When you think of Chinese food in the US, fried rice, or General Tso’s chicken may first come to mind. But a new museum exhibition in New York City is trying to expand visitors’ palates (味蕾). It features stories of famous cooks like Martin Yan and home cooks whose food represents 18 different regional cooking styles of China.
“I think it’s unfair to just classify Chinese cooking as one,” says Kian Lam Kho, an organizer of “Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America” at the Museum of Chinese in America. “Even with the same dish or same cuisine, every family has a different variation.” That’s why the organizers say if you want to taste the full range of Chinese cuisine in the US, you’ll need to go beyond restaurants and into home kitchens, which can play a central role in many immigrants’ lives.
“The kitchen itself is kind of a comfort when you come to a new country. That’s the one place where you set up as your home base, and you cook things that you remember from your past,” explains Audra Ang, another organizer.
One of the home cooks showcased in the exhibition is Ni Biying, 80, of Manhattan. She worked as a live-in babysitter for years before she could finally afford to rent a home with her own kitchen. These days, you can usually find her moving around her one-bedroom apartment as a sweet smell of vinegar and rice wine floats from her stove. For Ni, a small dinner for friends and family means preparing almost a dozen different dishes. She learned some of her techniques from her father, who made most of her family’s meals when she was a child. “I still miss the beef with stir-fried celery my father used to cook,” she says. And it’s the kind of comfort food that defines Chinese food for Ni.
【小题1】What is the new museum exhibition mainly about?| A．Cuisine of different countries. | B．Exploration of famous restaurants. |
| C．History of Chinese immigration. | D．Stories of Chinese food and cooks. |
| A．It provides a wealthy life. | B．It brings a sense of belonging. |
| C．It helps them to accept new cultures. | D．It enables them to forget the past. |
| A．She worked in a Chinese restaurant. |
| B．She made most meals as a child. |
| C．She learned cooking from her father. |
| D．She lives with a big family. |
| A．Cuisine Gains New Variations |
| B．Home Cooking Brings More to the Table |
| C．Immigrants Seek Their Fortune in the US |
| D．Chinese Restaurant Tells Immigrant Tales |
