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  • The Christian Science Monitor

    Slice of life: A reporter's search for knives in Beijing

    Oct 04, 2018 4 minutes
    A Chinese chef’s knife, or caidao, is used for everything from slicing meat and chopping bok choy to peeling ginger and smashing garlic. The author purchased this knife after a lengthy search in Beijing. For the last several years, these traditional cleaver-like knives, which are used in most Chinese households, can only be sold in special shops. Buyers are officially required to register their names and ID card numbers.

    Two days after landing back in China, I am wandering through a bustling Beijing supermarket like a child in a candy shop, snatching up the spices and fresh ingredients I need to cook favorite Chinese dishes.

    The mood in the market is equally festive, as it is the eve of China’s Oct. 1 National Day and the “Golden Week” holiday – a rare official seven-day respite from work. Fellow shoppers go out of their way to help this Mandarin-speaking American find the silkiest variety of tofu, the fragrant (but not too costly) rice, and the spiciest bean paste. Having lived in Beijing and Hong Kong as a young reporter, I’d learned to love homestyle Chinese food.

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