All language subtitles for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S08E03 Sichuan With Eric Ripert (1080p x265 10bit Joy)

You know what I like?
I like Sichuan.

Man, I love the food here.

You know what else I like?

Torturing my friend Éric Ripert.

I don't know why. Maybe it's

because he's so damn nice.

- You high, man?
- You look high.

I am.

- But I like it.
- Yeah?

You could pretty much
tear his toenails out

and he'd still find something
nice to say about you.

He's so polite, yet
if you look closely,

and I do, his discomfort
can be exquisite.

He's the devil.

Look at him.

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world ♪

♪ Felt the cool rain ♪

♪ On my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good ♪

♪ In this beautiful world ♪

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la ♪

It's the spicy,
sensualist heartland

of all the things I
love about China.

The collision between very,
very old and very new,

an exploding middle
class, a lot of history,

and food that could burn
you down to a charred,

smoking little stump.

Sichuan province, located
in the southwest of China,

over a thousand
miles from Beijing.

A region so fertile and lush,

that it's been referred to
as "China's breadbasket."

And it's capital, Chengdu.

Despite its
ever-growing skyline,

it hasn't lost its deep
culinary roots and traditions.

- And I figured, if I'm
going back to Sichuan

I should bring a friend.

Someone unused to the...
How shall I say...

Level of heat commonly
found in the food here.

Someone who's never
been to China before

and is unused to its ways.

I'm talking, of course,
about chef Éric Ripert

three star Michelin restaurants

as New York's Le Bernardin.

-So welcome to China, Éric.

-Thank you.

- First time in the mainland?
- Yeah, yes.

And I'm very surprised already
about, uh, what I see

in the city here.

I was expecting like, uh,
kind of a gigantic Chinatown

that we have in New York.

That's some racist shit right
there, I'm tellin' ya.

No, it's very surprising.

The streets, they're very clean.

Just... it almost looks
like a European city.

Except for the air.

The air quality, I mean,
- maybe you've noticed

that haze...
- Yeah, - it's like the fog.

- That's not... that's not good.

But I'm definitely out
of my comfort zone.

- Really?
- For sure, yeah.

- Well, good.
- Well, I'm hungry, you hungry?

-Yeah.

- Noodles, that's where you
should start around here.

Chengdu is famous for
little spots like this.

Don Don Chen Shui Mian,
named after a much beloved

Chengdu noodle snack.

Oh, yeah, now we're talkin'.

I've never been good
with chopsticks.

- Really?

- Never.

This is not bad.

I can grab it.

Kind of.

Oh, yeah.

That is awesome.

So it's all spicy.

The peppers get on you
I'm... I'm like... whew.

Yeah, well, this is
just day one, man.

I'm surprised you don't
drink beer with that.

Dude, it's only 11:20
in the morning.

What kind of an animal
do you think I am?

- Well, 'cause there's nothing
- to soothe your taste buds.

This is a good sort
of, uh, intro.

- So we're gonna have fun.
- Oh, man.

We're gonna eat well.

You're gonna drink -a
little more than you like.

- Okay.

And I have to stress
this to you now, Éric,

you cannot refuse.

Don't look at me
with eyes like that.

I'm saying it's... drinking

culture is very important here.

And if we go to,
like, a formal meal,

your ability to drink leads
to a number of assumptions

about you, you know?

Your general
manliness, penis size.

Your worth as a human being.

I'm comfortable with my size.

Think of yourself
as an ambassador

not only for America, but
for... for France, Éric.

But I am an ambassador
of Le Bernardin as well.

Of the people who work
with me and so on.

- Right.
- You don't want people, uh,

On the other side of the world

thinking that Le Bernardin
sends pussies out there

to represent.

You know what? You're scaring
the shit out of me now.

Seriously.

Yeah, you can't let
the team down.

To me... to me it's more insulting

-to be shit-faced at the table.

- No, no, not here.

It's perfectly okay to be
shitfaced at the table.

That's completely acceptable.

It's gonna be a wild week.

Yes, I have the sense of that.

♪

Here's something they talk
about a lot in Sichuan

when discussing food.

Two elements of flavor
personified by two ingredients

that are integral to so much

of the cooking around here.

The Sichuan peppercorn,
known for its flowery,

aromatic flavor and its
tingly, mind-deranging,

mouth-numbing effects... a
phenomenon called "ma."

And the spicy chili
peppers like anjing chow,

or the even hotter
facing heaven chili

provide the "la,"

pure heat.

So if you imagine like,
Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS,

tormenting you with nipple
clamps as the "la,"

the "ma" provided by the
pleasantly deranging

peppercorns, would be
like the naughty nurse

with the ice cubes.

What's your, uh, what's
your feeling on MSG?

- I don't mind MSG.
- Yeah, I think it's good stuff.

- I do not react to it.

- Right.

No, no, me too.

Nobody does. It's a...
It's a lie, man.

But you find a lot of
natural MSG in tomatoes.

-In breast milk and parmesan.

- Yeah, in a... in a
lot of products.

Yeah, you know what causes

Chinese restaurant syndrome?

-Racism.

"Ooh, I have a headache.
It must've been

the Chinese guy."

♪

Most of the traditional,
very famous dishes

of Sichuan cuisine are
not made from chef.

-Our comes out from the family.

-Uh-huh.

So family dishes
is... is the... the key

of Sichuan cuisine.

In my quest to set Éric's
perfect hair on fire,

I have arranged dinner
with this man, Go Sa,

who runs the Sichuan
Cuisine Museum here.

He takes us to a
neighborhood favorite,

Tiantian Fang Tian, for
some typical local dishes

like pickled chicken feet,
cartilaginous little bits

of gnawable goodness.

How do you eat this one?

Just, uh, bite it and,
uh, don't eat the bone,

though.

- No, no...
- Oh, it's good.

- It's delicious.
- It's spicy.

-Yeah, very spicy.

-Whew.

- Have some beer.

- Well, the food is really good,

but the spices are little bit

of a challenge, I have to say.

Oh, yeah, now we're talking.

You're gonna love
this dish, my friend.

Yeah, let's, uh,
find the chicken

in the pile of chili.

Pile of chili.

"Laziji" literally means
spicy chicken but the dish,

in practical terms,
is a game of finding

the bits of chicken
in the mountain

of ass-burning goodness.

Come on, it's fun for
the whole family.

"Is that a tiny nubbin
of hacked chicken,

or a nuclear cluster
of chili seeds?"

The Sichuan peppers are
the... for me, like... the really

super-addictive.

- Oh, yeah, I feel them now.
- It's all tingling.

- Yeah.

-Like that, right.

There's a scientific
name for the process,

- for what happens, it's san chul...
- Mm-hmm.

Is the biological agent
that causes confusion

in your nervous system.

- Confusion?
- Tingling. Confusion, yeah.

That's what I feel
right now, yeah.

You're gonna love this dish.

I'm totally confused,
I'll tell you that.

- Oh, mapo doufu.
- Oh, my favorite.

That one, I have the
feeling, is the killer.

Look at that, man.

That is some goodness
right there.

For me, the apex
of Sichuan food.

My absolute favorite,
improbably enough,

is a tofu dish.

This tofu dish, the
legendary mapo doufu,

or pock-marked granny tofu.

Ground pork or beef,
cubes of bean curd

in a rich, deeply-nuanced,

fiery but intensely satisfying
sauce of chili oil,

bean paste, garlic shoots,
ground Sichuan peppercorns,

and MSG.

This dish done right
has got it all.

Oh, that's so good.

It's a perfect balance of
stuff going on in here.

I just love, love,
love this dish.

Actually, the spiciness
makes me already,

like, uh, feeling that I
drunk -kind of, you know?

- Really?

Yeah.

- I'm like... - You high, man?
- You look high.

- I am. But I like it.

-Yeah?

And if you ever, like, have
a hangover, and you will,

my friend, you will,
um, this will scare

the evil right out.

It's prepping me for
a drinking night.

- The glory of France...
- Shut up.

Is on your shoulders.

And tong jiao yu, green
peppercorn fish,

served in a simmering vat
of seasoned fish broth,

laced heavily with
fresh and dried

green Sichuan peppercorns
and finished off

with a heavy pour of
boiling hot vegetable oil.

I think this is the most
numb you are gonna feel.

It's going to be a
challenge, this one, for me.

Any second now,
that perfect hair

is gonna burst into flames.

- That's good.
- Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Man, I love the food here.

How does that feel?

You know, it change... it
change you physically.

Like, I... I feel like
my face is changing.

Changing... Like,
my eyes are in a

- different position. My...
- I got news for you.

- Right?

Yeah, it... you better look

at yourself in a mirror, man.

All right, let's just slow down.

-Don't rush.

- Slow down.

Slow down a little bit.

Man, those peppercorns
are awesome.

I need towels. Holy cow.

-Whoa.

They're all looking at
me from the kitchen.

They're like, "Is this guy
gonna survive or what?"

Thank you.

And do I have to wear
one of those vests?

Ah, jeez.

You're gonna sink like
a stone in this thing.

My friend Éric is a Buddhist.

Not a weekend Buddhist either.

A serious, long-term
practitioner

of Tibetan Buddhism.

It's what makes him
so different from me.

He, for instance, is nice.

I am not always so nice.

On the rock is something
written in Chinese.

Maybe it's, you know,
"Gift shop this way."

-Whoa, check it out, man.

- I know.

About two hours south of
Chengdu at the confluence

of the Min Jiang, Dadu,
and Qingyi Rivers

is the giant Leshan Buddha

carved out of the cliff
wall back in 713.

It still stands as the largest

stone Buddha in the world.

-Whoa, that was pretty awesome.

- That was beautiful, no?

And me without my selfie stick.

Though Éric's Buddhism
diverges somewhat

from the kind practiced
here, as you might imagine,

the site is respected and
revered by all Buddhists.

I am respectful of
faiths not my own

and I am more than happy to let

my friend do what he does.

It means a lot to him.

And like I said, I respect that.
Really.

-Pretty cool.

- Isn't it?

All right.

This is a tasty rabbit
head dispensary.

All right.

- Is it here? No.
- Is it here?

Yeah, man. That's what
you've been waiting for.

But all this time, in a
little evil part of my brain,

I've been secretly looking
forward to this moment.

A tasty Sichuan snack
famous and much-loved

around these parts.

I'm talkin' bunny heads, yo.

Tasty, tasty bunny heads.

-I think you use the glove.

-Yeah.

Like you're doing a
little prostate exam.

- Look at it.
- Look at those teeth.

- He hates it... whoa.
- Oh, you have the tongue too.

Yank the jaw right out.

Oh, that's good.

That is delicious.

Seriously spicy, delicious,
flesh still clinging

to little Thumper's skull,
look at those little teeth.

And the best part, after
you rip off the jaw

and split the skull... the
tasty, chicklet-sized brain.

Mmm, it's a lot of meat.

Suck that brain right out.

I'm not a fan of brains,
but I'm gonna try.

- You haven't had these brains.
- Rabbit brains are different.

They're not like
custardy creamy.

They're kind of like a
little... a little like uni.

♪ Here comes Peter Cottontail ♪

♪ Hoppin' down the bunny trail ♪

Right into my mouth.

How did you crack that?

You just get that soft spot.

You're gonna crack that
thumb in and pry it apart.

Aw, jeez.

Yeah, or you just
pound it on the curb.

So you basically crack it...
Oh, you're winnowing out

the brain with its own jawbone.

There's a certain country
justice to that.

I wish I'd known
about these things.

You know, I'm gonna
make these next Easter.

I mean the whole Easter egg
hunt, what does that have

to do with bunnies?

- You know what I'm saying?
- Yeah.

Bunnies don't lay eggs.

But they do have heads.

Look deep.

Deep into the murky depths
of that most glorious

and iconic of Sichuan dishes.

It burns. It burns you
down to your soul.

Cheers.

Local friend Xiao Bin and
musician friend, Seven,

Wu Jiao Ling, and Gao Shin
all enjoy a good hotpot.

Almost everybody
around here does.

Eric, however, seems
apprehensive.

So this is Éric's first
time for Sichuan hotpot.

- Really?
- I think you're really going to enjoy this.

So this is particularly
good, right?

Which is known for
being spicy, so...

- Not a good news.

- I see it in my eyes already.

Yeah.

The way it works is, you
order a whole bunch

of ingredients, meat,
vegetables, noodles,

fish, whatever you like.

A lot of different
ingredients, and you feed them

into the pot.

The dog tail, we should
just throw them first.

Yeah, because that's
gonna take a long time.

- Yeah.
- Let's throw that tripe in.

It's called like "thousand
layer stomach."

- It's all going in there, man.
- Yeah.

The inner ring is a
more neutral broth.

The outer ring, though,
is the good stuff.

The hard stuff.

Oh, that's good man.

That's good.

- That was Eric's first bite...
- Bite.

Of hotpot.

- Awesome, right?

-Yes.

It only gets better, my friend.

- Oh, this is nice.
- Oh, yeah.

Tofu.

- Oh, this is Tofu?
- Yeah.

-Oh, it's the skin on top?

- Yeah.

Common ingredients
like tofu and seaweed,

various meats and
fishes are stirred in

along with ingredients
that are, shall we say,

less familiar to the
Western palate.

- They get the duck...
- Yeah... Then they

reach inside, they grab
the... grab the intestines

and yank 'em out
of the live duck.

- No!
- Yeah.

Supposedly, that's the...
That gives you, like,

-the most fresh.

-But it's a bit cruel, right?

Well, you want 'em fresh, Éric.

- Yeah.
- I think we should drink some beer.

-Yes, I think so.

- Cheers.

-How are you doing there, Eric?

-I'm doing amazingly well.

- Can you hang in there?

- My sinuses are...
- Open.

-So open, you have no idea.

Best part of hotpot is to share.

- Is to share?
- To share.

- Yes, I like that too.
- It's very convivial.

- Yeah.
- Sometimes we have, like, hotpots for four hours.

Four hours... As it cooks down,

it gets stronger and stronger

and the heat more intense.

A delicious, yet
unpredictable silt of spice

gathering at the bottom of
this river of hot lava.

Wow.

If you dig deep, like,
down in the sediment

down there, the riverbed?

Man, it's spicy.

You feel enlightened yet?

Look how the color's
changed in the broth.

♪

Is it what you kind of expected?

Hotpot?

Yes, it is exactly
what I expected it.

- More beers, guys?

- Yeah, definitely.

♪

I cannot think anymore.

So I'm gonna eat and drink.

But the Baijiu comes out,

and everything is fine again.

For me, anyway.

I'm not so sure about Éric.

-You're out of it, man.

It's all good, though.

It's all good.

- Okay.
- Don't say "okay."

-The evening's just beginning.

- Everything you just
had was appetizer.

It's all good, though.
It's all good.

He's the devil.

Look at him.

♪

Let's drink, Baijiu.

All right, Éric.

Yeah, you're getting into
the spirit of things.

You know, he took me...
He took me on this trip

to make me suffer.

-Yeah.

- To kill me slowly...
- That's what friend does

to another friend, you know.

That's what good friends do.

In drinking culture of
China, we enjoy torturing

your friends.

- Well, let's drink
- to friendship.

- Yeah.

To friendship.

Morning in Chengdu, and my
restless pilgrim friend

is up early.

Always a seeker,
checking out the sites,

sucking up knowledge,
nibbling at the edges

of celebrity due, no
doubt, to the fact

that most of these people
think he's Richard Gere.

Me, I don't need the glitter
or the recognition.

And screw wisdom.

Give me some damn noodles.

Now, you know that's
good, come on.

- I don't even have to taste it.
- Just look at it.

Now get in my mouth.

Mmm.

Uh, excuse me.

Can you help my family, I saw...

-Nothing from Éric.

- They think I am
Anthony Bourdain.

I'm gonna play son of a bitch.

He probably turned
his phone off.

Sorry, Tony.

- Thank you. Thank you so much.
- You're welcome. Thank you.

-Thank you.

- I think he was up
last night doing, uh,

Sichuanese karaoke.

♪

- Okay.
- Good, thank you. Thank you.

- Thank you.
- He could be, uh... I don't know,

Riding the porcelain
bus, as they say.

This is very sweet and
sticky, but I like it a lot.

I don't even know what
I'm eating, but why not?

Mmm. Spicy... oof!

-Thank you.

- I just know this
soup is awesome.

I could rule the
world after this.

Still no word from Éric.

♪

♪

The Chinese invented being
obsessed with food.

They invented, you
know, being obsessed

with the providence of
ingredients with going

to a particular place
- for a particular dish.

- Right.

So they've had that tradition
for at least 800 years.

Fuchsia Dunlop has
had an extraordinary

relationship with China,
and Sichuan in particular,

since she first arrived
here as a student in 1994.

She was the first foreigner
to study at the Sichuan

Higher Institute of Cuisine

and has written numerous
books about her experiences

and about Sichuanese food,

which are rightly considered

groundbreaking and definitive.

To say she was way
ahead of her time,

is an understatement.

She's brought us to chef
Lan Gui Jin's restaurant,

-Yu Zhi Lan.

- What he's trying to do
is sort of raise the level

of Sichuanese food
to sort of, um,

very refined banquet cookery.

Is what he's doing unusual
for Chengdu, for China?

It's really unusual because
I think in the West,

we're so very used to the
idea of a celebrity chef

and the individual
chef as artist.

But in China, people
traditionally

look down on chefs.

So this is quite a new thing.

There are very few
chefs who really like

the creative vision
behind the food

and doing the work
in the kitchen.

♪

The meal begins.

A large array of cold
dishes are laid out.

Delicate flavors like lily buds

scented with rose petals
are presented alongside

more assertive tastes like
thinly sliced, brazed

beef shank with chili oil.

Tea tree mushrooms blanched
and lightly stir fried

with Chinese stem lettuce.

And you suggest starting with the...
Lily buds?

Yeah, I would start with the
lily buds 'cause they're

nice and oiled, yeah.

♪

-It's nice texture.

- Yeah.

That's... those mushrooms
are amazing.

Yeah, I love these cashew nuts.

Also prawns served cold
with handmade noodles

dressed with natural
vegetable extracts.

So you've probably been
having all kinds of amazing

Sichuanese flavors
because Sichuan,

it's not just about chili
and Sichuan pepper,

it's about fujawei.

Complex, layered flavors
like French sauces.

- Yes.
- And there's one of them called guai wei,

Strange flavor.

- "Strange flavor."
- Yeah.

Because it's a mixture
of sweet, sour, salty,

spicy, numbing, and
nutty all together.

And this is strange
flavor noodles.

So it's just like a real
traditional Sichuan dish

but done in a very refined way.

Then some soup.

A rich, slow simmered
chicken and pork stock,

a raft of chopped
meat floats on top

to clarify the broth.

A small bundle of
impossibly thin

hand-cut noodles made
with duck egg yolks,

a Western Sichuan specialty.

[chef speaks
Sichuanese Mandarin]

- Okay.

- [chef speaks
Sichuanese Mandarin]

Okay, so he's saying, um,
first, um, have a smell

of this and then, um, and
then taste the broth.

♪

Oh, it's beautiful.

And just... just gently
press the noodles.

[chef speaks
Sichuanese Mandarin]

And then lift them
up and eat them.

♪

Oh, very refined.

You know some of these
dishes, the character,

is very similar to what
you get on the street,

but it's just done
so beautifully.

Well, we were talking
the other day

- that so many of the dishes
- we were eating in the restaurant

Started out... these were
not invented by chefs

or even cooks, they were
invented by farmers

uh, and hungry people.

I mean, and that's certainly
the story of... of much

of French cooking.

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.

For sure.

But when... when you can
achieve refinement

and you keep the soul
food in the process

you don't have only pretty food,

you have amazing food.

♪

- Wow. Beautiful.

This is a really amazing dish.

- I especially requested this dish...
- Oh, yeah.

Which is one of his specialties.

So it's sea cucumber
from Darliem

of the northeastern coast.

So that's a very expensive,

rarified banquet ingredient.

But, um, it's done with a
typical Sichuanese sour

and hot dressing or sour
and hot seasonings.

Like on the street, you'd
get just these seasonings

with slippery sweet potato
noodles - and a load of

- Right.

This is a banquet version.

- Ah.

- Yeah.

-Mmm.

- Mmm.

That's gonna be a
challenge for me.

I'm still battling
with my, uh, skills.

I would hold your
bowl a little closer.

Like this, and then
it gets easier.

- Thank you.
- Less room for disaster.

You could have told
me that before, Tony.

I was... I was having so much fun.

So that resistance, that
boing, that rubberiness,

actually elasticity, it's
kind of the last frontier

for Western palates.

-The gelatinous?

-The... and... and cartilaginous.

You know? Where there's
actual, like, crunch.

This dish, this delicacy
makes no sense in terms

of Western gastronomy at
all because in the West

there's just no concept
of eating something

for the pleasure of its texture.

Mmm. Delicious.

-Really good.

- Mm-hmm.

♪

So you're sort of
single-handedly making

the beautiful argument
that people should

go against their natural
instincts in the West

and... and open up to
what is, really,

an entirely new spectrum
of initially difficult

and extremely nuanced flavors.

I... I just... I think Chinese
is a world's most

underrated cuisine.

Because everyone
loves Chinese food,

but until recently
people, you know,

mainly in the West
thought of Chinese food

as being something very
familiar and good to eat.

But cheap and like, you
know, a bit junky honestly.

And, um, I think that
now people can see

that it has so much
more to offer.

It's got everything
from the most elevated

banquet food, imperial
cooking, hearty peasant food,

street food, Buddhist
vegetarian cooking,

Muslim cooking.

Ethnic minorities with
their own styles.

And so it's really
what you can call

a gastronomic culture.

♪

In the high stress world of
the professional kitchen

the job of the executive
chef is much like

an air-traffic controller.

One misheard order, one
garbled communication

could lead to, well, disaster.

It is with this in mind
that I arrange for Éric

to receive the attentions
of a specialist

in the maintaining
of perfect hearing

and ear-related health.

But the guy's a doctor?

Or he's like, uh, an amateur
- like in the street?

-He's kind of like a doctor.

More of a technician,
a caregiver.

And you could do it
right here in the park

while enjoying your tea.

Who needs a doctor, bro?

- Well, here you go.

My man needs a cleaning.

Yes, yes.

-Yeah, look at him.

-He's laughing.

Enjoy your therapy, you
might wanna put that down.

If he hits the sweet
spot... just relax, dude.

Just keep your head forward.

What is he doing,
it's scrapping?

Well, he has a
number of devices.

- It's a very...
- But he's using those devices

on everybody else here?

Because... No, no, no.

They're thoroughly sanitized
after every customer.

Stay in place.

If you move, you know.

Don't try this at home, folks.

One wrong move to the
right or the left

and the patient could
lose all memory of life

before 1985.

Which if it includes
Kenny Loggins might be

a good deal, but I digress.

Oh, yeah, here comes
the good part.

Oh, yeah, that's a rush, right?

It's like a... The road to
enlightenment right there.

- Oh, now the massage.

- Oh, and you might as well
straighten out Éric's neck

while you're at it.

Don't do that.

Oops, that didn't sound good.

Oh, God, that's funny.

So you ready for
the ass cleaner?

- This guy, I mean...
- They'll be right over.

Same tools as the ear
cleaner, by the way.

♪

"Work harder and you
will be a better man."

As I explained to
Éric, a true artist

must never stop learning.

The Japanese have a
name for this principle

and the intended pursuit of

knowledge and
enlightenment... - "Kaizen."

- [man speaks
Sichuanese Mandarin]

Today we will learn
fish flavored dish.

- Really important.
- So it was with this in mind,

As well as the classic work of Mr.
Rodney Dangerfield,

that I decided to
go back to school.

To make the ultimate
sacrifice for my friend,

to return to that place
of childhood torment...

Stop trying to suck up to
the teacher, I saw that.

Apple polisher.

So that my friend might
learn, might just maybe

better himself and
hopefully bring

some of that knowledge
to the hungry

and the needy people
at Le Bernardin.

You got that, right?

Like a machine, no problem.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

♪

Whoa, doing good.

- It's a little thick.
- It's a little thick.

-Little thick, man.

-Okay.

In order to get to the top

in the harsh, competitive world

of professional cooking,
sometimes you gotta use

sharp elbows.

- More?
- More starch.

More starch.

- Get your own, man.
- It's a cold world out there.

Better he learns it here
than on the street.

Hands up!

I win the prep.

♪

[speaks Sichuanese Mandarin]

The wok is intensely hot.

Things cook quickly in there.

A few seconds too slow
and things swiftly turn

from the sublime
to the ridiculous.

Okay.

Finished.

Et voilá, cheese eater.

♪

- Over cooked.
- Over cooked. A little.

- Only a little.
- Only a little.

Overcooked.

Damn. Damn.

And, uh, what about this guy?

- The same problem.
- The same problem.

- A little overcooked
- A little overcooked

Overcooked. Did you
hear that, Éric?

-Which one is overcooked?

- And you cut the... the
meat -a little thick.

- And you cut the
meat a little thick.

This is Flinstonian knife work.

You're so competitive,
I can't believe it.

Look at that knife work.

Those mushroom are too big.
Look at that,

you throw off the
balance of the dish.

You see here? You feel
the... the consistency

of the... the meat.

Almost everywhere I've
been, it seems there was

a terrifyingly powerful
yet much loved,

alcoholic beverage at the
very center of the culture.

One whose consumption
is rigorously observed

in ritual and tradition.

Whether it's some
sinister moonshine

in a 55-gallon drum in Africa,
or a distilled spirit

in the jungles of
Borneo, the mountains

of the Caucasus,
or a more refined

concoction as here,
you must drink it.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you Baijiu.

Baijiu has been around
for a very long time

and the Shui Jing
Fang Distillery

has been making this stuff
for over 500 years.

Normally Chinese people
drink premium Baijiu

in the occasion of...
Entertain important guests.

So in China, premium
Baijiu means a lot.

At a business dinner, a banquet,

one can reasonably
expect to drink quite

a lot of the stuff.

Especially when your hosts
are in the business

of making it.

And my French friend
has concerns.

Do you want to
know how we drink?

Yes, of course.

-Yes, that's very important.

- Chinese tradition.

Uh, we start three cups.

So we drink together.

After three cups, everyone
will with each other

-one by one.

- Welcome to China.

Welcome to Sichuan. Drink up.

I have told him what
might be expected of him

and the futility of resisting.

The aroma is very distinctive.

Very, very special.

There will be food, I told him.

- A lot of food.
- And Baijiu.

And one must not, under
any circumstances,

bring shame on our house.

Now the next round
it's one by one?

- Yes.

-So, how does that work?

♪

Oh, no. Oh, I mean, we
may as well get started.

♪

- Thank you very much.
- Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you very much.

- Welcome to Chengdu.

-Thank you so much.

♪

In business, how often do
you entertain like this?

Two... two, three days a week.

- Two, three days.

And sometimes, in one
day three times.

- Oh, three times?
- Yeah.

♪

Oh, wait.

Uh, excuse me, Éric?

Yes, Tony?

Wow.

My dear friend, thank you
so much for taking me here.

I will remember forever.

Okay, good.

♪

♪

Like many residents of
the City of Chengdu,

we decide to head out to the
country for the weekend.

Get in touch with,
like, nature, man.

I made a potentially lethal
mistake this morning.

- I did something I never do.
- Which is?

I ate a Western
breakfast at the hotel.

It's bad... always,
always bad news.

- Why?
- It's just something you shouldn't do

When you're outside
of the States.

Never eat the Western
breakfast in a hotel.

-Now, that I agree, yeah.

- I'm feeling it already.
- It's not good.

Well, the good news, we are
sitting by the bathrooms.

You know, and when,
you know, on a train

-is never a good thing.

- You have luxury
taste, I noticed.

-Kind of elitist taste.

- Really?

I don't like to roll in my
own... in a moving bathroom,

that's elitist?

Embrace... the experience.

♪

We're about maybe
115 kilometers away

from the center of...
City of Chengdu.

♪

Chen Zhong is a
filmmaker from Beijing

who often returns to Chengdu,
the place of his birth,

to enjoy the more
laid-back pace.

So on the weekends...
everybody comes out to...

What's it called?

Alongdaloo. It's a...
It's a term to describe

a place like this.

- Right.

- It means, you know,
the... the, uh,

agricultural family
happiness some say.

"Agricultural family happiness."

- Or "rural family happiness."
- Rural, yeah.

Rural family happiness.

It's like the rural
family they are holding

the business like this.

A restaurant, and also
entertainment place

for people to come over to eat,

to enjoy the view, to fish,
- Right.

-And to play mahjong.

Do you ever do that
when you go back...

Go back to France,
go on a weekend,

help somebody pick grapes,
do agricultural work?

Not really.

You worked on... you lived on
a farm for a while, yes?

- Yeah.
- Can you milk a cow?

- If you had to?
- Do you know how to... -Yeah, yeah I can milk a... yeah.

You know how to do it?

Uh, how hard could it be?

-It's not easy.

- I could squeeze... No,
no, it's not easy.

You have to have a touch.

A special touch.

-I'm telling you.

-How long does it take to learn?

Well, it depend how good
you are with your fingers.

Oh, I'm good.

Now almost every, uh, city
in Sichuan has a kind of

representative dishes.

And in this area, they're
very, uh, famous

for its intestine...
Pig intestine.

-Oh, yeah. That's not bad.

- Uh-huh.

♪

- So if you were on a beach...
- Okay.

And you're hanging out,
you're drinking a nice bottle

of chilled Rosé, having
some foie gras snacks

and some saucisson... - Yeah.

-As one does.

Yeah, we all do that.

Who would you rather
see in a Speedo?

Wolf Blitzer, Dr. Sanjay
Gupta, or Anderson Cooper?

Oh.

That's a tough one.

No. No, actually, that's
an... there's an easy answer.

- None of them.

-Really?

In a Speedo?

You know what is a Speedo?

-It's those bathing suits...

- t's a banana hammock. It's...
- Like, you know,

very narrow bathing suit.

-Oh!

- It's a French style...
- It's a French style...

-Oh, okay.

So if someone's running in
slow motion down the beach

in a silver lamé Speedo,
of those three,

who would you choose?

I don't know.

Come on, it's Anderson Cooper.

- The guy, like, works out.
- Does he?

-That's a good-looking man.

-Does he?

He works out?

I don't know.

You disappoint me,
Éric, you really do.

Cheers.

- Ganbei.
- Ganbei.

Oh, no, ganbei, you
finish the... cheers.

Wow, you took it seriously.

You become more and
more Chinese now.