The proof of the pudding is in the eating. You don't know the quality of something until you have tried it or experienced it. A TV documentary shot by six senior high school students in Suzhou will tell you what are the tastiest and enjoyable food the city is endowed with.
Wrapping up several months of investigation through every avenue and alley of Suzhou, six high school graduates from Suzhou Senior High School have produced a fine food documentary to commemorate the most representative delicious food in Suzhou.
The Suzhou rice cake, mini-wontons and the steaming bowls of noodles topped with slow-cooked pork in red broth, all those delicacies have left indelible impression on people’s mind. But in young people’s mind, especially the students, what kind of food is iconic for Suzhou?
On the afternoon of August, 6th, the production team held the final conference and video exhibition in Suzhou High School, sharing the shooting process and their understanding of the food culture in Suzhou.
Six episodes in five months
“What is your morning pick-me-up？The flat bread, churro, and mini-wontons on Fengmen Street? The steaming bowls of noodles topped with slow-cooked pork in red broth? Or the pancake on the way to school? In Suzhou, it is not the clock that wakes people up but the lingering smells that whet their appetite.”
This documentary consisting of six episodes reveals the stories and culture behind the food of Suzhou.
The Dawn (Episode 1,) pictures the scene of common breakfast from everyday life. Flat bread, churro, and mini-wontons; the Chinese-style pancake and the steaming bowls of noodles topped with slow-cooked pork in red broth are all iconic street food for breakfast in Suzhou.
People in Suzhou are always attached to sweet flavor by instinct. From the sugar painting in the childhood to the rice cake people always miss when they away from home even the monascus pork tasted when getting old, sweetness is illustrated in diverse ways in the daily life of Suzhou. The three stories in Episode 2 of Sweetness perfectly explain that people in Suzhou have shared a sweet teeth for generations.
The relationship between human beings and nature in today’s world is discussed in Episode 3. While the Episode 4 talks about a one-day travel in Suzhou: Eating pan fried pork buns at breakfast, having a cup of Boluo chin, the local green tea in the morning and homey Suzhou dishes in the noon, enjoying the afternoon in the coffee shop and traditional snack shop and as for dinner, trying the modified Suzhou cuisine in modernized Suzhou Industrial Park.
Finally, the Episode 5 demonstrates the evolution of foreign culture in Suzhou and the Episode 6 depicts the family reunion dinner of the old settlers and newcomers in Suzhou.
The producer and director, Xu Xinyi has initiated the documentary with other four classmates of hers who love delicacies. The production team told us that the main reason they made this documentary is that the delicacy of Suzhou is more than a fine cuisine but carries a lot of stories and unique culture behind. They would like to introduce all those delicacies, stories, and the culture of Suzhou to people all over the world. In order to acquire wide spread of their videos, the production team has run a Wechat official account (Let the Dish Speak) which currently has reached tens of thousands of page views.
Editor / Qi Daozheng Zhou Anqi
