A Bite of China 舌尖上的中国

[Outofin]

This documentary about food becomes very popular recently. It's not about where you can find best restaurants or most exotic food. It's about what Chinese people have everyday. For example, in episode 2, it covers rice and wheat extensively. Of course, it's more than that. It has a lot of tasty food and local dishes I didn't know.

It's getting riduculously high reviews on douban.

http://movie.douban.com/subject/10606004/

And it's available on youtube. Just search for 舌尖上的中国. No English subtitle however.

It has 7 episodes. So far I've watched 4 episodes and like it.

A note for skylee. Episode 4 has your beloved hometown.

[liuzhou]

Excellent. Thanks for the pointer.

[simplet]

It's great, thank you. Trying to watch it without reading the subtitles is a humbling experience, though.

[xiaocai]

想起原来念大学时全国各地找高中同学蹭吃蹭玩的日子。

豆瓣评分一窝蜂的情况其实也不是什么秘密，不过有些评论写得倒是蛮犀利，值得一读。

[hbuchtel]

I'm really enjoying this so far, having just finished the second episode.

One of the later episodes features the 臭豆腐 (stinky tofu) from a particular restaurant here in Changsha, and apparently their sales increased many-fold after the series came out!

[Kobo-Daishi]

I'm downloading the episodes in flv format but nobody's seeding.

There are plenty of seeders of the episodes in the AVI format but they're 1 GB in length and I was hoping to see them faster so opted for the 100 MB flv files.

I've been watching bits and pieces through streaming:

http://jishi.cntv.cn/program/sjsdzg/

I'm watching the episode where ethnic Koreans are making pao cai (kim chi) and pounding glutinous rice exactly like how the Japanese do it when making mochi, southern Chinese making la wei (Chinese sausage, pork & duck liver sausage (my fave), Chinese bacon, preserved duck), and the Miao (Hmong) ethnic group making some stuffed fish thing.

Surprisingly fast streaming. No need to buffer except when I move the tracking bar ahead. Still I think I'll wait for the peer-to-peer download to finish downloading so I can watch it leisurely without need for buffering.

Kobo.

[roddy]

I haven't watched it, but Friday's 锵锵三人行 discussed your food pornography.

[xiaoxiaocao]

Wow, some great looking food indeed! So much variety. This is on CCTV9 in the evenings for anyone currently in China.

[frostforest]

I have found a full versio with English substitle. Enjoy it, everyone!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRHNa9qdtlw

[liuzhou]

The series has now been both officially and unofficially released on DVD.

The official release consists of 7 DVDs in high definition quality - one disc per episode. Xinhua bookstore is selling it for ¥108.

Alternatively, it can be picked up in a two disc low definition version from the naughty boys for a mere ¥7!

(Neither have subtitles other than Chinese)

[creamyhorror]

Been meaning to watch this after I read an article on how it was blowing up on the mainland. I guess there's nothing like gritty documentary-verite of your own culture.

[liuzhou]

gritty documentary-verite

I suggest you watch it before commenting.

"gritty documentary verité" it ain't!

[Guest realmayo]

... yes stuff like "In the long and ancient civilisation of China, water has always played an important role. Mr Zhou's special tofu, one of the many unique types of delicious tofu produced for centuries in this town where all members of many minorities live and work happily side by side, makes full use of the wonders of water." .... is not exactly La Haine.

Good stuff though, if you're not worried the food contains poisons it's a really cool series, from what I've seen so far.

[jbradfor]

Starting to get some Western press as well: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0626/Chinese-food-like-you-ve-never-seen-it-before .

English dubbed versions coming soon. But I'm sure no one here would stoop that low

[As a bonus, I learned a new word: abseil. I always used the word "rappel" for this.]

[liuzhou]

The first 4 are already on YouTube with Chinglish subtitles.

A bite of China English subtitles 舌尖上的中國 EP1 The Gift of the Nature

[chestnut818]

A Bite of China- 舌尖上的中国

Hi, anyone has watched this TV program? It’s a documentary of Chinese food made by CCTV. I think it’s the best one I have seen these years. It has seven episodes, very easy to search online.

The language is slow and clear, also with script.

Each episode has a topic, the first one is 自然的馈赠(gift from nature)

I list some food mentioned in the first episode:

松茸(sōng róng)

竹笋(zhúsǔn)：冬笋(dōng sǔn)，大头甜笋(dà tóu tián sǔn)

诺邓火腿(nuò dèng huǒ tuǐ)

藕(ǒu)

鱼宴(yú yàn)

Anyone want to make a discussion on this?

BTW: Don’t watch it while you are hungry! I watched this at midnight, so suffering…

[imron]

Merged with existing topic.

[liuzhou]

There is also now a book. ¥50 from Xinhua.

[abcdefg]

I bought a bootleg copy yesterday. Lots I didn't know. Maybe I'll look for the book. Might make it easier to follow.

In my (cheap) edition, the episodes sort of run together in a confusing way. Blink twice when you're in 东北 making 泡菜, and you find you are off the coast of 海南 catching then cooking fish.

Of course the less compressed 7 disc edition would doubtless make that less of a problem, albeit at much greater expense. The store I went to had both editions.

[liuzhou]

I forgot to mention that episode

has now been subtitled on YouTube..