五味俱全 Every Flavor Under the Sun: An Exploration of Yunnan Cuisine

This past J-term, Hannah Beach '17.5 and I traveled to China for the month of January to create a short documentary film about Yunnan cuisine. We split our time across five different destinations where we were able to... [ view full abstract ]

This past J-term, Hannah Beach '17.5 and I traveled to China for the month of January to create a short documentary film about Yunnan cuisine. We split our time across five different destinations where we were able to experience firsthand the remarkable culinary variety that Yunnan has to offer. Our film is entirely in Chinese with both English and Chinese subtitles, and it consists of a series of interviews with restaurant workers, chefs, and friends we made who were passionate about the distinct foods and culinary styles particular to their city or ethnic minority group. Our film seeks to demonstrate the unique qualities of Yunnan cuisine, which stem from the great ethnic diversity and biodiversity of this region, setting many of the dishes featured in our film apart from more traditional Chinese dishes. This film also strives to demonstrate to Middlebury students the possibilities provided by language learning and the way in which micro-level connections can act as a window into a culture. Our efforts to document the culture surrounding food in Yunnan not only reflect the heterogeneity of regional dynamics in the province, but also illustrate the profound and multi-faceted significance of food in Chinese culture.