There are funny things about stereotypes or ....about our imagination.
I don't like stereotypes about Asian people in general, because I don't want to be wore certain tags.
When a professor wants me to tell everyone something interesting about China, I suddenly did not know what to say. However, one thing came up in my mind, so I said it out loud.....
"In China, we don't have fortune cookies!"
Heart broken right? I know......I saw people super duper suprised, like when you were 10 or 9, your best friends told you about there's never a Santa Claus. You are mature enough to buy this fact, but still feel depression deep inside.
My former roommate used to ask me:" So, do you guys eat see the fortune note before or after you eat the cookie?"
Me: "I don't know. I never had it in China."
I heard jaw-dropping sound.
Anyway, I was washing the dishes. ( And yes, I do use those plastic gloves when I wash dishes to enhance the joy from doing cleaning. It's just me though.) Somehow I thought about how so many people commented:" You Chinese girls all know how to cook and you don't even need a recipe."
It is such a different perspective of thinking, very western.
RECIPES?
is pretty much an American way of thinking and cooking.
In fact, Chinese people cannot cook simply relying on a recipe, which is just a tiny part of cooking. Experiences are way more important for those professional Chinese cooks. Only through experiences, they will be able to smell the senses, to see the colors, to listen to the sounds, and to feel the heat. I consider heat is the most significant element in Chinese cooking since we stir-fry so much. However, one cannot learn easily about the heat through certain recipes.
Also,
while you are amazed by how some people master cook without recipes,
please note that sometimes those people simply don't know how to cook in a standard way and they just throw things together to make a dish.
Like me! (Hands up!)
Oh dear......
