We're Nate Tate and Mary Kate Tate, a brother and sister cookbook author team obsessed with all things China. We create authentic and accessible Chinese recipes for home cooks. See more...

« A Nanjing Original | Main | First Stop: Nanjing »
Tuesday
May312005

Bitten off more than we can chew?

Nate_on_train2_2

On his travels and observations in China, Colin Thubron wrote that it was "the land of a billion uncomprehended people." Watching the foreign landscape whiz by through the window of the train- a land of rural farming villages and factory cooling towers connected by unkempt roads and scattered with unfamiliar trees, I can't help but feel just as overwhelmed. A history stretching back to the Xia dynasty and prehistoric times, China is a world comprised of varied peoples with their own subcultures, variations of Mandarin, and unique foods to dish up. Even a lifetime seems too short for the greatest of sinologists to explore and comprehend. I look over at my brother, his head bouncing with the train, eyes still fighting jet lag, and I wonder what we're doing here. Who do we think we are? Two twenty somethings, packs on our back, meager belongings, and an ambition bigger than both our resumes combined. How could we possibly record each person's story, taste every dish? Have we bitten off more than we can chew?

MKT

References (2)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.

Reader Comments (6)

This website is awesome!!!...it looks like your trip is going really well...i'm looking foward to future posts...good luck!
June 1, 2005 | Unregistered CommenterLaurel
哎呀,你们已经发现了好几个可讲的食法! 需要什么帮助的话,随时随地可以跟我说。

祝你们都身体健康,一帆风顺,

孔子
June 1, 2005 | Unregistered Commenter孔子
Mk,

After reading your entries I just wish I was luxinging with you all around china all the more. i really really wish i was in china, especially nanjing. but also im very jealous you are in shanghai.

wedding stuff is crazy. remind me never to get married. keep updating this blog thing, i never read your writing before, but i like it!

<3,

Krista

p.s. if you run into to jay chou, please send him the message. you know the message.
June 1, 2005 | Unregistered CommenterKrista aka GuYanXi
Hey you two...Sounds like the Tate kids are doing a fine job in China..Wishing you all the best..Looking forward to keeping in touch through email...You both look great....Let me know when you get to Bejing....Going to the Pearl Market???? I'll have a few things for you to pick up if you don't mind...Love ya,,,CA
June 3, 2005 | Unregistered CommenterCArol Ann
Please get lost soon so that i can zoom over on my Taiwanese scooter (helmet included) to save ya'll. and please, no more prank calls. i'm still living up the last one...
June 3, 2005 | Unregistered Commenterjenchichang
i just got back from Wichita Falls!! its just about as foreign as china. jenn- i wished you were there! mk- i am finally reading brothers karmazov and it is sooo good. miss you both! :)
June 6, 2005 | Unregistered Commenterkrista aka guyanxi

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>