Wong - Apron strings: navigating food and family in France, Italy, and China

Jan Wong takes us on a trip through three of the worlds greatest cuisines to learn the secrets of their foods as well as the civilizations past and present that underlie what they eat. From a farm family in France coping with globalization to the stubborn traditions of central Italy and the cultural confusion of todays China, we meet the families and people behind the dishes and learn how to make them as well. A wonderful story about Jans own efforts to bond with her son, Apron Strings is what we have come to expect from Jan Wong: funny, insightful, and brutally honest. Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China

Sharp-eyed and intrepid, Jan Wong and her resourceful son Sam investigate at first hand what happens in three cultures where people are renowned for practising and enjoying great culinary art as normal daily custom. The resulting report, spiced as it is with honesty and wit, lays out for us a rich and thought-provoking spread. Margaret Visser, author of The Rituals of Dinner

For a foodie like me, Jans book is irresistible, but the fact is that anyone will love this book. Apron Strings is one of the most appealing, charming, loveable books Ive read in years. Stevie Cameron, author of On the Take

A sharp-minded and famously sharp-tongued reporter drags her fully grown, chef-trained son on a homestay cooking tour of France, Italy, and China. What could possibly not go wrong? Inquisitive, caustic, delicious, and cant-look-away entertaining, this is Jan Wong at the peak of her powers. Chris Nuttall-Smith, Top Chef Canada

A fun and feisty journey through three great culinary cultures around the world. Jan Wongs keen attention to detail and sense of humour make for a captivating read. Jen Lin-Liu, author of On the Noodle Road

Also by Jan Wong

Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now

Jan Wongs China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent

Lunch with Jan Wong: Sweet and Sour Celebrity Interviews

Beijing Confidential: A Tale of Comrades Lost and Found

Out of the Blue: A Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness

Copyright 2017 by Jan Wong.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). To contact Access Copyright, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893-5777.

Edited by Jill Ainsley.

Cover and page design by Jaye Haworth and Julie Scriver.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Wong, Jan, author

Apron strings : navigating food and family in France,

Italy, and China / Jan Wong.

Includes index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-86492-961-7 (softcover).--ISBN 978-0-86492-950-1 (EPUB).--ISBN 978-0-86492-951-8 (Kindle)

1. Wong, Jan--Travel. 2. Food--Social aspects. 3. International cooking. 4. Globalization. 5. Families. I. Title.

GT2850.W66 2017 394.12 C2017-902815-4

C2017-902816-2

We acknowledge the generous support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Government of New Brunswick.

Goose Lane Editions

500 Beaverbrook Court, Suite 330

Fredericton, New Brunswick

CANADA E3B 5X4

www.gooselane.com

For Sam

Contents

FRANCE

ITALY

China

A Note on Names

I have used the standard Pinyin system for spelling Chinese names, occasionally including the characters should you want to buy the ingredients. All names in France and Italy are real. In China, I changed many personal names or rendered them in poetic translation to avoid unwanted scrutiny from Chinese authorities. In some cases, I also altered minor identifying details, such as where someone attended university. In all three countries, all the events happened as described. All the quotations are real. None of the characters are composites.

Principal Characters

IN ALLEX, FRANCE

Marie-Catherine Jeanselme, 62, retired nurse

Franois Jeanselme, 68, her husband, retired headmaster

Pierre-Marie, 24, their son

Philomne, 21, their daughter

Mamie, 93, Marie-Catherines mother

Bernadette Seguin, 67, their housekeeper

The Georgian refugees

Rska, 25

Davit, 28, her husband

Andrie, 20 months, their son

Kti, their newborn daughter

IN REPERGO, ITALY

Maria Rosa Beccaris, 48, nurse

Fiorenzo Cavagnino, 57, her husband, highway authority employee

Chiara, 17, their daughter

Nonno, 80, Maria Rosas father, Guiseppe

Papa Franco Cavagnino, 86, Fiorenzos father (in Montegrosso)

Mirella Massasso, 48, Maria Rosas cousin, vineyard owner

Beppe Massasso, 57, her husband, vineyard owner

Alessandro, 29, their older son

Luigina, 78, Mirellas mother

Rocca dArazzo (fifteen kilometres away)

Federica Battilla, 46, nurse

Luigi Campini, 47, her husband, town hall messenger/handyman

Eleonora, 14, their daughter

Maria, 81, her mother

Asti (thirteen kilometres away)

Antonella Bossotto, 59, hospital secretary

Luigi Epifani, 64, her husband, manager of radiology department

Matteo, 30, their younger son

Beatrice, 3, their granddaughter

Maria Stella Puddu, 57, hospital accountant

Bruno Colaianni, 59, her husband, owner of autobody shop

Cristina, 18, their daughter

Matteo, 28, their son

Giulia, 27, his partner

Maria Lucia, 58, Giulias mother, vineyard owner

Beppe, 61, Giulias father, vineyard owner

IN SHANGHAI, CHINA

First home

Hilly, 47, housewife

Allan, 47, her husband, executive for a foreign manufacturer

Dickie, 12, their son

Peace, 37, their live-in maid

Second home

Anthea, 51, housewife

Joy, 12, her daughter

Orchid, 47, her live-in maid

Third home

Peony, 49, businesswoman

Paul, 50, her British husband, executive for a British company

Suzy, 9, their daughter

Pete, 11, their son

Little Chen, 32, their live-out maid

Fourth home

Plum, 47, housewife

Building-the-Army, 48, her husband, CEO of firm managing foreign countrys real estate holdings

Amanda, 18, their daughter

Fred, 13, their son

Little Wang, 45, their live-out maid

Prologue

Stay With Us

I couldnt believe my luck. As the sleek Eurostar train slid out of Londons St. Pancras station on an overcast winter morning, I regarded my son with wonder. Somehow, I had managed to convince Sam, twenty-two, to join me on a journey to learn home cooking with complete strangers in my three favourite foodie countries France, Italy, and China.

At first, my younger son had hesitated. Um, he said, that summer when I first broached the idea, his face scruffy with honey-coloured day-old stubble, eyelids drooping with fatigue. He was in our kitchen in Toronto, gulping a glass of orange juice before he bicycled off to his job making salads and deep-frying mini-doughnuts at a neighbourhood BBQ joint. The endless hours with me were a concern. Would we get along? Would we have to live in the same room? Worse, would we have to share a bed?

After he left for work, I pondered the um. It wasnt a flat rejection. But his body language had not been encouraging shoulders hunched, eyes darting sideways, knees jiggling in that annoying way guys do when they feel trapped.

I am a journalist turned journalism professor. After I covered a school shooting in Quebec in 2006, hate mail inundated me. At the office, I received a package containing my books sawn in half with a power tool. Someone sent excrement. I received an all-caps death threat. The prime minister of Canada criticized me, and so did the premier of Quebec. My newspaper threw me under the bus, and I sank into a clinical depression that lasted two years. While I was sick, my newspaper ordered me back to work and then fired me. After I regained my health, I couldnt bear the thought of an editor assigning me to another school shooting. I took a job teaching journalism at a small liberal arts university in the Maritimes, dividing my time between Fredericton and Toronto, where my husband, Norman, lived and worked.