Fuchsia Dunlop: evaluation

Transcript context

…Yes. Recently, given the often surprising boom of Sichuan food — globally even — there’s been a movement by some elements of the government, for example, to publish these Sichuan requirements. I’m curious how that has impacted some of the culinary styles in Sichuan. As you said, there’s been a bid to standardize and categorize classic dishes. The local government, also in Chongqing — they’ve produced publications which say this is mapo tofu, and this is the ingredients, like having an appellation contrôlée for wine or something. It’s an interesting and noble endeavor, but people cook in a much more free, ad hoc, creative way. There are many different ways to actually make mapo tofu, maybe some key characteristics, but you don’t have every chef measuring, to the gram, the amount of minced beef or the amount of Sichuan pepper. So I would say they’re not having that much influence. Also, because Sichuanese cuisine — one of the great things about it is that it’s so dynamic. People in Sichuan love eating, and they’re creative, and they’re always doing things like making Sichuanese dishes with okra, which was not around when I was a student there in the ’90s. There’s always this tension between — we all feel nostalgic and we love tradition, and there’s something worthwhile about trying to document classics and traditions. But at the same time, you have to recognize that a cuisine is a very vital, living form of culture, which is recreated in every kitchen every day, so the difference between practice and theory is quite deep. Do you have observations on what we’re eating so far?…

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