little giant panda cub born at san diego zoo

The San Diego Zoo announced yesterday that a Giant Panda cub was just born healthy and strong. The mother, Bai Yun (White Cloud), is on a research loan to the U.S. from China. This cub is only the 14th panda in the U.S. and they don't know yet if it is a male or female.

I've been fortunate enough to visit the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan province in China on several occasions. Giant Pandas are the national animal of China (one of the mascots of the 2008 Olympics) and their well-being is very important to the country. This Chendu research/breeding center puts a lot of effort into breeding and caring for them. There's also a museum there where they show a film of a Giant Panda giving birth. If you can imagine it was kind of gross and I was shocked when the cub popped out. It was pink and hairless and no bigger than a dog puppy. Apparently it takes awhile for the cubs to get that cute and fluffy look.

Once I was lucky enough to see one year-old cubs pouncing on each other in their play pen and munching on bamboo stalks during feeding time. Of course everyone knows Giant Pandas are dangerous, but they sure are cute. They always look like they're smiling and any pictures they take look posed.

Welcome to the world little cub!

-Mary Kate

xinjiang is pronounced "sheen-jong"

There are so many accounts floating around about the violence that is going on in Xinjiang, China (156 people are dead, 800 injured from rioting in the northwest Chinese region), that it's hard to know what to think. I found where an Al Jazeera news reporter, Melissa K Chan, is reporting directly from Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, on her twitter page. Check it out for timely updates. I'm not sure how she's doing it because twitter is blocked in China. China has a media blackout surrounding the riots in Urumqi. This reminds me of the chaos in Tibet during March 2008. Tibet is another Autonomous Region in China with a lot of unrest associated with the Chinese government controls on culture and religion.

During my last visit to Xinjiang, I noticed the cultural differences between the Han Chinese and Uighur (pronounced wee-gur) people firsthand. The Uighur are ethnically Turkic and largely Muslim. Some people have blue eyes and even light colored hair. Locals thought I was Uighur and more times than not would start talking to me in their native Turkic language. I saw many Muslim Uighur women wearing headscarves and facemasks even though it was 90 degrees outside. Han Chinese women were wearing clothes like what I wear in New York in the summer – shorts, tanks, skirts above the knee. I saw more extremely “devout” women (completely covered except for their hands) in the smaller cities throughout Xinjiang than I did in Urumqi, a city of 3 million. One man in Kashgar, a far western city in Xinjiang near the border of Pakistan where protests have been rumored to have started also this week, told me that I was still “too modern,” even though I had put on an ankle-length skirt and headscarf.

Uighur food is heavy on breads, lamb, and dried fruits and nuts. Uighur street vendors sell stewed lamb heads (not my favorite dish) and baked breads (two things you don’t see in the rest of China).

I love Uighur bread. The dough is kneaded and flattened into large disks and then it's decorated with a lace-like pattern using a tool made out of the hard, hollow ends of bird feathers. Then the bread maker uses his hands to reach down into an earthen oven and stick the dough to the sides where years of crusty salt layers have accumulated.  When the bread is baked, it comes loose from the sides of the oven and is pulled out with a hook. Uighur bread is eaten by itself or served with noodles or with lamb head stew (again, not my fave). It's also made into something like a pizza with lamb and vegetable toppings.

The Shanghaiist has a good report about what's happened so far in Xinjiang.

-Mary Kate

The Book

Mary Kate and I ended up collecting recipes, stories and photos from places that people do not always associate with China. We traveled to the jungles near Burma, the island of Macau (a former Portuguese colony), the mountains of Tibet, Xingjiang (a Muslim province next to Pakistan), the Gobi desert in Inner-Mongolia, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and many places in between.

The Chinese government censored many blogs this summer and ours happened to be one of them. Needless to say, we were unable to continue updating this site while traveling around and compiling our food book. We are right now in the process of cooking and standardizing all the recipes, going through the 3000+ photos we took, and writing the text for the chapters.

If you have any questions about this project or interest in publishing our book, please contact Nate Tate at feedingthedragon@mac.com

Thanks for checking up on us!

Tiny Teacups

My first thought at breakfast in Yongding was that the teacups were too small. Each time we took a sip, they had to be refilled. Our host, Mr. Li, didn’t seem to mind, but we felt like a bother and wondered why a people would ever design their cups to hold only one sip at a time.

Spending a few days with the Hakka people was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Mr. Li (Nate’s previous contact) showed us around town and introduced us to his family. The mysterious giant octagonal, square, circular, and triangular Earth Buildings we saw from a distance on the motorcycles the first day are actually homes where family clans have lived for generations. Inside, bedroom corridors line the walls and center around the main ancestral hall. This hall is actually a central area designed to support all types of family gatherings- weddings, banquets, funerals, and even entertaining guests.

Our meals here were like eating with family. Mr. Li wanted to hear all about what was going on in our lives. I told him about University life in America and showed him Texas on a map. He smiled, “Yao Ming plays there!” His older brother showed us how to kill a fish with the handle of a knife and his sister-in-law gave us a tour of their vegetable garden. I thought seeing their vegetables up close was interesting because Yongding's main industry is agriculture. Its mountainous landscape is a collage of tiered tobacco, carrot, bamboo, and rice fields with personal gardens creeping into almost every backyard. At dinner we drank a sweet long-grain rice beer that Mr. Li makes at home for their restaurant. I told him that in the U.S. I’m still too young too drink alcohol. He said, "Don't worry, it’s not too strong.” Right...

Just like their homes suggest, family is central to the Hakka culture. Serving others and making guests feel welcome is a priority, a meal just another opportunity to show they care. After spending a few days with the Hakka people, I understood their teacups. Sure mine was tiny, but it was always full. Refilling it again and again was just another way Mr. Li let me know that he was attending to every detail and not to worry about a thing.

MKT

On the road again

Apparently I'm the same height as an extended tripod. Nate figured this out and now,sometimes before I know it, there's a camera on my head. He takes a steady picture while I hold my breath. I know we look a little strange, but I think it's a good idea. We've been on the go so much lately- planes, trains, and automobiles- that it's practical. In just under two weeks, we've travelled from Beijing to Nanjing to Shanghai to Xiamen and now to the Hakka village of Yongding. Nate biked in this Hakka region of China last year and chose to have us return because of its extraordinary architecture and great food.

Getting to Yongding in itself was an adventure. We rode on a bus to a town in the mountains and then hitched on the back of a motorcycle the rest of the way. All along the road there was a fruit called Yangmei set out to dry. Its sour flavor mixed with the salt sprinkled on top was very refreshing and made me curious to see what other odd fruits and dishes awaited us in Yongding.

The Hakka minority that live here live in clans within large, round building made of earth. These "Tulou," or earth buildings, have withstood the test of time, some dating back to the 13th century. During Nate's last visit, he made friends with a local chef and his family. We hope to get a cooking lesson at his restaurant this week.

MKT