Sichuan Culinary Museum
Feeling confident and frugal we decided to figure out subway and bus systems in Chengdu to get us about two hours outside of the city to Sichuan’s culinary museum. We took the subway to the end of the line and then took a bus to the end of its line as well ending up in a relatively rural outskirts of the city. On our way we noticed that the sides of the roads are jam packed with gardens absolutely anywhere possible! We could see lots of potato plants and beans climbing up trellises. Throughout the trip we pondered how these cities with massive populations provide their people with enough food. Upon leaving any city we were greeted with some version of food production. We saw gardens, farms, rice patties, and huge greenhouses all contributing. Even in cities we would see plants like peppers and greens planted in anything, flower pots, styrofoam boxes, and herbs growing in glass bottles hanging off walls. No space or materials wasted. No grass medians! (pictures below)
We finally arrived to the museum with our minds already on the subject of food to be greeted with a new context, the history of the cuisine of Sichuan.
Pictured here is “The Soul of Sichuan Cuisine,” fermented chili black bean paste. There was a re-creation of the traditional process of fermenting the chilies and beans in large ceramic barrels that were flipped daily to stir them.
These were early steamers and smokers. It was hard to tell but we think the food was placed inside the smoker and it was set over a low fire or coals that flavored and cooked the food through the holes in the ceramic pot. The steamer (below) is relatively similar to most steamers used today with water boiled underneath.
They had this large presentation of stacking bamboo steamers. I think they may have just been stored this way but it may possibly work. Either way the stacking steamers are an energy efficient and delicious way to cook food, two important qualities in Chinese food.
We saw some stone mills similar to the ones that were still widely used in Ze’s family’s village in Shandong.
These we essentially large mortar and pestles used to crush chilies.
Finally we ran into the largest kitchen god in Sichuan. We prayed for more culinary adventures.
