TOPICS INCLUDE: Early recipes; Chinese cooking shows; Botanical nomenclature; Chopstick use; Tea lingo

by Jacqueline M. Newman

Letters to the Editor

Winter Volume: 1997 Issue: 4(4) page(s): 8 and 12

GRANT from Hong Kong asks:
Please be so kind as to include a recipe or two from one of the early dynasties. I wonder what they looked like.
GRANT: We are always glad to get letters that provide a challenge, and yours did just that. The article titled: Recipes Then and Now on page 7, in this issue is a direct response to your query; it is an early rabbit recipe.

EVELYN from NEW JERSEY writes:
Can you find out what is the most watched cooking show in the world; and advise as soon as you can. I bet my brother fifty cents and do not want to lose my money. He said I needed to get an answer before the end of the year, so I need to know in a hurry.
EVELYN: Bet you have read previous issues where we did respond to a query that sought answers to win a bet. Not sure if this reply is speedy enough, nor could I find numbers for all major TV culinary efforts, but here is the answer I could locate, and I hope you win. Martin Yan hosts the most watched cooking show in the world. His shows are seen in more than eighty countries.

From DANIEL in KANSAS:
The reason I write is to first tell you that I like your publication and secondly to make a couple of suggestions, if I may. 1)Carl Linnaeus developed bonomial nomenclature for all genus and species and the Latinized name of a living entity should be either underlined or italicized. 2) You may use anglicized Chinese words. It would be very educational to have the Chinese character(s) follow the word...I know it will take more work on your part but will be doing a GREAT service to the Chinese community.
DANIEL: Thank you for two excellent suggestions. We have been looking in to acquiring a good Chinese character writing program and the ones we have tested are beyond our budget (because this magazine runs in the red and continues thanks to many generous folk). As to your first sugggestion, you are right. We did not italicize so that our readers did not think the words were Chinese. As you may know, the editorial policy is to italicize all Chinese words. We need to expand that policy to all foreign words and will do so starting with the next issue. We will also include Latin names. Thanks for two great ideas!

SUITAN in SAN FRANCISCO asks:
Do you know how many people in the world eat with chopsticks?
SUITAN: Wish we were able to locate that information. What we did learn was that about one-quarter of the world's population is Chinese. Because people of several other countries (i.e.: Japan, Korea, etc.) use them, too, that makes for a very large number. The magazine Restaurants and Institutions, once published that one and a half billion people eat with fork, knife, and spoon, three hundred fifty million with knife and hands, and two hundred fifty million more only with their hands. We are aware that many non-Asian peoples try to use chopsticks, but are unsuccessful. Perhaps some of them are our readers. In the hard copy, we did include pictures of how to hold and use them.

HELENA from NEVADA inquires
There is so much talk about many kinds of tea, green and black, and about healthful attributes of one or the other or both. Can you tell me how we got the word tea and also can you provide mail-order places where I can order small amounts of a number of teas. I want to taste and find the one(s) I like the best. Would not mind if you would do some library leg-work for me, too, and suggest articles about the health of this beverage. I really do want to learn all that I can about tea.
HELENA: Japanese, Portuguese, Turks, and Russians, among others use variants of cha while Malays, Koreans, and most Wesetern European nations say tey or a similarly pronounced word. In any case, turn to the test on page 12 in this issue, and contact any number of tea merchants listed below for purchasing teas.

The list is far from complete; the names and addresses selected, are not an endorsement, nor do they only sell Chinese teas. They are places chosen from those I or others on the editiorial board have used. On the scientific/library front, Cable News Network featured Mark A. Kantor discussing the health benefits of green, oolong, and black teas. Perhaps you can get a transcript of that May 31st 'On the Menu' feature and begin your research there. Now on to the tea merchants:

Eastrise Trading
318 S. Date Avenue
Alhambra CA 91803
(818) 281-2800

Golden Moon Tea, Ltd.
P.O. Box 1646
Woodenville WA 98072
(206) 869-5376

Mady's Company
1555 Yosemite Avenue, Suite 46
San Francisco CA 94124
(415) 822-5656

Harney and Sons Fine Teas
11 Brook Street
Salisbury CT 06068
(888) 427-6398

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