Abstract
Food has always been a symbol a communal solidity to the Chinese people(s). Poon Choi (variously translated as “big bowl feast” or “basin cuisine”) is a unique cuisine to reveal how it works in colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong. It is composed of many layers of different ingredients, and is served in large wooden basins called poon. All the ingredients, after they are cooked, are put in the basin layer by layer, usually with the meat ingredients on top to make the dish look more inviting. As a traditional Cantonese festival meal with a history of more than 250 years, the practice symbolizes the style of communal consumption and is employed by many villages as a tool to consolidate lineage solidarity. Nowadays, Poon Choi is still regarded as an important slice of the walled village culture in the New Territories. Villagers feast on the cuisine whenever there are celebrations connected with rituals and festivals (especially in ancestor worship) and other home-grown events as an expression of communal dining culture. This traditional Chinese contains critical cultural values to Hong Kong and has shifted into different shapes after 1997 – the year when British rule ended in the territory. Using archival research, oral interviews, and field observation, this paper traces the origin, transformation of this traditional cuisine from colonial to post-colonial Hong Kong, especially in 2020-2021-during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus–Making Sense from Taste: Quality, Context, Community
KEYWORDS
Communal Feast, Covid-19 Pandemic, Basin Cuisine, Ancestral Worship, Walled Villages
