Posted 2019/4/28
"A Bite of China" is a popular TV documentary series that first came out in 2012, and has now begun its second season. The highly anticipated series aired its second episode on Friday night. It follows seven stories about passing on culinary traditions to the next generation.
These highly demanding skills are demonstrated by a chef specializing in Shanghai cuisine, or Benbang as it's called by locals. The production crew says the chefs are "the Grandmasters of the chopping board".
"We displayed the stunts like a kungfu movie. It feels like there's "a world of knife and sword" in this trade. We achieve that through special angles, editing, and music that has a martial arts feel. We want to convey that these skills are profound and very difficult to be a master," Chen Lei, director of the second episode of "A Bite of China II," said.
The production crew also spent eight months shooting a story about an old man who insists on making handmade dried noodles. He lives in a cave on the Yellow Plateau, and keeps making noodles even as the land lies barren.
"In his face you can see that he has experienced all the ups and downs of life, but he's still very confident. I was deeply touched by his confidence in making noodles," Chen said.
However the man's health is not good, and he faces great difficulty in passing on the skill to a mostly uninterested generation. Yet he refuses to give up.
"I hope this episode can be a gift that I can send to him, an ordinary old man living in a village and making good food," Chen said.
The second season of "A bite of China II" has eight episodes, including one dedicated to behind-the-scenes footage. The program airs every Friday night at 9 o’clock on CCTV-1.
