Vol. 15 — Wok Smoke and Long Tables
China
From Sichuan to Shanghai
Standfirst
Not one cuisine but eight — Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghai, Hunan, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Zhejiang — each with its own dialect at the table. China cooks fast, sharp, communal, and always in motion.
Chapter One
Eight cuisines, one round table
To speak about Chinese food as one thing is to miss the point. Cantonese cooking is a study in freshness and steam — a whole fish with ginger and scallion, dumplings translucent enough to see the shrimp inside. Sichuan is heat and numb, mala oil clinging to every bite. Shanghai loves sugar in its sauces. Hunan loves chilli. Every region argues, deliciously.
What unites them is the round table: dishes brought out and shared, chopsticks reaching across, rice as the quiet anchor beneath it all.
The round Chinese table is the great equaliser — every dish reachable, every guest included.
— Maison Maps journal
Chapter Two
Between the market and the wok
Bao steamers stacked in Chengdu. Cleavers on wooden boards in a Guangzhou kitchen. Cold noodles on a Shanghai summer night. The China collection is made for that clatter and calm.
Apron — Shanghai
Poster — Guangzhou
Shirt — Chengdu
The Collection
The China Collection
Dim sum, dumplings, mapo tofu, hand-pulled noodles and long round tables — the whole range of Chinese cooking, illustrated in one composition.
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