All language subtitles for Exploring.China.A.Culinary.Adventure.S01E04

'China, home to one in five
of the planet's population.

'The superpower the world fears,
but few really know.'

'Ken Hom is the Godfather
of Chinese food.'

Heaven on Earth.

'He introduced the wok to the West
more than 30 years ago.'

This is the way
you should be cooking it.

'Ching-He Huang is leading the next
generation of Chinese cooks...'

I'm just going to chop off the head.

'..with a modern, inventive approach
to the cuisine.'

Like ducks playing in springtime.
Lovely.

'We're taking
a once-in-a-lifetime adventure

'across China through food...'

Rabbit head.
Shall we try one? No!

'..to delve into
its heart and soul.'

Bang it, pull it.

Food is the best way
to explore Chinese culture,

because we really live to eat.

'It's an epic trip, 3,000 miles,
from the mega cities of the east,

'to the forgotten villages
of the wild west.'

It's like we've been back
to the time of Genghis Khan.

Ah!
She's just decapitated it!

'We'll uncover the familiar,
the secret, and the surprising...'

Wow! I've never seen
that done before.

'..cook simple
and delicious dishes...'

That is my Sichuan sausage.

'..and reveal the secrets
of China, old and new.'

It's like a journey
that I've always dreamt about,

but in a China I've dreamt about.

We're on the final leg
of our journey across China

and have arrived in the Cantonese
province of Guangdong,

my parents' birthplace
and my spiritual home.

I was last here in 1989,
in the summer,

and for me, it's exciting to be here

because I can understand
what everyone's saying!

I can't wait, I really can't wait.

First time in Guangzhou,
couldn't have a better translator.

We're spending four days
in the capital, Guangzhou,

before going our separate ways
to our family and ancestral homes.

This is the climax
of our entire journey.

I'm crossing the South China Sea
to Taiwan,

where my food journey began
at my grandmother's knee.

While here in Guangdong,

I'm reuniting with family
I haven't seen for 23 years.

You know, we Cantonese are often
called the Sicilians of China,

because we're loud, boisterous,

our food is, like,
the greatest, we think.

My parents left Guangdong
for America in 1948,

in search of a better life.

Historically, most overseas Chinese
come from here,

and today, there are over 30 million
in more than 100 countries.

They took their style
of cooking with them

and adapted it for Western tastes.

Today, this is what
the West thinks of as Chinese food,

but there's so much more
to Cantonese cuisine.

I know you would appreciate
very much some of the things

we have to offer here.

Dim sum, I mean,
really good dim sum.

I can't wait to try dim sum
with you here, actually,

and see, you know,
how different it is.

You know, great seafood here.

We're famous for...
We eat everything!

Guangzhou is home to South China's
largest fish market.

Everything's in tanks,
everything's alive.

Fresh, live,
I mean, we're obsessed with that.

The variety here's incredible.

Huangsha market is open 24/7

and sells 600 tonnes
of seafood every day.

Oh, my gosh, that's giant prawns.

That's a spiny lobster.

That's beautiful,
look at all the colouring.

The food is so familiar to me,

versus other places
I've been to in China,

and coming here to Canton, yeah,
this is where my culinary soul is.

Oh, my God! Alligators!

Baby crocodiles.

My gosh.

They're from Thailand.
From Thailand?

I've eaten it.
No, I've never...

Alligator, I had it in America.

I've never cooked or eaten alligator
steaks. Tastes like chicken.

Wow! Wow.

Has he ever been bitten?

Yeah, he's been bitten.

Oh, my gosh, look! Turtles.
Turtles!

Surely this is not for eating?
Of course, it's for the pot.

They're not here for pets.

I actually think it's quite cruel.
Very Cantonese.

We don't have the same concept
about things as pets,

I think that's changing now.

It's changing.

I mean, shark's fin, for example,
is being banned throughout China,

and I hope turtle soup
will be on that same agenda,

because I think it's cruel.

There's some things
you just don't need to eat.

Well, you have to look at things
historically. I mean,

where people didn't have
enough to eat,

there was a lot of famine,

so it's hard to judge
when you don't have anything to eat.

I know, but times have changed,
things move on,

like China, and like modernisation,

I think the food needs to modernise,
as well.

Chinese tradition claims
that stewed turtle cures cancer

and alligator meat relieves asthma.

Like many of the creatures here,
they're an endangered species,

and though the Chinese government
is taking steps

to monitor their trade, consumer
culture won't change overnight.

Even a major British supermarket
chain with stores in China

sells and slaughters live turtles.

We're at the market, to shop for
more conventional fare -

like these super-fresh razor clams.

See, you don't know
whether they're alive or not

because they're open,
the meat is oozing out of the shell.

Normally, with mussels or scallops,
the shell's got to be firmly tight.

The way you can tell it's fresh

is if you kind of touch them,
they squirt water out.

These are good.

These will be good eating, right?

These should be really sweet
and delicious.

I think that's enough.

The Cantonese like everything
straight from the sea.

I've got my eye on
some fresh scallops.

They're beautiful.

We Cantonese believe in
never gilding the lily.

In other words,
when your ingredient is so fresh,

what you want to do
is highlight it.

The Cantonese prize their palate
as one of the finest in China,

simply because
all of our food is unadorned,

simply because it's so fresh.

Freshness, to us,
is like the Eldorado.

At this local Guangzhou restaurant,

diners come straight from the market
with their live purchases.

Today, we're taking over the kitchen
to cook our fresh shellfish.

SPEAKING CANTONESE

I'm cooking steamed Cantonese
scallops with chilli,

spring onion and garlic.

It's a quick and easy dish,

but the skill is in the preparation
of the scallops.

To open them,
hold the round side down

and run a flat blade
along the inside.

You have to really pry them open.

That's how you know they're fresh.

Separate the shell and wash
to remove the dark membrane,

leaving only
the scallop and the roe.

They're now ready for the pot.

Yeah, steaming is the best way
to actually cook this kind of food,

because it's the freshest
and the best.

I'm just preparing the chillies,
these are mild chillies.

Cantonese do not like really
strong chillies, like a Sichuan.

They don't want the freshness
of the seafood

to be crushed

by strong seasoning.

And just a lot of spring onions,
and that's it.

Perfect, just a few minutes.

Next, pour hot oil
on the spring onions and chillies,

then add a good splash of soy sauce
to bring out the flavours.

It's very Cantonese,
because it's steamed

and minimum amount of seasoning.

Great, good, can I try one?

I love the way
that you put coriander in there.

I love it, I love
the flavour of coriander.

Mmm!

So sweet. This is delicious.

Out of this world.

I'm making a quick stir-fry
with razor clams,

using traditional ingredients
of chopped spring onion, chilli,

and some garlic fried in oil.

It's very rare they see a woman
in the kitchen like this.

Really?

Women don't do wok.
Everyone's stopped cooking!

As in all Cantonese cooking,
the main ingredient

is plunged into hot water
to remove the impurities.

Remove the clams and reintroduce
the seasonings to the hot wok.

Add the shells, with some rice wine
and a good pinch of salt.

They're ready in just
a couple of minutes.

A little bit of soy sauce.

That's it.

That's easy, shall we try? Yes.

Perfectly cooked.

Good?

You like it?

Yeah, unbelievable.

And you did it perfectly Cantonese,

which meant the seasonings
were not overwhelming,

everything really matches
the freshness.

Thank you, Ken.

There's one Cantonese food

that we're all familiar with
in the West - dim sum.

I'm taking Ching to the locals'
favourite restaurant

in the city that gave birth
to this worldwide delicacy.

Eating it here is more a ritual
than a dining experience.

I want to bring you
to the best dim sum in Guangzhou.

I can't wait.
Well, this is your town.

Built in 1935, Guangzhou Restaurant
is on three floors,

serves up to 10,000 people
every day,

and employs chefs
who train for decades.

Isn't this beautiful? Wow.

I'll sit right next to you.
Thank you.

This is very nice.

What kind of things do you like?

Some restaurants offer customers
pre-prepared dishes,

but here, everything is cooked
fresh to order.

There are hundreds of varieties
of dim sum here,

from steamed dumplings
to chicken feet,

and one of my favourites,

lotus leaves
stuffed with sticky rice.

Shall we split one first?

Yeah, let's have this one.

OK, I love this, let's share.

That's beautiful.

And what I love is to see
all the beautiful inside

look at that -
mushroom, pork, belly pork,

and that looks like a little bit
of chicken, salted duck egg.

Look at how much skill
has gone into it.

And just because it's cheap doesn't
mean that it shouldn't be up there

as one of the best cuisines
in the world.

And it's perfection.
It's perfection.

The tradition of eating dim sum
started centuries ago

in small tea houses
along the Silk Road.

Yum cha, which means "drink tea",

is a ritual that goes
hand in hand with dim sum.

It's the Cantonese equivalent
of having a biscuit with your cuppa.

Here, where tea is considered
the elixir of life,

granting the drinker eternal youth,

this part of the tradition
is taken very seriously.

Now she's going to make
the tea for us.

See, it's the ritual,
she had rinsed it before.

'There's also a Cantonese etiquette
when taking tea.'

No, no, it's always the duty
of the younger one

to pour tea for the elder.

You know, we always say thank you,

especially in Cantonese,
like that.

'Tapping the table is
the polite way to say thank you

'for having your tea cup filled.

'Bending the fingers
symbolises kowtowing

'or bowing as a sign of respect.'

Why is that? Well, the legend

comes from the time of Qianlong,

which is one of the greatest
emperors in the last dynasty.

And he had gone out
with his retainers

to tour the country incognito.
In disguise?

Exactly.

And when he poured tea or gave
some food to some of his retainers,

they couldn't bow
without revealing his identity.

So they did this,
that's the legend.

So, you see people doing that
all the time.

Yes, all the time.

When I was bad,
when I was a child...

I can't imagine you
being a naughty child!

What I had to do was I had to offer
tea, I had to kowtow to my mother,

on my knees and offer her
a cup of tea

in front of
all the Chinese neighbours,

and when she accepted it,
that meant she accepted my apology.

This restaurant is
very popular with locals.

SPEAKING CANTONESE

Friends Leu Peilan
and Liao Shaoguang

are its most loyal regulars.

She says, in 50 years,
I can eat through the menu!

Oh, right, she knows the menu
off by heart!

He said, "Of course it's better
than cooking at home!"

I don't want to deprive the
restaurant of its best customers,

but after 52 years cooking

for celebrities, presidents
and royalty, I'm certain

I can persuade them
to try some authentic home cooking.

While Ching takes a break,
I've offered

to prepare a meal for them
at Mrs Liao's house.

I thought, OK, that's a good
opportunity for me to actually

make sweet and sour as we Cantonese
make it, which is the real thing.

I've come to the old Bao Hau road

to buy ingredients
for my sweet and sour pork.

Guangzhou is in China's
wealthiest province.

Thanks to manufacturing,

people here are among
the country's highest earners.

They demand quality
and variety in their food,

and in this market,
you can buy almost anything.

Live frogs.

You know what we call live frogs?

Chicken of the fields.

There's a famous saying that

we Cantonese eat everything
on four legs except the table,

anything that flies,
except an airplane.

Well, this would be nice
to put in sweet and sour,

it's very unusual - mangosteen.

Mangosteens are a South Asian fruit
with a sweet, tangy flesh,

which makes them ideal
for this dish.

I got mangosteen
and some pear apples.

I learnt how to cook sweet and sour
pork from my Uncle Paul,

who had a restaurant
in Chicago's China Town.

He taught me
which cuts of meat to look for.

I'm using the most tender
part of the pork,

not the belly that needs
more cooking, but a piece that

I can stir-fry very quickly and
toss in the sweet and sour sauce.

Mrs Liao is retired and lives in the
commercial district of Guangzhou.

It looks like
word of my visit has spread.

Mrs Liao has invited
the entire neighbourhood!

That's a Chinese Buddha.

Chinese Buddhas are always fat.

Mrs Liao could not have displayed
religious icons

during the Cultural Revolution
but, since 1978,

the Chinese constitution has
guaranteed freedom of worship.

This is quite lovely.

I have the same thing
in my home in Thailand.

It's 23 years since I was last
in Guangzhou,

so before I cook dinner,
I'm keen to hear

how life has changed
for its residents.

SPEAKING CANTONESE

It's beautiful, they said,
"We're so happy because we have

"stability and peace. We can eat
things, we can do what we want,

"and for people who are retired now,

"we don't have to worry about
instability in society.

"We can go out and walk, whatever,
we are not afraid to be mugged.

"Food is abundant."

She said, "It's great,
we've never had it so good.

"The level of happiness
is incredibly high."

Before, even if you had money,

there's nothing to buy,
you have to queue up to buy nothing,

she said, you couldn't buy anything.

And she said, "We have such peace
and we can buy anything we want,

"we can eat." She said,
"Now we worry about getting fat!"

Not worried about not having enough
to eat, but getting fat.

You couldn't buy anything,
it was like wartime.

For dinner, I'm making
an authentic sweet and sour pork,

nothing like the sugary, glowing,
red version available in the West.

I'm just going to do

a sort of typical Chinese marinade,

which is a little bit of soy sauce.

And this is an interesting
rice wine which I've never seen,

because rice wine will just add
a bit of flavour.

I thought this might be very nice
in the sweet and sour,

which is very unusual -
mangosteen, which is really lovely.

Mangosteens are hard
to get in the West,

so if you want to make this dish
at home, use pineapple,

or try experimenting
with other fruit

to give the dish its sweet flavour.

And this is just some pear apple,

which will give a texture.

I'm also adding water chestnuts
and young garlic,

which look a lot like spring onions.

I'm quickly frying the marinated
pork with vegetable oil

to seal in the flavours.

Everywhere you go in Canton,
they use this very mild red chilli

in many of their dishes,
so I thought I'd do the same.

Along with the chillies,
young garlic, and water chestnuts,

I'm adding a splash of rice vinegar,
which gives the dish its sourness.

I'm going to add a little bit
of the stock that I made

with bits of pork
and a little bit of chicken stock.

This is just sugar.

Now we're just going
to thicken the sauce

with a little bit of
corn flour and water.

After a quick taste, add the fruit -

Asian pears, pineapple
and mangosteen,

followed by the pork.

She said, "You're a bright boy!"

Nobody's ever called me a boy
for a long time.

They said,
the flavours are really nice.

A bit of East meets West!

Whilst Ken is cooking
for the locals,

I'm at Guangdong's medicine market
with physician Dr Shu.

I've been travelling for so long
and I'm really tired,

so what can I take
that's going to lift my spirits

and boost my energy?

'She's going to help me
make an energy-boosting tonic

'before I travel to Taiwan
to see my family.'

OK.

That would be wonderful, thank you.

'Dr Shu's
a practising gynaecologist

'but, like many Chinese doctors,

'she combines modern
and traditional medicine.'

There's a big history
and there's, what,

over 13,000 different herbs?
Is that true?

Yes, that's right.

'To go with the chicken,

'I need some fruit
to help boost my immune system.'

This is goji, everyone
in the West knows goji berries.

I love this
just steeped with some tea.

My mum always says, drink this
cos it's good for your eyes.

Yeah, it's good for eyes.

And it tastes sweet, you know?

A little bit sweet.

So, we're going to get just a small
handful of the goji berries.

This is going to
go into this stew

with black chicken and dang gui.

'Dang gui is the root of a plant

'which we know in the West
as Angelica.

'It's supposed to help circulation.'

Apparently, this is
the best herb for women.

It's going to keep
all the organs down there working.

'With all the key ingredients
in the bag,

'Dr Shu takes me back to her home
to make the soup.'

'As Guangzhou has developed,
so has the housing market.

'Now many young,
successful Cantonese

'live in modern apartments
like this.'

Did you buy that from the market?
Yeah.

'The black chicken we're cooking

'doesn't just get its name
from its feathers.

'It's black on the inside, too,

'from the skin and meat,
right down to the bone.'

I haven't seen
black-skin chicken in the UK,

but I know that you can buy it
from some Chinese supermarkets,

I think they're frozen.

'It's been used in Chinese medicine
for over 1,000 years,

'and today, it's considered
a superfood

'because of the bird's
high levels of anti-oxidants.'

'In Chinese medicine, it's believed
the body has two energies,

'yin and yang,
which should always be balanced.'

In its simplest form, yin is
very cooling, yang is very fiery.

Yeah. So, if you're tired,
you're stressed,

you're not feeling well,
your body's probably...

When you feel sort of thirsty.

..if you're feeling thirsty, you're
probably very yang, too much yang.

So you need to eat cooling foods,
yin foods...

Yes, a little bit of cool.
..to balance it.

So this, the chicken, inherently
is yin, but the ingredients

we'll be putting will have
different properties, right?

There's got to be
some science in it,

because when anyone feels ill
in any culture,

they go for the chicken soup.

OK, so we've got the goji berries,
and then this is the dang gui.

'We also picked up something else
at the market,

'which is full of vitamin C.'

Dried Chinese dates.

So just put straight in,
into the water, yeah?

The ingredients go into the pot
to boil.

It's got that dang gui smell!

I was expecting to eat the chicken,
and she's saying no,

Cantonese-style tonic broths,
you don't eat the actual meat.

After boiling for about an hour,
it's ready

and, in true Cantonese style,
we garnish it

with spring onions and coriander.

Bon appetit! Thank you for this,
this looks very healthy, very clean.

Mmm! That is really good.

You just know that
it's doing you wonders.

And it's easy to make!

Just put it all in a pot,
can't get better than that.

Before I visit my father's
family tomorrow,

I'm taking a walk in the city's

old colonial area, Shamian Island,

which is where my parents
did some of their courting.

My father was a GI
and he fought in WWII,

and he got leave after the war.

And he chose to come here,
where he met my mother,

and they fell in love.

My parents emigrated to America
as newlyweds,

but my father died when I was
just eight months old, aged 33.

My mother brought me up alone
in Chicago's China Town.

My father never existed for me,

except in photographs.

My mother never talked about him

very much, so...

..I grew up with him
only as an image.

My mum never remarried,
and I think she was

of the old traditional

Chinese school that,

if you have children,

then you didn't remarry,

so that feels kind of sad for her.

Apart from my father and me,

my mother had two other
great loves in her life.

The game of mah jong,

and Cantonese opera.

Before we go our separate ways,

I want to share this traditional
Cantonese art form with Ching.

Cantonese opera dates back to
the 16th century

and had its heyday in the 1920s.

Today, a few Guangzhou restaurants
put on daily performances.

It's kind of surreal,
cos I feel like

I've just come to a restaurant,
but they're performing.

It's really beautiful though,
I really love the costumes.

And it's very old fashioned.

You see, most of these people
are of a certain age here,

they're not working,
they're probably retired.

Before widespread education,

Cantonese opera taught morals
and messages to its audiences.

Are they all based on,
like, old legends?

Yes, legends, very famous stories,
tales... Tales, fables.

It's not only what they say,
it's what they're gesturing,

a lot of gesturing.

Do you see?
It comes from Tai Chi,

like when they go like that,
that's very Chinese.

Today, these performances
are more like variety shows,

put on for the elderly and tourists.

This is the aria
from my mum's favourite opera,

and, oh, I mean, God knows
how many times I've heard this!

APPLAUSE

Our time in Guangdong Province
has come to an end.

Whilst Ken stays on
to visit his relatives,

I'm going home
to see my family in Taiwan.

I miss my family and I really...
I'm looking forward to seeing them,

but I feel like
it's going to be quite emotional,

cos I haven't seen them
in a long time.

This whole journey is about
discovery and learning,

and it's just the last leg
of the journey now,

so it's all culminating
in this sort of homecoming.

I feel I'm proud to be Chinese,

and I wasn't always
proud to be Chinese.

When I was growing up in the UK,
all I wanted was to be English.

Now, you know, through cooking,

I've found my Chinese part
of myself,

and the more I've learned,
the more I've discovered,

and the more I've eaten
my way around China,

the more that I'm in love with it.

And so I feel like
I'm kind of coming full circle.

But the circle's
not quite complete yet.

Taiwan is an island 112 miles off
the south-east coast of China

which separated from Chinese rule
100 years ago.

Although I was born in Taiwan,

I left with my parents
when I was five

and eventually settled in London.

Sometimes, I feel a bit anxious
when I come back to Taiwan

because I don't feel 100% Taiwanese.

So over the years,
when I have visited,

there's a sense of, oh, you know,
my Taiwanese, my language,

you know, my vocabulary,
my etiquette, my manners...

all of it is not quite,
you know, up to scratch.

My parents moved back to Taiwan
in 2009.

I haven't seen you in a long time!
I miss you a lot!

We're travelling today to
the farming area of Baihe village,

where my food journey began
as a little girl

in my grandmother's kitchen.

So we're going to see
my grandfather,

to see where my mum
and all her family grew up.

And where I grew up from
when I was two to five years old.

We're going to go and burn
some incense for my grandmother,

and then I'm going to cook
for the whole family.

This will be the first time
I've seen my grandfather

since my grandmother passed away
two years ago.

Here we are!

SPEAKS TAIWANESE

This is where I grew up.

This is our small courtyard,
this belongs to my grandfather.

This is where we used to play,
my brother and I, and cousins.

He's saying this is 84 years old.

My grandfather's lived here
since he was two.

That's the entrance there,
you can come through.

My grandmother, as well as all these
great aunts, always like sisters,

and they all cooked for everybody.

'Today, I'm stepping into
my grandmother's shoes,

'cooking some of the dishes
she taught me.

'And I know the family
has high expectations.'

Everyone's waiting for lunch.

Everyone's saying,
"When are you going to cook lunch?"

Before lunch, my grandfather and I
share a quiet moment

to mark Qingming festival,

when families remember loved ones
who have passed on.

This is my great-grandfather,
my great-grandmother

and my great-great-grandparents.

It seems fitting that
this is the room where my family

so often came together
to share my grandmother's food,

and it's where today,
we will take time to remember her.

'I've travelled 87 miles from
Guangzhou to the city of Kaiping,

'to spend a couple of days
with cousins on my father's side,

'who I've not seen for 23 years.

'I'm struck by how much
this place has changed.'

God, I have never seen
so many four-wheel drives.

I think there has been
a recent survey that says,

for the first time in China,
more than 50%, half of the people,

are living in urban areas now,
instead of in the countryside.

That's a remarkable change,
when you think

that China has always been
at least 80% to 90% peasants.

Up until the 1990s, my cousins
were full-time farmers,

but as China began to accept
private enterprise,

they moved to the city
and set up a successful restaurant.

I'm kind of curious to meet them
and actually to learn more

about parts of my family's past
which I don't know.

This is my last visit, when I took
my mother and, actually, her sister.

I know quite a bit about
my mum's family.

My dad's family
was sort of a mystery.

This is a great opportunity
for me to reconnect.

Hopefully, over food.

I think it will be about
coming to terms

about who I am
and, sort of, where my place is.

Hello!

SPEAKING CANTONESE

'I've brought the young ones

'silver dollars.

'In China, it's traditional

'to give coins in an envelope

'as tokens of good luck.'

Well, they loved my mum a lot.

It's, uh...

It's evident.

And they said they...

When they heard she had passed on,
they did a lot of offerings to her,

so that was very nice.

This morning, my cousins are
taking me to our ancestral village

in the Foshan region of Guangdong.

It's an area dominated
by paddy fields,

where my father's family
were rice farmers

going back several generations.

I said, "Is it hard work?"

She said, "Well, when you're young,
I mean, you don't think about it,

"how backbreaking it really is
to plant each stalk of rice."

She has to get down there,
bend down to do that,

and they say
when people actually eat,

they have no idea where it
comes from and how it's harvested.

My family are gathering at
my grandparents' grave

to mark Qingming, an annual
ceremony of grave sweeping,

when relatives meet to tidy the
burial sites of their loved ones.

Traditionally, it's believed that
the spirits of the dead

will look after their living family
if they're offered gifts of food

and fake money to keep them happy
in the afterlife.

Despite the occasion,
it can be quite a lively event.

It's very different, our attitude.

If you think of something like this
in the West, it's very sombre.

I mean, nobody would think of...

This is almost like a picnic here.

Before we eat, we must fulfil
one last Chinese custom.

Wow!

Well, no evil spirits
will come here now!

This is my grandmother's kitchen.

This is the big wok, this is
how much to feed a whole big family.

I would sit around watching,
all here,

all this I remember, at that height.

The kitchen's just as
my grandmother left it,

and today, I'm cooking some of her
favourite dishes for the family.

The idea is to make a lunch

in honour of my grandmother.

So, she used to make
delicious hama, clams.

And prawns, she used to make drunken
prawns - prawns drunk with wine.

And then my favourite is zongzi,
which is bamboo sticky rice,

which my grandmother
used to make for me,

she was really good at making it.

When you're cooking for so many,
timing is crucial,

so I've enlisted my mother
as sous chef.

We're starting with the most
complicated dish - bamboo parcels.

Mushrooms.

These are dried Chinese mushrooms,

they've already been stir-fried
in a little bit of oil.

But, of course, first, I pre-soaked
just to soften them a little bit.

So that's dried shrimp
and some shallots, and it's all been

already sort of stir-fried

with a little bit of soy sauce.

And then this is the rice,
so stir-frying raw rice, basically,

just to get that fragrant,
get lots of the flavours going.

Next, shape the bamboo leaf

into a cup, fill it with some rice,

a few pieces of braised pork belly,

and another layer of rice.

Then secure the parcels with string
before you boil them.

Now, the trick is to try and
make them all the same size.

They're all going to cook
in the same time.

I don't think my grandmother would
approve, but one big, one small.

Just 50 more to go!

That looks good.

And then what we do, we cook it.

I'm going to boil it.

Once it's cooked, you can use
that knot to take it all out.

I think I'm going to start with
the prawns first.

Next, I'm making one of
my grandmother's signature dishes -

drunken prawns.

Get the wok nice and hot,

add the prawns, a little ginger,

and a good splash of rice wine
to get the shellfish nice and tipsy.

My grandmother used to make
drunken prawns for us

when we were growing up,

really tasty.

So, like, the bitter sweetness

of the Shaoxing rice wine

enhances the sweetness
of the prawns,

and these are local river prawns.

Really good.

My grandmother's speciality
was seafood,

so I'm making another of
her favourite dishes -

fresh clams with Chinese basil,
soy sauce and rice wine.

Just keep cooking until a lot of
the shells have opened up.

Once the food's ready, it's time
to seat the guest of honour -

my grandfather.

My uncle said, "This is the best."

It's got the best flavour, it's got
the flavour of a Taiwanese basil.

They all think that
this food is really similar

to what my grandmother used to cook.

These are all her flavours.

CONVERSATION FADES OUT

I'm really happy because
my grandfather just said,

"Did you really make this?"

and, "It's got
Grandmother's flavour."

It tastes like Grandmother's.

'My grandfather's
really vulnerable,'

and I've never seen him emotional.

He must really miss her a lot.

My grandmother was an amazing woman,

but she really groomed me
to be a cook, at such a young age,

and I didn't really think it would
leave such an impression on me.

They all give their hats off
to my grandmother.

You know, she was the cook,
she was Exec Chef.

She was the best one
out of all of them.

Now I really understand
a bit of her more,

through cooking and this kitchen.

This was her life...you know.

My food memory started here

and I didn't think
I'd grow up to be a cook.

I didn't think
it would shape me so much.

I think I have come full circle.

This farm has been in
the Hom family for five generations.

It's where my father grew up.

Today, my cousins grow vegetables

and raise poultry here
for their restaurant in town.

HE TALKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

I said, "They look very tasty."

They're beautiful.

DOG BARKS

I remember this,
this is the old family kitchen.

THEY TALK IN LOCAL DIALECT

It's a revelation.

She said that
when my mum laid eyes on my dad,

it was love at first sight.

Nobody else, she would even
be interested in.

That's a revelation.

After grave-sweeping,
there's always a feast

and, on this occasion, we're cooking
together to celebrate my homecoming.

This is what we call
a family affair.

Everybody pitches in,
do their thing and help,

because if we don't do that,
we're not going to be eating!

Everybody wants to eat.

My cousin is going to make his, er,

signature dish, which I never had,
which is sweet and sour goose.

The goose is fresh from the farm.

Once it's coated in soy sauce
to give it colour and flavour,

my cousin deep fries it.

What that does is, it seals the skin

so that when he cooks it,

the whole thing doesn't fall apart.

He's braising it in a thick sauce
made of rice vinegar,

Chinese tomato ketchup, cane sugar,

and salted, preserved plums,

to give it the sweet and sour taste.

Then he covers it and slowly
simmers it until it's done.

In one hour.

While it cooks, I'm making

bitter melon with black bean sauce.

This is the great thing about
cooking like this.

The family all chips in

and helps you do the prep,
which is great.

I love it.
HE LAUGHS

This is bitter melon,
it's quite delicious,

and you can actually get this fresh
everywhere now,

in Chinese supermarkets,
and you need to take out the inside.

It has a bitter flavour.

She likes it.

But I'm cooking this because
my mum used to make it often.

I used to walk into the door
and I would hear the wok sizzle

and I would hear all the food
going into the wok,

and so by the time
I washed my hands and everything,

the food would be on the table.

In a few hours,
we're going to have a feast here.

I'm making a full-flavoured
black bean sauce,

which will go perfectly
with the melon.

This is classic.
Garlic, ginger and black beans.

I think this is the flavour that
people who are outside of China

probably are the most familiar with.

These are the famous black beans

that the world loves.

We take vegetables
and we blanch them,

and it helps to give them
a cleaner flavour.

Now I'm draining it.

Garlic, ginger and the black beans.

Then add spring onions,

mild red chillies...

..and rice wine.

Next, add the bitter melon pieces

and a splash of water
to tenderise them.

Mmm...

They need a bit more cooking.

Just a little bit of sesame oil.

Give it a nice sheen to that.

My cousin is serving the goose

in the traditional way, chopped.

Tell me if that's not beautiful.

They're all having a little booze!

I think the most touching moment

is not only seeing my family,

but how we're actually united

by our culinary passion,

and the fact that I was able to cook
and share food with them

I thought was the best part.

This is absolutely beautiful.

What I've learned in Kaiping

is a bit more of my family puzzle.

I learnt more about
my mum and dad meeting

and how it was love at first sight.
I thought that was quite touching.

In many ways,
I felt she'd more or less

sacrificed her life for mine,

but still hearing that

she did have
some moments of happiness.

What actually makes me happiest
coming here

is to see in reality

how the changes in China
is reflected in my family.

Their welfare has gone up,
they're optimistic,

they are looking with hope
to the future.

That's pretty fantastic.

Bye-bye.

After five weeks and more than

13,000 miles crossing China,

Ken and I reunite
for our final dinner in Hong Kong.

It feels fitting to end our journey

in the city where East meets West.

This view, I think has to be
one of the most beautiful views

in all of Asia.

It's one of the best views
in the world.

I mean, Hong Kong. Look at that.

I have learnt a lot on this trip.

Actually, before coming,

I actually wanted to experience
most of the cities,

because I am a city girl at heart.
But going back to the roots,

the basic roots,
and going back to the countryside

and learning from these farmers...
You know, life is tough,

it's not easy, and the way they live
with such dignity really touched me.

They put their food on the plate
and it represents them.

They cook for us
and they share with us

and they're giving
a bit of themselves to us.

What is amazing

is how China has changed

in such a short period of time.

I mean, growing up,
I saw China as being very poor,

and not enough to eat
and that sort of thing.

It's transformed to the second
economic power in the world.

And its food is like that too,

because 25 years ago,
when I went throughout China,

I was disappointed in Chinese food.

Nobody cared about it,
there was no passion.

Now every place we've been to has
been a more than pleasant surprise.

Through food, we've been able to

get beneath the skin of China.

Unrecognisable.
It's like the new frontier.

We discovered a country

that has emerged from the trauma
of the Cultural Revolution.

It's like a human epic.

He's gone through all this hardship
to arrive here

and I think he embodies very much
what China is about,

looking forward. Yeah.

The food culture that was in danger
of being lost

has been reinvigorated.

Hands down,
she is dumpling master of Beijing.

China is revelling
in its new-found freedom.

You have these very small families

that are starting
businesses like this

and who knows?
Maybe in the next 30 years,

there'll be a gigantic corporation,
based on this family recipe.

Even in the face
of sweeping modernisation...

I actually didn't expect this.

A mass construction site.

..ethnic minorities are preserving

their traditional cultures
and cuisines.

Who eats the head?

The eldest here. No, no, thank you!

There's some Chinese traditions
I don't like.

THEY LAUGH

Across China,
home cooking is alive and well.

I've never done it
like that before.

It's just, it's beautiful.
I'm learning so much.

While in the mega-cities, Chinese
cuisine is reaching new heights.

This is not like sweet and sour
you've ever seen anywhere.

It looks like a work of art.

It's been a deeply personal journey
that has helped us

to understand more about
our relationship with our homeland.

It's all about our food.
We're united by how we eat,

and how our passion to eat
is so important,

and that's a recurring theme,
I felt, throughout wherever we went.

It's the essence of who we are.

To China, its people,

its cuisine,
to its hope and to its future.

Cheers.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd