![]() "Chinese people are really proud of their food, so they would just invite us to their homes and show us how to cook," Nate says. The Tates both speak Mandarin, and found that people welcomed them with open arms. Yunnan boasts tropical fruit–infused dishes, while Macau's cuisine reflects the Portuguese influence on the island. Xinjiang's cuisine is Muslim-influenced, with lamb kebabs and bread. They've spent the last five years deciphering China's regional cuisines, traveling to Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Lhasa, and Macau. We just thought, Oh, this is so amazing, we want our friends and family to know about this place and this food." "It was obviously a very expensive meal for them. "It was a small home on stilts, and they had some pigs below, so when we went to sleep we heard a pig squeal, and in the morning, we had fresh sausage," Mary Kate says. On an expedition into China's tropical south, the siblings got lost in a jungle, wandering for two days until they found a family that took them in for the night. The Tates began their culinary exploration of China 10 years ago, when Mary Kate visited Nate while he was studying at Beijing's Tsinghua University. "You don't want to cut up your noodles during Chinese New Year." "You want to eat really long noodles because they represent long life," Nate says. And a gelatinous rice cake called niangao, meaning "year high," is consumed to garner a higher salary for the coming year. ![]() "They're considered good luck because the word for tangerine sounds like the word for lucky or auspicious," Nate says. In the south, celebrants eat Chicken Lettuce Cups, as the word for lettuce cup sounds like the word for making money. Many of the dishes consumed for the holiday are chosen because of plays on lucky words. It's a lucky thing to eat on Chinese New Year, as the first banknote in China was called jiaozi." "One thing they make is Jiaozi Dumplings, which look kind of like pot stickers, but they're boiled and they have pork and cabbage in them. "At Chinese New Year, the entire table is covered with dishes," Nate says. The family meal is also sparked with intensely flavored foods and lucky dishes. There's more than just explosions in the sky during Lunar New Year, though. Flames were roaring out of the side of the 10th floor of the building, and people were just still setting off more fireworks." "We were in a small apartment complex, and people were setting so many fireworks off that one of the buildings caught fire. When night falls on Chinese New Year, the city erupts: "If you stand on a roof and look out over Beijing, it looks like the city is under siege," Nate Tate says.
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