Foreigners go to China not only for its famed Great Wall but sometimes to also learn how to cook Chinese cuisine from native cooking experts. (Photo : Mattias Klement/Facebook)
Three foreigners fell in love with Chinese cuisine; two of them make a living out of it and another one simply enjoys the pleasant reward of cooking one’s own favorite Chinese dishes, reported the Global Times.
There is one Hungarian whose hometown is in Sweden and worked in a restaurant in Romania and later studied in China where he learned how to stretch noodles--and called the task “amazing.”
A scholarship at Huangshan University in Anhui Province opened another door of opportunity for Mattias Klement to further broaden his culinary expertise.
Embarking on his new journey in another continent, Klement brought with him his work experience at his father’s Hungarian restaurant in Romania.
Prior to his enrolment at Huangshan University, he studied Mandarin for an entire year.
As he plunged himself into the realms of Chinese cuisine, a bunch of ingredients he “had never seen before” greeted him along with “big woks, high flames and speed, speed, speed.”
“The language barrier” plus “the new style of cooking” confronted him, but Klement said that “it was definitely worth it.”
He adapted to the fast pace of preparing dishes because, according to him, when it comes to Chinese cooking, “timing is everything.”
According to his Facebook account, Klement attended Huangshan University from 2012-2015.
He gained administrative experience working as a manager in a hostel in Huangshan, Anhui Province, from May to Sept. 2015. On Dec. 30, 2015, he started preparing meals in a café in Shishi, Fujian Province.
At present, the 26-year-old Klement, a dragon tattoo swirling on his right arm, treats Beijing as his place of residence.
He told the Global Times that he plans to open his own Chinese-themed restaurant when he goes back to Sweden and will go online shopping at Taobao for authentic Chinese ingredients.
Huang Taiji may either refer to Emperor Hong Taiji (1592-1643) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) or to a fast-food restaurant popular for its jianbing or pancakes.
For more than a year, American Geoffrey Torres from Miami trained under Sun Lixin, the executive chef of Bianyifang in Dongcheng, which is Beijing’s oldest Peking duck restaurant.
Torres invested on Huang Taiji as one of its business partners.
The 31-year-old cook intends to introduce “real Chinese cuisine” by planning to open a restaurant in Miami.
Among America, South Korea and China--all three offered her a temporary home away from home--a female Russian fell head over heels for the food in the last country, particularly for China’s Sichuan dishes.
In 2012, Siberia-born journalist and fine artist Katya Knyazeva attended the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine in Chengdu.
Knyazeva, co-author of the two-volume “Shanghai Old Town: Topography of a Phantom City” (2015), counts Chinese food as one reason why she has stayed in the country for a decade.
She told the Global Times that compared to Western-style cooking where usually spices are accurately measured and procedures are precisely followed, in Chinese cooking, one would just be advised to simply add “a little sesame oil” or to “fry a little longer.”
Perhaps culinary schools in the country will be seeing more foreign students in their admission list in the coming years.
