Food I cooked and the related stories

Pizza and Buns: Europe & Asia

30/11/2022

(English translation below)

晚上把豆沙包重新蒸了一下，分给骨干吃。今晚很多人没来，倒也是刚好了。因为我也没做够14个。

大家反响挺好。做千层面很好吃的法国同学说，我从来不知道绿豆还能做甜品里的馅儿。另一个中国男生说，一年半没吃类似的面食了，是家的味道。大家抢着塞了一嘴，甚至有那么两三分钟没有注意保罗在说什么。

“包子的面其实是周末的pizza dough”，我说。

大家都震惊了。“口感和披萨饼底完全不一样嘛！”

“因为包子是蒸出来的，披萨是烤箱烤的”，我解释。

有时候觉得，欧洲人和亚洲人就像披萨和包子：一个是高温烤出来的，干脆爽口；一个是水里蒸出来的，温润而韧性。一个的馅儿露在外面，心里有啥都写在脸上，直接、热情；一个的馅儿包子里面，含蓄、内敛。

包子觉得披萨太直接太霸道，披萨觉得包子藏着掖着、啥都要猜。没有哪个是对的，萝卜青菜、各有所爱罢了。

说到包子，有几个很厉害的中国同学都喜欢吃我做的中餐。他们在外面八面玲珑、张扬个性，但最能打动他们的还是中餐，随和、细腻、有层次感的中餐。在中餐面前，他们有的从神坛上走下、放下了架子；有的从健谈到沉默，有的从沉默到健谈；有的把残渣剩菜都给打包走。

不是我做的有多好吃，而是每个人面对故乡的时候，都是小孩子。

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In the evening, I re-steamed the mung bean paste buns and shared them with the board members. Many people didn't come tonight, which was good. Because I didn't make enough buns.

The buns received a warm welcome. A French friend who made delicious lasagna said she never knew that mung beans can also be used as fillings in desserts. Another Chinese boy said that he hadn't eaten similar pasta for a year and a half, and it tasted just like home. In fact, people couldn't stop their mouths, and didn't even pay attention to what the chair was saying for two or three minutes.

The dough I made previous weekend were divided into four portions, and two friends used them to make pizza, saying it was delicious; the other friend didn’t give any feedback. And I made steamed buns from the remaining portion.

"The bun dough is actually pizza dough on weekends," I said.

Everyone was shocked. "The texture is completely different from the pizza base!"

"Because the buns are steamed, the pizza is oven-baked," I explained.

Sometimes I feel that Europeans and Asians are like pizza and buns: one is baked at high temperature, which is crisp and refreshing; the other is steamed in water, which is moist and flexible. The stuffing of pizza is exposed outside. Just like the European culture where things in the mind is written on the face, people are direct and enthusiastic. And the stuffing of the bun is inside. Just like the reserved and restrained people in Asia.

The bun may think that Pizza is too direct and domineering, while pizza thinks that bun hides everything and has to guess everything. No one is right. Turnips and greens, everyone has their own preferences.

There are a few Asian friends who like the Chinese food I made. They are exquisite and flamboyant on the outside world, but what amazed them the most is still -- Asian food. The gentle, delicate and layered Asian food. Faced with the food, some of them stepped down from the altar and put down their airs; some went from being active to silent, and some from silent to active; some even packed away the leftovers.

It's not how delicious I make.

Everyone is a child when facing their home food and hometown.

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