New book goes beyond food to explore kindness

Readers and food enthusiasts gathered on Saturday at Rendez-Vous bookstore in Beijing for the launch of China Beyond Tastes, a new book by Chinese documentary filmmaker and food writer Chen Xiaoqing, best known for directing documentary series such as A Bite of China and Once Upon a Bite.

The two-volume collection draws on Chen's travels across 14 Chinese cities and regions over the past three years, including Hunan province, Shanxi province, Tianjin and Xizang autonomous region. Guided by local friends and experts who serve as his food guides, he explores not only regional dishes but also the histories, cultural traditions, urban development and everyday customs that have shaped them.

"Nowadays online traffic can be a powerful force," Chen said, "but the problem becomes particularly serious when online attention creates a binary judgment: a restaurant is either delicious or not, successful or unsuccessful, worth visiting or not worth visiting."

"If everyone says a restaurant is good, people tend to accept that it must be very good. That's how traffic works: it leaves little room for anything in between. But what this book wants to explore is precisely that middle ground."

Chen compared a chef's performance to that of a soccer player. "Even the greatest players have days when they are not at their best. The same is true of chefs. A diner may happen to visit a restaurant on a day when the kitchen is not performing particularly well. If that single experience becomes the basis for a sweeping negative review of the entire establishment," Chen said, "the judgment is unfair."

"Especially when your voice carries weight, you have to learn to be gentle and considerate toward others," he said. "I think that may be the most important thing."

Chen also recalled a piece of advice from his close friend and one of his team's most important advisers, the late food writer Chua Lam: "Always leave others a bowl of rice to eat."

The Chinese expression carries a meaning beyond its literal reference to food: people should not be deprived of their livelihoods. Criticism has its place, but influence also brings responsibility.

Li Ren contributed to this story.