Welcome to China Through Cooking – a cooking and travelogue with a single-minded focus on the love of Chinese cooking and travel in China.
My name is Karin Moorhouse 穆嘉玲. I am an Australian who lives in a traditional courtyard house, in Beijing’s ancient hutong lanes. It’s also the city where my husband, Wei Cheng 郑伟 grew up.
I have long been passionate about Chinese cooking and vividly recall the moment as a teenager, when I cooked my first Chinese dish. As the exotic Oriental aroma of fresh ginger wafted from the wok, I was immediately captivated. My unabashed love of Chinese cooking has since been galvanised by thirty wonderful years of cross-cultural marriage. Wei and I spent almost twenty of those years, living and working in the great culinary capital of Hong Kong. But it was our move to Beijing five years ago that spurred my interest in regional Chinese cooking and unleashed a great love of travel in China.
China Through Cooking combines these passions, as the two are intrinsically linked. I’ve come to realize you can’t really immerse yourself a country’s cuisine without understanding the country’s cultural traditions, geography and diversity. So food is the lens through which I continue to explore this vast country, but I am equally motivated by writing about the history, culture and people of the places we visit.
At home in Beijing’s hutongs, I am often in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes. I am not a formally trained chef, but it is no coincidence that that I spent my entire career in the food industry. Unlike most locals, my Chinese cooking has no regional affiliations, but draws inspiration from across the country. I’m frequently inspired by local produce or to recreate the regional taste sensations we encounter during our travels.
So I hope you will join me on the never-ending journey of discovery that is Chinese cooking, and the China I’ve grown to love.