Why Chinese Food uses so much from the Americas | Chinese Cooking Demystified

This's a question that we get quite a bit. Whenever we reach for corn, or tomato, or even chilis in some cases... there end up being people that question why Chinese cuisine can use those New World ingredients. And while we're sometimes guilty of a slight eyeroll in response (why doesn't Italian cuisine seem to garner the same scrutiny?), it's a question we love answering nonetheless because it's got... a super interesting answer.

So forgive the documentary... this one is purely a food history rant :) Your regularly scheduled recipe videos will be back after the holiday.

Now right, resources. When we first started this video, I had ambitions to write out, like... a proper works cited page here, Kurzgesagt-style. I'm feeling a little lazy after all this cutting though, so I hope you're ok with something a bit less thorough. Any high schoolers watching this... don't use any of this video for your papers, haha. But I hope we can at least give some good resources for further reading.

CHINESE LANGUAGE SOURCES
- "国菜精华". 王仁兴
- "齐民要术". 贾思勰
- “随园食单”, 袁枚
- “随园食单补证”, 夏曾传
- “广东新语”, 屈大钧
- “醒园录”, 李化楠

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SOURCES

- "Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 5, Fermentations and Food Science." H.T. Huang
- "1493". Charles C. Mann
- "The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492." Alfred W. Crosby
- "Of maize and men: the effect of a New World crop on population and economic growth in China." Shuo Chen, James Kung
- "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas." Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian
- "The Introduction of American Food Plants into China". Ping-ti Ho

And... as is customary with these videos:

The visual from Cantonese Dim Sum is via Mark Wiens, at Dim Sum in Hong Kong: https://youtu.be/Qi19xRB6UQE

The visual of the Spanish Galleon is via the Santa Elena Foundation, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-RiN5uKk7U

And while none of the stock footage needed attribution, I did get a couple clips from videvo, which's been a crucial resource for this sort of video: videvo.com

Oh, and while not a 'source', we heavily recommend that "Cats of the Song Dynasty" from the artist Gu Jila. We adore their work haha - while it doesn't seem to be available outside of China, do check out their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guajila/

And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!

http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified

Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg