舌尖上的中国

Life always pushes us

to strive forward

regardless of our willingness.

Prepared to depart,

people begin the trudge.

Where they settle,

there is cooking fire.

From the migration of individuals

to the transportation of food ingredients,

from the evolution of cooking methods

to the alternation of human destiny,

the footsteps of human and food

never cease.

In Linzhi, Tibet,

the warm and humid seasonal wind from the Indian Ocean

promotes the rapid growth of plants.

It's again the busiest time of the year

for Baima Zhandui.

“So tiny.â€

Gastrodia elata and Ganoderma lucidum are

the major income sources,

but they will all vanish

one month later.

"It breaks again."

Boasting canyons and snowy mountains

with an elevation difference of seven thousand meters,

Linzhi embraces

the most abundant alpine plants in the world.

Baima's little brother has just graduated from senior middle school,

so Baima has to earn enough money

for him to go to college within a short time.

Before that,

Baima prepares

a special gift for him.

Eighty percent of the forests in Tibet are situated in Linzhi.

Baima Zhandui searches hard for

the honeycomb he discovered several days ago.

Now,

he has to find a way to reach the tree top.

To the local people,

honey is so precious a nutrient

that it deserves their risk.

Though it sounds incredible,

this custom

has been passed down for centuries.

Baima chooses a cane

by which he is connected with the tree.

From now on,

his life is determined by the cane.

Everything seems going on quite well.

One hour passed, Baima has climbed high.

Baima has climbed high.

But there’s still a long way to go.

Worrying about his son,

Baima's father arrives hastily.

Baima dares not to cut the tree with both hands now,

and he slows down significantly.

Don't be afraid,

look up

and hold tight. Take it easy.

Three hours later,

Baima has almost reached the tree crown.

He now

prepares to free himself from the cane.

Forty meters up high on the tree

without any protection,

it is indeed a dangerous walk.

Wild bees are unafraid of human beings.

Baima has learned from the elders

how to produce smoke,

which forces the bees to give up resisting.

To cut open the hollow where the bees hide,

Baima could yield the sweetest honey.

Very delicious and nutritious.

It’s been so long a time since I ate it last time

In a remote and isolated forest,

sweet food is really scarce.

Therefore, honey

is the most precious gift

that Baima could bring for his family.

Sweetness is the purest

and earliest experience of delicacy for mankind.

Honey contains

80% of fructose and glucose.

As the only sweet food for early men,

honey can produce calories

and restore physical strength quickly,

which is crucial to our ancestors.

Unlike the sucrose extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets,

the natural sugar in honey

can be immediately absorbed by human body without hydrolysis.

In Chinese kitchens,

honey can never be replaced

by other sugars

in the preparation of

dishes and desserts.

Surely,

as to the Baima’s, butter honey is their favorite.

For the Tibetan youth,

to obtain honey means

to climb as high as an equivalence of ten floors.

However, for some others,

to gain honey requires an arduous plod over tens of thousands of kilometers.

Canola is just beginning to blossom;

Tan Guangshu has been ready to set out.

Let’s go.

Lao Tan is a professional beekeeper

for more than twenty years.

By this job,

he has managed to raise a son and a daughter.

Every year at Qingming Festival,

Lao Tan, together with his wife Wu Junying,

starts the journey of racing against flowering seasons.

After a full day and night,

the beehives have been transported to Qinling Region, 500 hundred kilometers away.

The flavor of flowers defines that of honey,

thus honey produced in different areas

tastes distinctly.

And that’s the charm of honey as a delicacy.

Qinling is home to the best acacia honey in China.

However, Lao Tan is uneasy,

after all,

beekeeping is dependent upon the climate.

In the middle of April,

the weather changes in a sudden.

Nobody knows

how long the bad weather would last.

Past experience is unreliable.

Last year you went there and got the honey, that's fine.

But it wouldn't be necessarily the same case this year.

You have no idea of

the real situation about the destination.

The road ahead is thus unseen.

Twenty years ago,

Lao Tan promised his bride

to undertake a sweet career with her.

When we were engaged,

Lao Tan told me that beekeeping

was like traveling,

fun and romantic.

After we married, the truth is that

we are always on long and arduous journeys,

full of hardships.

In the days of poor traffic,

people always bring foods that can be preserved for long

when they travel far,

which are generally called Road Dishes (i.e. travel-ready dishes).

Road Dishes not only prevent people from hunger,

but also retain the hometown flavor familiar to their owners.

The seemingly lonely trip

is enlivened

by the the presence of a woman from Sichuan.

Take it easy.

I know I should take things easy.

She has a quick temper and I have a bad temper.

Wu Junying is able to

make soybean pudding (Douhua) with simple tools.

In Sichuan and Chonqing,

Douhua is a popular appetizer and easy to make.

Sichuan husbands are henpecked.

It would be good.

Women are capable.

They hold up half the sky,

maybe more than half.

Without me, you have nothing to eat.

You don't know how to cook.

Whatever you, Tan Guangshu, want to eat, I make it.

Before I get it done, you just praise me falsely.

Sichuan women are indeed capable.

Douhua is in fact ,

a kind of gel

with the proteins in soybeans reorganized

that is, the protein cells are linked

to form a reticular network when heating in brine.

The taste of the soybean pudding is conditional

on the use of strength in squeezing out the water.

In the simple and crude tent,

a wonder takes place.

Now it’s time for seasonings.

With refreshing parsley,

cool mint, crispy deep-fried peanut,

as well as sour and spicy pickled vegetable,

the soybean pudding is ready to be served.

It’s delicious enough for one

to forget all the tiredness of such a long trip.

Lao Tan, have a look,

it is exactly the same as those we made at home.

The soup is so clear.

Well done.

Today's Douhua looks rather nice.

It feels cool to eat it when it is hot,

very very cool.

When you were mad at me in normal times,

you should have been as tender as you are now.

An understanding wife and loving mother.

Understanding and loving.

In Sichuan, basically women are the boss in the family.

Lao Tan is henpecked.

A rich meal

indicates a new start of journey.