about:

"'Sichuanese cuisine really faces a crisis,' said Wang Kaifa, a 71-year-old chef who has been leading a campaign against what he sees as the creeping debasement of the region’s celebrated cooking.

'The scene feels like it’s booming, but this is a chaotic boom that has had a lot of negatives,' he said, drawing out his vowels and emphasizing high notes in the region’s lilting accent. 'Finally, they could become a sickness that brings down Sichuanese cuisine.'"

I don't know enough to know if he's "right" or not, but it's certainly an interesting article.

HI,

Nashville Hot Chicken was once something you ate in Nashville.

Fried raviolis in St. Louis only and then a select few restaurants of Italian pedigree.

Pizza as we like it, stuffed, thin-crust et al, is not what the Italians envisioned. However, we made it our own.

Chinese food made by immigrants who cannot find the ingredients from home, they had to make do. No rice wine in the Caribbean, you use rum. No water chestnuts in North America, they use celery. New traditions are struck!

I once read a recipe for paella where Mountain Dew was used to substitute for saffron.

Trying to contain a culinary tradition strictly is highly ambitious and impossible to do.

Regards,

Some experts theorize that this has the potential to become a disturbing trend.

Thanks for the link. Much of it seemed to be cranky old men telling kids to get of their lawn. Quotes like

Mr. Wang said he was inspired to start the society after watching in dismay while a 30-year-old chef from a five-star hotel added celtuce, also called asparagus lettuce, to kung pao chicken.

made me chuckle. Celtuce is awesome and I think would be delicious in kung pao.

The only part I can sympathize with is the overemphasis on the mala . To me the cuisine is more about doubanjiang and delicately balancing black rice vinegar and sugar coupled with the fruitier aspect of chilies.

The Chinese curmudgeons are not alone. The same can be said of Pho. The most recent issue of Lucky Peach is completely devoted to Pho, and the differences between what is now being served around the world and how it compares to the simple soup that has its roots in Hanoi...much to the dismay of traditionalists and the delight of nearly everyone else.

Also, there's a similar argument to be made over our own Chicago hot dog, in which "battle" I'm firmly in the traditionalist camp. None of that "dragged through the garden" crap for me.

Nice to see that old-timers in China and Japan share some common ground on things, like culinary chauvinism. "This is the best food in the world - but you can't appreciate it let alone replicate it, sorry." That said, Cathy's analogies would seem to support the geezers' concerns. With the (mild) exception of the possibly overblown Nashvile Hot and some of the innovative pizza styles, which are polarizing, the examples are of unfortunate tweaks. I mean, I guess I could see Mountain Dew as a substitute for saffron in paella, but only if orange Fanta isn't available.

Food should only be prepared using ingredients and techniques developed before [arbitrary cutoff point].

I think it's interesting that the changes in food are the main concern in this article -- though it might reflect the importance of cuisine in local identity. But Sichuan province is being turned upside down by the modernizing of China. For example, remote, traditional Chengdu is now home to the world's largest shopping mall -- which is reportedly also the biggest building in the world, based on square feet of space. When I was in Chengdu 16 years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine this. Things are changing swiftly in China on all fronts.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/worlds-largest-building-opens-china-f6c10578538