Write for Food: Southern Weekly 2002 China Media Outstanding Performance Award (Representative Work of Outstanding Columnist)

Author: Shen Hongfei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: My name is Shen Hongfei, and I am a media professional. Shen Hongfei is my pen name. The character "Hong" is part of the family name hierarchy of the Shen family in Western Hunan, while "Fei" was a creative idea from my grandfather. This term carries a double meaning: first, it reflects the scarcity of food in the early 1960s; second, it expresses the hope for a prosperous day when food supply will be abundant. It carries a sense of "both challenge and opportunity coexisting." Of course, Shanghai is a city that rarely experiences true hunger. Even in the early 1960s, I was always well-fed and had no lack of basic nutrition. However, the atmosphere of hunger was suitable for cultivating in people's physiological mechanisms a lively factor that made them crave food, fostering a habit of easily falling into a state of craving, which gradually developed into part of one's personality. Many years later, I noticed a phenomenon: those born during the Three Years of Natural Disasters generally had better appetites than people from other years. Over thirty years later, food supply was not only abundant but also at its peak, even to the extent of events like "milk being poured into the Mississippi River," which we would have never believed possible back then. There were even events like being able to write post-meal reflections after being full. Writing about food in "New Life" was at the invitation of Ms. Cai Jing, who was then the deputy editor of the "Southern Weekly" supplement. The saying goes, "When there is a lavish feast, one must change color and act accordingly." Therefore, out of great kindness, I did my best and took up my pen to write about food. I am not a food connoisseur, nor am I skilled in cooking. My only confidence lies in my constant craving—a gift from the era of hunger. A poet once wrote, "I am a person who fears death, and I am still afraid of death even after death." I might say, "I am a very greedy person, and I am still very greedy even after being full." Additionally, I have a diverse palate and love a wide range of foods—Western, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Southeast Asian—there is nothing I don't enjoy. Of course, I only love and can eat things that are considered normal in any culture. At the same time, I have no intention or ability to concern myself with readers' dining preferences. I only want to use words and sentences to evoke emotions and deconstruct the flavors and dining behaviors of food. If dining is a grand play of human life, then the role of "food writing" is at most like the intermission storyteller in Brecht's theater. Eating and drinking are truly things without principles. What is delicious and what is not is extremely personal and emotional. As the saying goes, "Food has no fixed taste, and what suits the mouth is precious." "Food writing" is basically personal experience, and if it does not align with the private experiences of the readers, that is natural; if there are similarities, it is purely coincidental. I hope everyone can forgive this. There was once a reader who wrote to question whether the various eating and drinking behaviors I described in "food writing" could be suspected of being financed by public funds. Here, I would like to make a serious and responsible clarification: "food writing" contains not a single word or sentence that comes from public funds. Moreover, sharing personal feelings with fellow enthusiasts is not only unrelated to eating with public funds but is essentially eating with private funds. If there is even a hint of dishonesty, I will be punished by being tied to a chair for three days and nights, facing this table after table of unrefined Manhan Quanxi, and starved to death.