Explained: Ginseng
Sean St John Sean St John

Explained: Ginseng

Ginseng is known as the 'king of herbs' in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In this explainer, we'll look at ginseng's health properties and how to use it in cooking.

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Explained: Wheat Gluten
Sean St John Sean St John

Explained: Wheat Gluten

Wheat Gluten, known as mian jin in Chinese - what is it exactly, how is it made, and how to cook with it? In this explainer, I run though the essentials.

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The Past and Future of Lapsang Souchong
Sean St John Sean St John

The Past and Future of Lapsang Souchong

Lapsang Souchong (Zhengshan Xiaozhong) is beloved among many tea fanatics in English, but in China, it’s virtually unheard of. Tea Masters in the know scoff at such an adulterated tea. Lapsang Souchong is a Chinese black tea, smoked over Chinese Red Pine leaves until the flavour resembles a peaty Islay whisky more than a delicate tea.

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Xinjiang - My Best Food Discoveries
Sean St John Sean St John

Xinjiang - My Best Food Discoveries

There is so much more to Xinjiang food than lamb and naan. I travelled to the Western province to explore everything on offer, from da pan ji (big plate chicken) to fresh yogurt to pilafs and apricot coffee.

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Picking Xiangchun: A May Holiday Tradition
Sean St John Sean St John

Picking Xiangchun: A May Holiday Tradition

The season for Chinese Toon (or Xiangchun as it’s known in China) is short. The first shoots arrive in early April, and by May, they’re too big and no longer tender. Xiangchun is the only tree in Northern Asian with edible leaves, and thus, the arrival of the shoots in Beijing is one to be celebrated, marking the end of cold weather, as the city bursts into life.

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The Three, Five, Seven or Eight Cuisines of China
Sean St John Sean St John

The Three, Five, Seven or Eight Cuisines of China

More often than not we tend to discuss ‘Chinese food’ as one cuisine. But with a country the size of Europe, it seems obvious that Chinese food is varied and diverse. Indeed, depending on who you ask, there are three, five, seven or eight cuisines of China (and many more if you ask me).

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Why China Uses Chopsticks
Sean St John Sean St John

Why China Uses Chopsticks

Why does China use chopsticks and other utensils completely different from the West? It all comes down to fire. Fire is fundamental to cooking, but creating that fire was not always as easy for China as it was for other countries.

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The Best Food App in the World
Sean St John Sean St John

The Best Food App in the World

Da Zhong Dian Ping is one of most useful food apps in the world. A way to discover new restaurants all over China, but like many social media apps, there is a darker side that affects restaurant owners.

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The Rise of Ultra Processed Food in China
Sean St John Sean St John

The Rise of Ultra Processed Food in China

Towards the end of Van Tulleken’s book, Ultra Processed Food, a statistic jumped out at me: obesity rates in China between 1980 and 2015 went up by 800%. I explore how China’s diet has moved , like many other cultures, from a traditional diet of simple food to a diet largely reliant on fast food and UPF.

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What do you do with a Fermented Rice Soup?
Sean St John Sean St John

What do you do with a Fermented Rice Soup?

A fermented rice soup is not the most common of ingredients in the west, and even younger generations of Chinese might not know exactly what it can be used for, but all across China, different cuisines use it in different way.

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Flavour: French Vs. Chinese Cooking
Sean St John Sean St John

Flavour: French Vs. Chinese Cooking

In French cooking, we often talk of the ‘holy trinity’ of ingredients - onion, garlic and celery, but what are the equivalent in Chinese cooking?

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Cuisines Don’t Travel, but We Do.
Sean St John Sean St John

Cuisines Don’t Travel, but We Do.

There’s a strange phenomenon to do with food that happens the second you cross the border from your own country into another. Somehow your native food immediately descends into something hellish.

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How Big is An Onion?
Sean St John Sean St John

How Big is An Onion?

The recipe is simple. A self-described ‘killer dhal’ from Anna Jones. The ingredients list is fairly long, but nothing unusual or complicated to the process. And yet something was wrong with the onions.

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Street Food of Beijing
Sean St John Sean St John

Street Food of Beijing

Without the street food of Beijing, I wonder if I ever would have fallen for the city. I share some of my favourite snacks, many of which have faded from roadsides.

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