Day: December 14, 2020

Defining Pottery with Adam Field

Maddie Woo on

Hi all!

I hope everybody is staying well during this busy finals time! We’re almost to the home stretch and remember to stay hydrated.

I have a deep fascination for pottery/ceramics because of its utility. Something so delicate can enhance the colors, textures and even temperatures of the food that is being placed on it. Ceramics are an important part of East Asian history and are universal, characterized by color, various technique and material. My grandmother has had her own European style tea cup collection that has grown so large it has now been divided between my mother and her two sisters. On the flip side, my mother’s most prized possession is a large “moon vase”, symbolic of Korean pottery. However, much of the worth that is attached to such work is from the artist themselves. One can visually see distinctions between different sets of pottery but when we start to discuss who invented what technique, it becomes a bit murky. Not only that but in an increasingly globalized world, we have others who have become aware of such artistry. Adam Field is an American artist who traveled to Korea to study the art of the onggi a traditional Korean pot that is is used to store the soy bean paste and other condiments. However, I always wondered what brought him towards such a fascination to want to look at Korean pottery specifically. It brings to mind the question about cultural merging, cultural appropriation and such. This odd need to identify things and place them in limiting boxes.

http://www.adamfieldpottery.com/

Tofu Tales

Leah on

Later on in Chapter 4 of And China Has Hands, Wong Wan-Lee is visited by an old man trying to sell some food. Not only does the old man give Wong Wan-Lee food of good quality, he also gives him a warning. After telling his life story of immigrating to America dreaming of gold, only to be barely paid working building railroads, he tells Wong Wan-Lee to not fall into the same trap he did.
Wong Wan-Lee describes the contents of the old Chinese man’s basket: vegetables, Chinese roast pork, and bean curds. He says that the bean curds were “as soft as meat without bones.” That sounded so good, I had to research this food. This feels obvious, but before now I didn’t know that tofu was just another word for bean curds. There are many different stories about how soybean curds were invented. One tale says that they were made by accident when a man was trying to take care of his elderly parents. They could only eat soft foods so he made soybean soup for them, and changed the recipe bit by bit so they would enjoy it, first making the soybean more fine, then adding salt and reheating it, and then letting it cool. Eventually he got to the taste and texture of tofu. To anyone who thinks tofu isn’t for them, I encourage you to give it a try again. When made by the right person it is really delicious.

And China Has Hands pgs. 45-47
https://www.thespruceeats.com/tofu-history-in-chinese-cuisine-4090272

Ready for Guests!

Leah on

Just in case Pearl Chang decided to come by, Wong Wan-Lee tidied up his laundry shop. He hung a painting of a galloping horse and scrolls with Chinese sayings on the wall. He also bought some furniture and snacks perfect for relaxing and having tea. Some of the foods listed were almond cakes and “Lee Chee nuts”. For this post I wanted to look more into these three snacks. Almond cakes are a very popular tourist souvenir when visiting Macau. In addition to the obvious almond flour, mung bean flour is an ingredient. Then, beautifully intricate wooden molds have been used to shape the cookies before baking. The “Lee Chee nuts” Wong Wan-Lee is referring to is lychee fruit. This is a treat that I knew well; my mom would bring it home and reminisce about eating a ton of them in Panama. Imagine my surprise when I found out the fruit wasn’t native to the Caribbean! It was brought to the West Indies in 1775, and there weren’t that many trees. Eventually a different variety of lychee seed was introduced to Panama in the early 1900s. Although Pearl Chang might have thought this array of treats was lacking, just reading it made my mouth water.

And China Has Hands Ch. 4
http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2015/09/macau-almond-cookie.html
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html