Food is Heaven

As scarcity and desolation stalks the land, an expert chef is looking for the greatest meal, a student is challenging his father to pursue his dreams and rebellious advocate battles the plants and their grime that is eating up the province. An ancient proverb says - "food is heaven", but in its blitz to abundance, is China consuming its capability to feed its own population? Of all the places in this empire, none is as active as a Cantonese kitchen.

Food insane Guangzhou is a growing city of 10 million people and 10,000 restaurants. Magician of the wok, Johnson Wong, assures his chefs stay on the forefront of the city's unusual cuisine.

This city is the place of China's legendary export: Cantonese food... although some of it might be hard to sell worldwide. Anything that flies in the air or walks on the land, as long as its behind is facing the sky, you can consume it. They attribute enormous attention to the freshness of food. Cantonese people adore to eat. They eat almost anything, and the closer it is to being alive, the better.

Goose web, fish lips, all sorts of bugs... Wong is kept engaged making up dishes for his wealthy and ambitious sponsors. He'll try anything. Like filling insects into bean sprouts... bees... bee pupae. If you don't consume them, they will literally fly away. And when he's not operating his restaurants, he's occupied with his weekly TV show. For Wong, food is amusement... exactly. TV series, radio shows, newspapers, columns, food conferences have made Wong high ranking celebrity cook.

Wong's food is all devoured up by the newly affluent Chinese, by those who have more food than they appreciate what to do with it. People are demanding new taste perceptions. They no longer see food as something to satisfy hunger. But on the other side of China, hunger is not old news.