Beijing-born culinary expert Wu Wen appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on November 28th. She spoke about the events that led to her publishing a cookbook and the teachings that are said in China.
She had never cooked before coming to Japan. After marrying a Japanese man, she found herself in a situation where she had to cook, so she started cooking while remembering the dishes her mother had made. She says that this has led to the cooking she does today.
Her husband loved China and Chinese food, so much so that he wanted to become a cooking researcher. So he invited everyone to come over to eat, saying, "I've got a wife now," so she cooked the food herself, "which was hard. Even though I'd never cooked before." However, everyone was very pleased with the food. There was a call to publish a book about these dishes, and she revealed how "it became my job."
"The Chinese have been taught for generations that 'you should not put anything colder than your own body temperature into your body,'" she said. Young people today eat ice cream and other foods without a second thought, but she recalled, "When I was little, there was a man who sold popsicles once a week, and I would buy them from him. My grandmother always told me, 'You have to warm it up in your mouth before you put it in your stomach,' so even now, when I see something that's too cold, I remember what she said and it scares me." "But I also love ice cream, so I want to try it at least once before I die," she said, expressing her desire.
