Two Reflections on a Film: Eat, Drink, Man, Woman

Considering that forum member Frank Deis is about to replicate some of the dishes from Ang Lee's film Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, I thought it might be appropriate to post this piece that I wrote, the piece originally published in 1995.

A Symphony in a Chinese Kitchen

In 1966, Mao Tse Tung ordered the publication of a cookbook. The
book, "Cooking For the Masses", contained more than 600 recipes.
No collection of dishes ever more accurately reflected the dining
habits of a people but despite the fascination of Westerners with
Chinese food, not one of the recipes printed would be of the least
bit of interest to anyone not living in China. Based on the most
simple ingredients, seasonings and cooking methods, the book re-
flected the realities that China is a very poor country and that
the food of the masses is frankly unexciting and without great ap-
peal. Even though the rich in China have enjoyed good food, wine
and feasting for more than 5,000 years, most of the people of that
vast country have never seen or tasted the dishes for which their
country is renowned. In fact, the average Chinese has little or
no knowledge of the dishes described in most Chinese history books
or recipe books.

Chu, the master-chef portrayed in Ang Lee's film, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
is said to be the greatest living chef in Taipai. The selection of
the name of the chef is no mere coincidence, for many of the
dishes he prepares, and on which his daughters dine, are much the
same as those prepared in the Chou dynasty, nearly 1,100 years
before the birth of Jesus. The modern Chu, following a long tra-
dition of great Chinese chefs, is involved not in cooking for the
masses, but in the preparation of a kind of haute cuisine that for
many years was associated primarily with the most luxurious of
banquets. Because he works at the Grand Hotel in
Taipei, a place populated only by visiting foreigners and the very
wealthiest of Taiwanese, Chu has the freedom to prepare the most
luxurious dishes, many of which take eight hours or more to pre-
pare and nearly all of which are based on ingredients so expensive
that most Chinese do not even know their names. And, because it is
traditinally considered acceptable for Chinese chefs to "appropri-
ate" food for their homes, he has the ability to prepare those
same dishes in his own kitchen.

As reflected with remarkable accuracy throughout the film, Chu
is a chef who is true not only to the culinary traditions of
Southern China, of which his native Taiwan is considered a part,
but to a range and diversity of styles from regions as diverse in
character as Inner Mongolia, Sechuan and Shandong. Of the more
than 120 dishes actually prepared in the film, about half (such as
whole carp in sweet and sour sauce; steamed crabs with ginger; and
stir-fried beef with brocolli and oyster sauce) are Cantonese,
which is the style best known to most Westerners. His lamb with
chili peppers comes from Sechuan; his meatballs with sour plums
comes from Nanjing and his "eight-jewel duckling" comes from
Shanghai, both in the East; his "imperial palace lamb" is a
traditional Moslem dish from the Northern provinces.

Because Chu, like Ang Lee, is more intent on reflecting the culi-
inary image rather than the realities of China, the gastronomic
aspect of the film avoids showing anything new or modern. The most
modern dish prepared, a cold salad of chicken and cucumber, origi-
nated nearly 300 years ago. That many who live in Taiwan now eat
cold cereals for breakfast, Western sliced bread with their din-
ner, and frankfurters and pizza at fast-food joints is shown as
Lee takes us through the daily life of the city, but such phenom-
enon are such anathema to Chu that he simply refuses to acknow-
ledge that they exist.

From the culinary point of view, "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" is a
a superbly orchestrated symphony in a Chinese kitchen. As "Ba-
bette's Feast" reflected the kinds of dishes prepared in the late
19th century at Paris's renowned "Cafe Anglais", Chu's are the
dishes served today at Tapei's Grand Hotel, considered by many to
be among the world's 10 best hotels. Where the Cafe Anglais was a
place where four course dinners dishes were prepared individually
for each diner, the kitchens of the Grand, which are shown at
their busiest in the film, are designed to prepare banquets where
as many as 3,000 guests will be served and allowed to choose from
as many as forty different dishes during a single meal. That the
hotel kitchen, like Chu's kitchen at home is always seen in a
state of pandemonium is an exquisite touch of reality. A private
kitchen, in which a single person prepares as many as 19 dishes at
a time for a meal at home, or a hotel kitchen, in which as many as
120,000 plates of food are being prepared simultaneously, can be
nothing but pandemonium.

As there is not a single false note in the kitchen scenes of the
film, neither is there any fault in the preparation of any of the
dishes, each of which was prepared by food consultant Lin Huei-Yi.
As the daughter of China's foremost food expert and a respected
food writer in her own right, she also served as coach to Sihung
Lung (who portrays Chu), those actors in his kitchen
and the one daughter who cooks, perfecting not only cooking styles
but those very special Chinese ways in which one relates to the
foods being prepared. Before killing a carp, for example, it is
considered necessary to look into its eyes and apologize aloud for
what you are about to do to it; before chopping off the head of a
chicken the cook is expected to thank the bird for giving its life
for the sake of his guests; and before serving any dish with
mushrooms, the chef is expected to take a single mushroom from the
plate with his fingers, to pop the mushroom into his mouth and
make a great show of how his guests have no fear of being
poisoned.

Lin Yu Tang, the Chinese-American philosopher and poet wrote in
the 1970s "death and dining have a strange kinship and are never
far apart from one another". In a pensive moment towards the end
of the film, chef Chu reflects that "food his how I communicate;
food is the reason I live; but, my friends, you should not forget
that food is never worth dying for". Chu's devotion to his art is
complete and Ang Lee, as very few directors in the past, makes it
eminently clear that food is worth living for.

And a second piece, printed in another publication at about the same time. More details here about the food and its preparation.






Chu, the master chef in director Ang film "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" is con-
sidered by many to be the greatest living chef on Taiwan. In
charge of the kitchens at The "Grand Hotel" in Taipei,
his life revolves about cooking and his three daughters. Widowed
for many years, Chu believes it is essential that the family meet
at once a week to share the luxurious dinners he prepares for
them. None of this is as simple as it seems however. His daugh-
ters, each of whom is trying to break away from the family home,
is uncomfortable at these dinners. One of the daughters comments,
for example that "We communicate by eating". In fact, the prepar-
ation and serving of food within the family is a means to avoid
real interaction. Equally complex, although he will admit it only
to old Wu, his sous-chef for more than thirty years, Chu has lost
his sense of taste.

A tool with which director Lee uses the analogy of the Chinese
banquet to explore the complex relationships between the members
of a modern day Taiwanese family, there are both serious and comic
sides to the film. Although many of the components in the film are
serious, even grave, Lee's touch is a light one and his approach
has great humor in it. The film is steeped in food metaphors and
illusions. Even the selection of the name of the chef, Chu, is no
mere coincidence, for many of the dishes he prepares and on which
his daughters dine, are those that had their roots during the per-
iod of the Chou dynasty, nearly 3,200 years ago, a period during
which Chinese cuisine was said to be at its apex. Even the family
problems relate to food. The strife between one daughter and the
father had its roots years ago when he virtually expelled her from
the kitchen and forced her to seek a "more suitable career" and
another daughter, still a student, works part-time at a western
fast food outlet that specializes in pizza, hamburgers and hot
dogs, all of which are anathema to Chu.

Metaphors and family strife aside, this is a film that will be
dear to lovers of fine food. As Gabriel Axel did in "Babette's
Feast", Ang Lee pays a pure homage to the creation of great
cuisine. As Babette was used by Axel to glorify the arts of the
European chef, Chu is presented as a much to be admired Chinese
artist who has devoted his life to the preservation of a 5,000
year old tradition of the creation of great cuisine. Despite his
failings as a father, Chu is presented as a person much to be
admired, one who has survived harsh and not always welcoming
circumstances in order to perfect his art. His meals, whether
prepared in the vast kitchens of the hotel or at home, are treated
with enormous amount of respect, even with a touch of awe, and
held out for devout admiration. At one level, that perhaps most
interesting to food lovers, the film is dedicated to the notion
that the creation of great food is no less uplifting to the
artist than to the audience.

From the culinary point of view, there are no faults whatever
in the film. Master chef Chu following a long tradition of great
Chinese chefs, is involved not in cooking for the masses, but in
the preparation of that kind of haute cuisine that for many years
was associated primarily with the most luxurious of banquets.
Because he works at the Grand Hotel, a place populated
only by visiting foreigners and the very wealthiest of Taiwanese,
Chu has the freedom to prepare the most luxurious dishes, many of
which take eight hours or more to prepare and nearly all of which
are based on ingredients so expensive that most Chinese do not
even know their names. And, because it is traditinally considered
acceptable for Chinese chefs to "appropriate" food for their
homes, he has the ability to prepare those same dishes in his own
kitchen.

As reflected with remarkable accuracy throughout the film, Chu
is a chef who is true not only to the culinary traditions of
Southern China, of which his native Taiwan is considered a part,
but to a range and diversity of styles from regions as diverse in
character as Inner Mongolia, Sechuan and Shandong. Of the more
than 120 dishes actually prepared in the film, about half (such as
whole carp in sweet and sour sauce; steamed crabs with ginger; and
stir-fried beef with brocolli and oyster sauce) are Cantonese,
which is the style best known to most Westerners. His lamb with
chili peppers comes from Sechuan; his meatballs with sour plums
comes from Nanjing and his "eight-jewel duckling" comes from
Shanghai, both in the East; his "imperial palace lamb" is a
traditional Moslem dish from the Northern provinces.

Because Chu, like Ang Lee, is more intent on reflecting the culi-
inary image rather than the realities of China, the gastronomic
aspect of the film avoids showing anything new or modern. The most
modern dish prepared, a cold salad of chicken and cucumber, origi-
nated nearly 300 years ago. That many who live in Taiwan now eat
cold cereals for breakfast, Western sliced bread with their din-
ner, and frankfurters and pizza at fast-food joints is shown as
Lee takes us through the daily life of the city, but such phenom-
enon are such anathema to Chu that he simply refuses to acknow-
ledge that they exist.

From the culinary point of view, "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" is a
a superbly orchestrated symphony in a Chinese kitchen. As "Ba-
bette's Feast" reflected the kinds of dishes prepared in the late
19th century at Paris's renowned "Cafe Anglais", Chu's are the
dishes served today at Tapei's Grand Hotel, considered by many to
be among the world's 10 best hotels. Where the Cafe Anglais was a
place where four course dinners dishes were prepared individually
for each diner, the kitchens of the Grand, which are shown at
their busiest in the film, are designed to prepare banquets where
as many as 3,000 guests will be served and allowed to choose from
as many as forty different dishes during a single meal. That the
hotel kitchen, like Chu's kitchen at home is always seen in a
state of pandemonium is an exquisite touch of reality. A private
kitchen, in which a single person prepares as many as 19 dishes at
a time for a meal at home, or a hotel kitchen, in which as many as
120,000 plates of food are being prepared simultaneously, can be
nothing but pandemonium.

As there is not a single false note in the kitchen scenes of the
film, neither is there any fault in the preparation of any of the
dishes, each of which was prepared by food consultant Lin Huei-Yi.
As the daughter of China's foremost food expert, and as a respect-
ed food writer in her own right, she also served as coach to
Sihung Lung (who portrays Chu), the actors in his
kitchen and the one daughter who cooks, perfecting not only
cooking styles but those very special Chinese ways in which one
relates to the foods being prepared. Before killing a carp, for
example, it is considered necessary to look into its eyes and
apologize aloud for what you are about to do to it; before
chopping off the head of a chicken the cook is expected to thank
the bird for giving its life for the sake of his guests; and
before serving any dish with mushrooms, the chef is expected to
take a single mushroom from the plate with his fingers, to pop the
mushroom into his mouth and make a great show of how his guests
have no fear of being poisoned.

This happens to be one of my favorite films.