Original subtitles

Most of great food

is fissile spectacle

resulting from combination

and crash of different ingredients.

If compare it with human relationship,

some would be regarded as amazing perfect match.

Some meet by chance but touched us deeply.

Some can only make us regret not letting them meet sooner.

Human activities lead to the gathering of food.

The separation and reunion of food,

on the other hand, also controls people.

What Westerners called "destiny",

is called "Yuan fen" by Chinese.

August, when Xilinx Goi Prairie just woke up,

Wu Liji is taking his cattle to his own meadow.

Abundant land provides ailment to cattle and flock.

It also gives birth to a rare fairy.

Komo after drying up

is full of Guanylic acid salt.

Herdsmen use chicken to cook with it,

which could lift the taste manyfold.

He Fuzhi, a Komo businessman,

often drive hundreds kilometers to buy mushroom.

Komo only grows on fairy rings.

It depends on the deepness of grass to identify it.

Thanks to a substance that mushroom secrete,

grass obtain higher content of chlorophyll

and we get to see this fascinating phenomena.

He Fuzhi is going to Wu Liji`s place

to ask for harvest of mushroom.

He(何)`s daughter Yufeng is 23-year old.

Returning back to home, the prairie, after university graduation.

My mother has been seriously ill

and always needs someone to look after her.

Besides, my father is already over fifty.

Have you dried all the mushroom you picked in the sun?

Yes, we have.

Is this everything you have?

Yes, we only have this small amount.

Do you have white mushroom?

No, we only have this ceiling type (one type of mushroom).

White mushroom

s the most precious kind of Komo.

It could get sold up to more than 2000 yuan per kilogram

after dried in the sun. They had a small harvest this year.

Herdmen have started

to storage forage for cattle and flock

which means the season for Komo is coming to an end.

He(何) and his daughter decided to try one last time.

Mushroom yields nicely

and has better quality in this time of the year.

Many people are calling

to urge for white mushroom.

Dad, there`s nothing.

Come back then. Let`s go.

Germinating Komo requires the favor of rain.

The rain in the forecast, however, hasn`t made its arrival.

He(何) is not resigned to the current situation.

He decided to stay at herdsman`s place with his daughter

and keep waiting.

The prairie after rain is fresh as washed.

White mushroom finally appears on fairy rings.

Dad, go over there and check.

Let`s go to that fairy ring.

There`s a lot. Yes. You see.

There are so many.

Hurry up. Let`s pick them up. Look at this little one.

He(何) and his daughter know,

their wishes

will finally come true after these few days

Uncle, it`s getting dark.

It`s going to rain. Let`s go back home.

Hurry up.

Let`s go.

After sing about Youmian, let`s sing about Komo.

Komo has tons of beautiful reputations.

400 kilometers south of Xilinx Goi Prairie is Zhangjiakou, which

used to be one of the passes for Great Wall in the classic time.

It was the throat for commercial activities between the central

and north China. It is also the place that made Komo famous.

White mushroom

has thick fat context and tastes fine and smooth.

It is the finest kind for Komo.

Put dried mushroom in boiled water and let it absorb.

After two to three hours,

white mushroom reverts to its plump shape.

Put the original soup of Komo aside.

Pour fresh water inside. Repeatedly stir it.

Changing three or four times fresh water and stirring

for thousands of times until all the dirt has been removed.

Winter bamboo shoots produced from Jiangnan,

2000 kilometers away, traveled across thousands of

mountains and rivers when it met Komo for the first time.

Slice dried bamboo shoots and white mushroom that has

absorbed enough water. Boil slices in soup-stock

and then use heavy oil and slow fire to fry those slices.

When oil infused into ingredients,

Komo slices grow into full figure and become smooth.

Bamboo root slices also found its crisp taste.

Add Komo`s original soup in the end.

This famous dish, which has more than 300-year history, from north China,

not only created one delicacy

but also bring us limitless spatial imagination.

Ta-liang Mountains

have the most iconic seasoning

in south-west China,

round pepper.

This plant fruit, which is originally produced in China,

would lead to 50 times per second slight prickings

and strike nerves during eating.

Chinese

call this kind of feeling “maâ€

Tujia, an ethnic minority

whose pungency degree could reach 500,000 Scoville,

which means it needs 500,000 times of water

to dilute its pungency completely.

After pepper got imported from America to China,

it developed rapidly.

Gradually replaced local spice

and hold the leading role for delicacies.

These two kinds of food materials

finally gathered at the same city,

Chongqing.

It is the hottest season of the year,

Chongqing people are keen to

a type of food with higher temperature.

Zhang Ping opened a hot-pot restaurant

named after his wife.

Because of this restaurant,

they are having a stable life

with their children.

At 10 pm,

when the delicious spicy smell

is still floating above the city,

at the stuffy and muggy hall way entrance,

Zhang Ping started frying and making seasoning.

Mix "Chao Tian Hong" (a kind of pod pepper) from Chong Qing

from Chong Qing with He Nan province`s

“Xin Yi Daiâ€

The former has the strongest spicy taste,

while the latter one is full of Red Chillies Extract,

giving hot pot gorgeous color.

Another secret for Chong Qing hot pot

is butter which can effectively absorb chili

and round pepper`s taste.

Thick broad-bean sauce and fermented soy bean could thicken the soup.

Bruised ginger would make the spice multi-layers

and full of changes.

Da Hong Pao (a type of round pepper) from Mao Wen has strong taste of "Ma"

while Jin Yang blue round pepper has stronger fragrant.

What is more important than having authentic food materials

are Zhang Ping`s hands.

Non-stop frying

helped fragrant subjects infiltrate into oil.

After boiling, fragrant elements are released more.

For the past 10 years, Zhang Ping believes no one but himself on this.

One all-night cooking with three huge pots of basic hot pot

seasoning, It could support the restaurant for five days.

Except for the secret of seasoning, one should also

give credits to Chong Qing people`s magical handling

for food materials for the special taste of hot pot.

Board muscle is the aorta for cattle or swine.

There`s a layer of membrane that affects taste

but hard to get tore.

Wear gloves that could increase friction

and rip this membrane down carefully.

Experienced workers could handle 1000 pieces per day.

could handle 1000 pieces per day.

Mao Du, took from cattle`s third stomach, of which

A huge amount of seasoning could get attached to

its surface and give it a strong taste.

After a short blanching, people can feel

the smoothness the second they put it in the mouth.

Together with the crispy taste after putting

strength on the teeth, all make one addicted.

Except for these,

duck lung, gizzard, Corydoras, lunch meat

and many other ingredients for common people

get together in Chong Qing hot pot

and give out a magical effect.

Generally people believe that morden hot pots

are originally imported to Central China by hordes

from the north and developed into different forms.

Beijing has meat hot pot.

Its mutton slices is thin as paper

aiming for the softness of meat.

Mushroom hot pot from Yunnan province

has fresh and sweet mushroom.

It`s famous for the scented taste.

Chaoshan`s beef ball in its beef hot pot

is juicy and celebrated for its chewy,

tough texture.

Hot pot represents the most of

Chinese people`s yearning

for family gathering and happy time with others.

But, as for the love for hot pot,

no one can compare with people from Chongqing.

In this city in mountain, there are more than 20,000 hot pot restaurants.

In every 30 people from Chongqing, there is one

having a hot pot related career.

The combination of round pepper and chili

not only created a passionate crush

between taste bud and nerve,

but also represents a crossing continents gathering between Asia and America.

These two amazing spices,

not only achieved the hot summer taste of Chongqing,

but also made Chongqing hot pot

popular in more than half of China.

Food travels across the sea

and gather at one place.

People`s traveling

brings huger changes to food.

In Shenzhen, the youngest city in China,

new immigrants brought

their various customs to meet here.

When their original accents fade out,

boarders between different local food and tastes

have been fuzzed as well.

Some people say

no one would feel homesick in the city of Shenzhen.

This new city, however,

also has its aborigines.

Villagers from Xiasha village are having an ancestor-worship ceremony,

along with which is a banquet.

Purchasing and cooking

almost 5000 kilogram food materials are anything but easy.

It relies on the cooperation of the whole village.

Washing, cutting and chopping more than ten kinds of food

are assigned to different families at the same time.

are engaging in this cooking mission.

Conger-pike eel,

squid,

cuttlefish,

radish

and oyster,

every kind of ingredients are undergoing intensive cooking.

Light taste radish are put at the bottom.

Seafood and meat with heavy taste are added layer by layer.

This way it follows geometric principle

as well as gastronomical logic.

So many kinds of food are cooked separately and then put together

in the same pot. Tastes interinfiltrate and this is Poon Choi.

Although there`s only one pot of dish on each table,

there`s something of each food in the other which referring to

the motto of their ethnic clan.

Food and people

are both gathering for reunion.

People from Shenzhen call Xiasha villagers “aboriginesâ€

But actually, they haven`t settled down here

until about 800 years ago.

Almost at the same period, another group of their ancestor

found the destination of their journey to the south in Jiangnan

which is on the opposite side of the river with their hometown.

In history, Chinese Song dynasty moved their capital to Hangzhou

due to war has given Hangzhou a sense of Central China.

The “Xiongâ€

at the third cut at waist fin.

Put fish in boiling water.

Add soy sauce,

cooking wine, sugar, wet starch

and vinegar after blanched it thoroughly.

Stirring until it becomes dense.

This is the famous Hangzhou sweet and sour dish.

In the north, although it`s also sweet and sour style,

Kaifeng people would fry the carp thoroughly first

and then add sugar, vinegar, ginger mash,

cooking wine and water starch.

After finished, putting Longxumian (thin noodles) on the top.

Eating noodles with fish soup is Central China`s way of eating.

The connection between Kaifeng and Hangzhou

could also be seen from dim sum.

Guantangbao (soup dumplings) in Kaifeng,

after several evolutional changes,

established its current shape.

Dumpling skin is made from unleavened dough.

After mixing water for three times and adding flour

for three times, the skin becomes pliable and smooth

with no soup leakage and no skin fall off.

Beat the dough repeatedly till it become white and bright,

reaching the standard of “white in color, pliable in textureâ€

Using water when make the stuffing could let the dumpling

full of soup as well as guarantee a refreshing taste.

Workers with more than five years training

move their fingers really fast

and fold 18 creases within seconds.

Steamed bun in Hangzhou

adopted classic skills from Kaifeng.

Chop pork jelly into small pieces and mix them with other stuffing.

Pork jelly would melt into soup after heated.

This is the secret

for Steam buns` juiciness and rich taste.

Scholars claim that Hangzhou

is the enclave for Central China.

Proof is the unnatural rhotic vowel in Hangzhou dialect.

The food, Pian`er chuan

is the most convincing evidence.

Inconspicuous restaurant in a not fancy location

but always has a flood of customers.

Even now, this noodle restaurant only has seven tables.

Open for half of the day.

Take two-month summer vacation every year.

But none of these stops Hangzhou people`s

passion for a bowl of Pian`er Chuan.

Everyday after closing the restaurant,

Yan Baofu would clean the in and out.

Some people asked me

whether I have some kind of disease. I said maybe.

No one would insisting on cleaning so thoroughly

for decades without having disorder.

It`s not for a month or two but everyday.

There are not many people doing this.

This insistency

also shows on his choice of food materials.

Every from 5 am, the restaurant starts to get busy.

Using pig fat to make oil

is able to sustain the tasty smell of noodles.

Summer and winter, the production of bamboo root

would not always be satisfying.

But for the continued meeting between human and bamboo roots,

Yan would go everywhere in the outskirts of Hangzhou.

Try to buy the most seasonable bamboo roots

and invite them to his steaming bowls.

Pickled cabbage needs to use the first harvested batch.

The ratio between leave and stem is also important

that Yan has to check it himself.

Bamboo shoot slices and pickled cabbage, white and blue,

fresh and sour, are both from Jiangnan,

following their season closely.

Slightly blanched noodle in boiled water

is apparently the inheritance of north style noodle.

No matter how exciting and thrilling the history is,

when it comes to food, everything looks so simple.

For tradition,

people from Kaifeng have a obstinate persistency.

Newly renovated ancient city and replica for traditional

cruise does not exist only for attracting tourists

but also showing their hidden proudness.

If the “Fang shiâ€

has established the rudiment for Kaifeng`s current city structure,

Shanghai, on the other hand,

provides us a model for modern city.

This city`s taste is

as complicated as its own historical identity.

It is exquisite, fashionable

but also full of civil life.

More than 170 years ago, Shanghai opened its gate to westners.

Western food, along with western culture, moved into Shanghai in a strong pose

which once became the elegant symbol for “Modern Timeâ€

Shanghai people, however,

always have a way to shorten the distance with food.

Borsch and fried pork chop

have finally assimilated as part of Shanghai taste.

Two potato salad sets.

Zhou Yongle used to live abroad for many years.

He has seen a variety kinds of western food. But,

deep inside of him, what he cherished the most is still

the Shanghai style western food from his childhood memory.

To tenderize meat,

use meat hammer to beat it.

Loosened pork chop is going through three steps,

dipping into egg

and wrapping with flour repeatedly.

After dipping into egg for the third time,

wrap the chop with breadcrumbs instead.

In this way, fried pork chop would be

crispy on the outside and soft and delicate

in the inside instead of being too oily.

Eating Shanghai fried pork chop

has to go with spicy soy sauce

which is sweet, sour and a little spicy,

to effectively neutralize the oily taste.

Spicy soy sauce is actually an imported goods

from the UK which can be made fast.

There`s a really similar sauce

in Guangdong province.

Worcestershire sauce is the standard sauce for

Canto-style dim sum, spring roll and beef ball.

Chinese soy sauce, however, is the product of fermentation.

Wash and boil soybean. Scatter aspergillus oryzae

over it to help with the fermentation process.

Put them into giant bamboo plaque to evaporate water.

Finally, add crude salt before sealing the jar.

With nourishment from sunshine and raindrops,

it requires half a year to complete perfect soy sauce.

Some are yearning the old Shanghai

in western restaurants on the Bund.

Others, on the other hand, is going miles away

to trace for their second hometown.

In the year of 1966, Dong Cuihua was 16-year old.

She was on her way for her first trip to the west.

Back then, 100,000 young people from Shanghai went to

Sinkiang to participate in agricultural production.

The minute I graduated from school,

I went to Sinkiang.

Sinkiang which has the longest history of food transmission,

is at the very west end of China.

Food materials and seasonings from all over the world are gathering here.

Hamiti`s family is preparing for lunch,

stewed mutton

with hand-rolled noodles.

This dish with meat and wheaten food

is called Naren.

A good Naren has to be

scattered with onion at the end.

From the day of import,

onion has been loved by the locals

who gave it a nickname. "Pi yazi"

Nowadays, goods imported from uncharted oceans

has also transmitted here

and become the largest chili planting area

on gobi desert.

Ingredients from different areas provided possibilities

for the birth of one single dish.

Chop a whole chicken

and cut capsicums and potato into pieces.

Fry sugar till it turns golden and then put chicken in it.

Add the symbolic chili pepper for Sichuan style

and Gansu people`s favorite potato.

Use the Central China cooking style, fry-first-stew-second

to infiltrate meat and vegetable with each other.

With amylum in potato,

delicious chicken soup has richer flavor.

Put Shanxi style belt-wide noodle at the end

and all flavors are here.

The constant change and converge of Big plate chicken is satisfying

the desire for tastes of people from everywhere in China.

The big plate of Sinkiang

is not only bearing food and condiments

but also witnessing the crash of wisdom in food

from different ethnic clans.

The village, Shihezi, closely next to sandy bay, used to be

a small village used by soldiers from Qing dynasty for reclamation.

In the middle of last century, millions of people

came here to dedicate in developing and constructing projects

which made this place have a great variety of food custom.

45 hours and 4100 kilometers,

Dong Cuihua spent four days and four nights when she arrived here for the first time.

Dapanji, roasted dumpling,

shelves of meat, hourse intestine and Latiaozi

accompanied her

for the best time of her life.

Sandy farm road

has been replaced by neat street.

A reunion after such a long time,

her second hometown has been through countless hanges

during this whole time.

History is a story for spectators,

but self-experienced happiness and sentimentality

for people who has gone through them.

After going back to Shanghai, Dong Cuihua cooked by herself

and made the compulsory dish for educated youth reunion, Dapanji.

Delicacies are excuses, pretexts and especially,

taste memory of the time they shared

bitterness and enjoyed happiness together.

One kind of food

connects the two hometowns that witnessed their steps.

In the fluctuant time,

Chinese are used to using food to shorten

the distance between an alien land with their homeland.

More than 60 years ago,

after the Kuomingtang retreated to Taiwan,

families of garrison are emplaced in Juan village.

One can still see the mixture of different tastes

in south gate market,

tofu sausage from Sichuan,

jinhua ham in Zhejiang,

Shanghai`s osmanthus cake.

Converging of different groups of people

provide possibilities for food innovation.

Beef noodle from Juan village emerges as time required.

Use heel muscle

which has tendon and full of colloid for beef

and become pliable but strong after stewed.

Stir-fry ginger and shallot in oil

with fermented soy bean and broad-bean sauce.

Putting these seasonings into beef Bulalo

and soup for beef noodle is finished.

Cut heel muscles into big pieces and stew until flavors filter into it.

Put noodle in boiling water just for a moment

to keep its tenacity as possible.

In Taiwan, there are many beef noodle

named themselves as Sichuan taste.

This let people easily associate it with

the land of abundance--Sichuan.

Shenhai well is the only reserved traditional

well-salt workshop in the city of Zigong.

Tianche, a special facility for extracting well-salt.

Zigoing is has the longest history

for cooking beef in Sichuan.

In the era without electronic machinery,

cattle is the major power source.

This place has more than 2000 years history of producing salt.

Extract brine from thousand meters under-earth stratum

and then deliver the brine to stove room.

Chinese wisdom about transforming soybean

could also apply here.

There are lots of impurities in brine.

By adding soybean milk,

calcium ion in brine would

combine with proteins in soybean milk

and form solids.

Repeat this several times

until impurities have all been taken out.

Now it`s the matter of time.

White crystals gradually appear.

Continue heating

and water would go down while salt comes out.

Workers here have simple and robust meals.

Especially the beef,it has magically

similar way of cooking with Taiwan.

Fry broad-bean sauce, dried pepper and round pepper first,

Of course, salt is absolutely necessary.

Self-made well salt

could stimulate and trigger out

the tasty sweetness of beef and radish.

Well salt set the base taste

for Sichuan food.

Stewed beef, the symbolic dish for traditional

well-salt workers. But it goes the best with rice.

Even in Zigong`s traditional snack,

there`s no record about stewed beef noodle.

As for beef noodle from Juan village,

the general accepted idea is that

after many Sichuan people moved to Taiwan,

they developed their skills

according to different needs.

Hao Zhiyu who is settling in Chongqing is returning to his hometown.

Walking on the road in Juan village with a huge luggage

has been reduplicated for countless times.

His sister, Hao Shufen, has her own beef noodle restaurant.

Inside the luggage,

it has the secret for her self-made exclusive deliciousness.

His father, who is originally from Sichuan, comes

after hearing the news. This father has left

his hometown in a very young age and run for life ever after.

Round pepper is one of the seasonings,

his sister asked Hao to bring from thousands miles away.

Is it okay?

Yes, it`s really ma.

Zhiyu, you are back.

Hi dad.

It`s really happy to see you.

You brought so many stuff this time.

Sis needs all of them.

“62-gram noodleâ€

All the seasonings are for it.

Making spicy pepper oil is simple but it requires original

and authentic ingredients to make it spicy, tasty and attractive.

With it, even if the extreme mediocre noodle

could have fascinating taste in a second.

Chinese using mixed five flavors to describe human life

is because they understand that taste

is the unchangeable homesickness deep inside everyone.

The taste of Juan village

is actually the taste for one of the Taiwanese generation.

Here, the difference between hometown and alien-land

is vaguer and vaguer.

Zhang Shizhong, a retired boat-header,

is living in a fishing harbor on the east side coastal

of Zhejiang province, Shipu.

Under the tranquil life,

this old man has his secret story.

This year, he wants to achieve his wish

of going to Taiwan.

On this side of the strait,

he is a father, a husband and Zhang Shizhong.

On the other side of the strait, however,

he is a son, a brother and Xu Langxiu(used name).

Langxiu, my brother, how do you do.

It`s been a long time since last letter.

How are you?

I feel really sorry. Please forgive me, my brother.

This is your brother.

This is your sister and your brother-in-law.

Qiaocai is the most regular seen sea food here.

Take out the flesh and fry it with cut luffa.

This way it could keep their original taste to the maximum.

Qiaocai is officially called mussel

which has fresh, tasty and fat flesh.

It`s produced in every sea area in the world

and become a world class delicacy.

Mussel is the favorite for French chief.

They would use condiments to lift the taste

and wine to rich the layers of mussel`s texture

also remove the fishy smell.

Are AE the English alphabets?

A call from Zhang`s brother-in-law from Taiwan,

confirming his schedule carefully.

For a 76-year-old man,

traveling this far is not a easy thing.

Ke Xiuquan is the brother-in-law from the other end of the phone.

Ever since his wife passed away, he`s been living by himself.

Too quiet life has made him

really look forward to the arrival of his brother-in-law.

Fugang the new village is also called "small Shipu"

since fishermen from elephant hill Shipu

who followed Kuomintang moved here.

Yushan island is where Zhang`s family left.

Zhang was attending a school in Shipu town at then.

They were segregated in two places

and got apart in different parts of the world ever since.

This island is at the joint of north and south ocean current

that is rich in sea products with mussel growing all over reefs.

Age never gave mercy to any one.

The gains is positively related to limited physical strength.

No to mention, the real delicious mussel is at the bottom of the sea.

It requires high level cooperation when collect by divers.

One is the diver, the other one steers a boat.

Mussel adheres tightly on undersea reefs by byssi

and has to be took down by crooked chisel.

Young men brought their harvest

and old man`s wishes back on shore.

Fresh mussel has to be handle quickly.

Stew it in boiling water till the shell opens. Take out flesh

and cut off byssus that could affect taste.

From May to August, it is the fishing off season.

Sunshine in this seaside village could produce mussel flesh

in beautiful shape.

is also ready.

I didn`t see you, Langxiu.

Come to my place first.

Let`s go to dinner at ah sou(sister-in-law)`s home afterwards.

Ah sou arranged a place for you to stay.

My place is too empty.

This is sea product from Yushan islands. This is anchovy.

Oh, qiaocai.

Yes, this is qiaocai.

This is dancai.

And this is anchovy.

Elderlies think that

it is their ancestors and ruyi empress`s bless

that they could have this reunion.

Sister-in-law is preparing dinner at home.

Except for regular seafood,

she also prepares the dish of stewed pig`s feet with daylily.

This used to be the specialty dish for Zhang`s sister.

Having a dinner together with all family members

is the simplest wish for every Chinese.

For some, however,

they need to wait

for half a century

to accomplish this wish.

Daylily is ready for harvest in this season in Taichung.

It has another name,

forget-me-not.

Good harvest of mushroom

rewarded He Fuzhi on the prairie.

Yan Baofu`s family

is enjoying the rare relaxing time in a year

by treating themselves a feast.

The returning date for Zhang Shizhong is coming.

Saying goodbyes to all the friends and families,

they don`t know when the next reunion will be.

From east to west, south to the river to

north to the Great Wall, human migrations lead to

the gathering of food. The separation and reunion

of food, on the other hand, also witness the same of people.

However, is it the human who changed food

or food that has changed human?

The dish on the table

and taste on the tongue

would nevertheless,

tell us the full story.

Mountains, forests

rivers

prairie

and desert,

places that are too far to reach,

are hidden what kinds of delicacies that are unknown to us?

How did human cooperate with the nature

to inherit ancient tastes and dishes till now?

Secret land is taking us to search and discover

special people and special food.

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