The Year of the Tiger is not considered auspicious for marriage, so in the last days of the Year of the Ox there was a rush of weddings. Lily and Wan Li held their wedding banquet in Guangzhou on 31st January - a magnificent event with a 13 course meal. The dishes are almost always the same and there are hidden, lucky meanings in most of them.
Originally from the north of China, hand-made noodles can be found on street corners across the whole country. Watch the awesome skill of this noodle-puller as he makes two of the most popular types, Lamian (pulled noodles) and Daoxiao Mian (knife-cut noodles).
Geoff Rothwell joined the RAF in 1939 at the age of 19. He miraculously survived 71 operations as a bomber pilot, but in September 1944 his plane crashed on the Dutch island of Texel and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 in Germany.
He talks about the food experiences of the 'kriegies' (prisoners of war) while looking at the illustrated diary kept by his room-mate, Bohdan Arct , later published as Prisoner of war: my secret journal.
Zabar's is not a building that really stands out, perhaps the mock tudor looks a bit odd on 81st and Broadway but that's about it. Yet any self-respecting New Yorker knows it...
A man with a dark passion. At Phil Neal's Theobroma Cacao in London's Turnham Green can be found some of the best chocolate in town. His ambition is to change people's habits, to get them to understand what great chocolate tastes like and eventually to open the best chocolate lounge in the country. He explains both his passion and his dreams.
A visit to Liu Shunli's teashop in Xiamen is a leisurely affair as he makes tea for tasting - not drinking - explaining the process and customs involved. He talks about the properties of Tieguanyin Tea, one of China's most famous teas, grown in the plantations of Anxi.
Ever wished that you could cut down on your food bills? Artist and activist Spring Exprit (Eugenia Beirer) may have the answer. Call it Dumpster Diving, Skipping or even Freeganism - on the face of it “food salvage” is simply the practice of retrieving and eating food that others have thrown away. But it goes much deeper than that, calling in to question the workings of the entire capitalist economy. Oh, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun too.
Hattie Garlick visited New Covent Garden Market with a group of novice scavengers to learn the tricks of the dumpster diving trade. Click More below to watch her video.
Ace Cafe on London's North Circular Road has been serving bikers since 1938. Hattie Garlick visited recently and learnt how, after being destroyed in an air-raid in 1940, it became the world famous haunt it is today getting through an astonishing 7 tons of sausages a year.
But how does a vegan survive in this world of leathers and bacon sandwiches? Hattie tracked down Vegan Biker Boy for some answers.
Started in 1871, Maison Bertaux still survives in its original premises. Such is the devotion to this wonderful pastisserie that one ex-Soho resident has been going there for over 60 years - even though he moved out of London 25 years ago.
Peter Boizot, MBE, is a Soho legend. In 1965 he introduced the pizza to Londoners when he imported an Italian oven into the first ever Pizza Express in Wardour Street. The popularity of the jazz club below his Dean Street pizzeria lead to the founding of the Soho Jazz Festival. He fought the very successful Save Piccadilly campaign, was a founder member of the Soho Society and the Soho Restaurateurs Association and supported in no small measure Soho Housing Association.
We interviewed him about those pioneering days at his home in Peterborough.
The original London coffee bar. Opened in the middle of the last century initially to provide workers in the Soho area a place to eat after they finished work in the local restaurants, it went on to became a beloved institution. Still family owned, it is now run by the grandsons of the original owner. Tony tells the story.
The Ye family have been making award-winning sesame cakes for decades. They are one of the specialities of Gulangyu Island where visitors and locals alike stop to buy them on a busy corner from a diminutive cart.
Xi'an, long the capital of China from the time of Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor, is not only famous for its history, but also for its dumplings; one restaurant in particular offering some 120 varieties.
The Chinese are great 'snackers'. Throughout China, in the evenings in particular, street markets offer a huge range of foods. These snacks from a night market in Beijing prove once again that, to the Chinese, anything is a potential food...
Every morning in Xiamen in China, you find people selling breakfast foods from barrows to people on their way to work. The project was set up by the government about 8 years ago to provide employment for the jobless and to ensure that everyone could have a good breakfast.
REZA MAHAMMAD, owner of the famed Star Of India in Kensington, TV celebrity and much loved personality, talks about his father’s early struggles when he arrived as a stowaway in 1937. He and a handful of friends attempted to establish Indian cuisine in England and eventually succeeded in changing the eating habits of a nation.
Richard Craig, Master of Wine student, will attempt to identify a series of mystery wines against the clock.
