The challenge will last a year and a day, from September 1, 2009-September 1, 2010.

Audio books are fine, as are books for all age levels. If you want ideas of things to read, just click on the “China” tag at the end of this post to see a bunch of my previous reviews of all sorts of books about China.

There are several levels to choose from:

Armchair Traveler:

Read 1 book about China. I’m defining this pretty loosely, but the majority of the action should take place in China. For the sake of ease, places such as Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet, and Taiwan count.

Fast Train to Shanghai:

Read 5 books about China

1 should be a translated work of fiction by a Chinese author (or not translated if you have the language skills.) I will make exceptions for Chinese authors that also write in English– their English works are fine.

1 should be nonfiction

Hiking the Great Wall:

Read 10 books about China

1 should be a work of translated fiction

1 should be nonfiction.

Here you can read 1 book (but only 1) about Chinese immigration. So, stories of Chinese people abroad, or nonfiction about overseas Chinese communities.

Silk Road Trek:

Same as “Hiking the Great Wall,” but you also have to do (and blog about!) at least 3 of these other China-Related activities:

By Jennie. Read the entire article.

Panda Express promises “all-white meat chicken, fresh red bell peppers, diced onions and juicy pineapples, wok-tossed to perfection in our zesty sweet chili sauce,” but abstains from advising that it is not part of their new “WOK SMART” dish, and rightly so, as indulging in Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast might not be such a good idea.

Panda Express clearly states that the SweetFire Chicken Breast is 440 calories and is based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet. Panda Express “WOK SMART” dishes all claim to be less than 250 calories per serving.

However, the serving size is 5.8oz and 5.8oz of Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast is a smidgen over one cup. I don’t know about you, but I eat way more than one cup of food, and if you’re hitting a buffet, more than likely, you’re going to get a plateful of extras, to not only fill the plate, but to get your money’s worth.

Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken Breast Nutritional Facts. Assuming you get two serving spoons of Panda Express SweetFire Chicken– and by two serving spoons, you should be aware that Panda Express serving spoons are not spoonfuls, but are, in fact, large spoons, the likes of which is used to serve heaping portions of food — quickly — and this amounts to well over 880 calories, which is over 320 fat calories (it takes 10 minutes, running at a speed of at least 5 mph on a treadmill to burn off just 100 calories — just calories).

Now, Panda Express is a buffet. There’s a queue, you wait behind people and grow increasingly more hungry — and impatient — with each whiff of that pungent, Chinese food. You take a tray and wait to choose your food. Someone else serves you and now here is what happens: Panda Express SweetFire Chicken: two servings (880 calories); steamed rice: one serving (420 calories); mixed veggies: one serving (190 calories). Damage: 1,490 calories.

By Stefan Pinto. Read the article details.

Same story with the next most popular regional style, Shanghainese food. Shanghai is only one city on the East coast. Its cookings style, while bearing unique flourishes of its own, is a subset of Huaiyang cuisine, which developed in the area between the Huai and Yangtze rivers on the Eastern seaboard.
What it Should be

Chinese food is both highly scientific and pragmatic—food is food, so it should be judged on nutritional content and taste. The standard measure for a good dish is color, aroma, taste, and cut.

The five major regional styles of Chinese food are Sichuan cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Dongbei (Northeastern) cuisine, and Shandong cuisine. All styles adhere to the principles of yin-yang theory in their ingredient selection and preparation methods. In traditional Chinese medicinal manuals, the five colors and five aromas in food correspond to the health of five major bodily organs. Therefore eating certain foods aided the treatment of specific health problems.
Presentation is Secondary

The Chinese know how to cook and certainly know how to eat, so why is Chinese cuisine so lacking in critical acclaim?
Of Zagat Guide 2009’s top ten restaurants in New York City, six are French, three are contemporary American, and one is Japanese.

“There’s absolutely no Chinese [on the list],” said Lei Xi, producer of the upcoming 2009 New Tang Dynasty Television’s International Chinese Culinary Competition in New York. “Why is Japanese food regarded so highly? It’s because it is somehow matched with Westerners’ understanding of presentation. It’s got small portions, it’s delicate. That style of presentation matches the French high cuisine concept.”

In Chinese food, “presentation” and the cooking process is intimately linked. Take for example stir fries. “After stir fry, how the chef lands the food on the plate is an art in and of itself,” said Xi. “Sometimes they literally throw it. Once it lands on the plate, you can’t touch it. You can’t do what a French chef would do—tweak it or top it with a mint leaf. It has to be eaten right then and there.”

By Christine Lin. Read more on this article.

Not surprisingly, whites worked better than the reds. The sweet German riesling that I pulled from my cellar easily handled the hot and sour, its sweetness acting as the ideal foil to the heat of the chilies. It received a thumbs-up from everyone, including our German guest May’Britt, who confided in me earlier that she hates German wine. Hah! Another convert.

But the real surprise was that the wine that worked best with all three soups was a Californian chardonnay: high alcohol, loads of oak and so buttery that we nicknamed it “the fatty.” A wine that I figured would be a write-off wins round one.

Dumplings with peanut butter sauce and spring rolls: rich whites, fresh and fruity reds

Whether the richness came from the peanut-butter sauce served with the dumplings or the oil that cooked the spring rolls, the best wines were the same. Again, the German riesling, with its sweetness and acidity proved to match the richness while providing enough acidity to refresh. Our gewurztraminer wasn’t totally out of place, though it was a touch too aromatic. “Fatty,” again, was surprisingly good.

And for the reds, our Beaujolais, a Moulin à Vent, was exceptional with the dumplings, and good with the spring rolls. Delicate flavours, not too rich and a great acidity seemed to contrast nicely, without overpowering the plates. All the other reds proved too powerful.

Those little spare ribs: dry and spicy whites, fresh and fruity reds

Just mention Chinese food to me, and these little meat candies come to mind. Glazed with honey, the sweetness dominates the palate. All the wines that had any sweetness, including my beloved German riesling and the New World reds, were simply gross.

What we began to notice was that when a wine didn’t work, it really didn’t work. I asked Lesley to send me her impressions of the evening afterward, and she hit the nail on the head when she wrote, “It’s interesting how a wine that is ill-suited to a French dish can still be enjoyed, whereas a poorly chosen wine with Chinese food clashes terribly.”

By Bill Zachariw. Read the entire food article.

The Community Food Bank distributed the food in Mendota about on August 25th at a giveaway attended by Fresno Congressman Jim Costa. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer joined Costa, and he noticed that some of the food came from China.

Local leaders got angry, since many of the people receiving food have lost jobs in the food industry.

See more video about this story.

Unlike many Asian countries where desserts are often not served, Malays love rich sweet desserts often based on glutinous rice, sago, mung beans and bean flour. Coconut milk provides the richness, palm sugar adds sweetness and the pandanus leaf adds flavour. The latter is used in a similar way we use vanilla beans. Sweet spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves flavor many desserts.

By Jan Bilton. Read more of this article.

As it happens, real Chinese food, (as opposed to chicken balls and fortune cookies), is about three-million times better for you than anything we eat here, for the most part, anyway. It’s a sad and inconvenient truth, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

That isn’t to say that everything they eat in China is 100 per cent healthy; it just doesn’t ever leave you with a feeling like you’re going to have a stroke immediately after consumption (a problem I sometimes face after eating our greaseladen food).

To put it lightly, the food in China is vastly, almost infinitely, different from what we Canadians are used to. Not only is the food there about a million times less greasy and fattening, but it all comes in much smaller portions, as well.

Dinner, most of the time, consisted of plain white rice, stew, steamed vegetables, and some kind of chicken or beef dish. And it was all delicious! Well, most of it was, anyway. I can’t say I was totally nuts about everything, (You can just imagine my surprise when my Chinese buddy offered me her version of chicken fingers, gnarled claws and all, or the look on my friend’s face when she found an entire chicken’s talon in her soup), but to each their own, I suppose.

Some of the food was so absurdly different from what we’re used to in Canada that I was forced to take pictures just to prove to the people back home that it actually existed.

Fried milk is a good example.

We indulged in this delicacy on our first night in Beijing at a swanky restaurant downtown. Fried milk looks something like an over-sized Twinkie. It has a crispy, golden exterior and is about the width of your forearm. At my table, I was the first to take a bite of this crazy-looking dessert, (at least that’s what we thought it was!).

You’re meant to dip it in this sweet, delicious cream that tastes a little bit like melted Betty Crocker vanilla icing. I made sure to slather my fried milk in this sauce before taking a bite. Upon sinking my teeth into the strange food, my mouth was filled with a supremely creamy, gooey substance that almost seemed a little flavourless, (we gathered this was the milk), but the melted cream really made it sweet! Who knew something called fried milk could taste so good? It wasn’t just in the restaurants where we were met with strange foods. On the street, you could buy things like glazed, skewered apples and corn-cobs! In fact, they seemed to be a little obsessed with corn over there. You could buy these soft, unseasoned corn-cobs on every street corner, and you could spy the locals eating them all over the place.

They also sold bowls of corn at McDonalds, something else that led me to believe they’re nuts about it in China.

The sweets were also something to marvel at. Instead of fruit-flavoured popsicles and candy, they seemed to have a thing for flavours like frozen-peas, corn, and red-bean! You could buy popsicles in the shape of corn-cobs that tasted like real corn! In the candy-section at Walmart, (yes, Walmart exists in China, too!), I noticed about a dozen different kinds of milk-flavoured candy, and an entire aisle devoted to gelatinrelated sweets. Needless to say, I brought a lot of this absurd candy back home to share with my friends and family. It was too strange to pass up.

Needless to say, the food on the other side of the world was enough to give me such an intense cultureshock that I’m sure I’ll stay electrified all year. It was fascinating to see how the other side eats; Not quite fascinating enough to have me indulging in fish-eyes and corn popsicles for dessert, but interesting all the same.

By Tess Allen – Editor of Whatever

Attend a service at Chongwenmen Church. The Chongwenmen Church is one of the largest Christian Protestant churches in Beijing. Many foreigners who visit Beijing end up seeing the Catholic Church at Wangfujing Street, but the Chongwenmen church is smaller and more intimate. President Clinton attended services here when he visited Beijing in 1998. Although a little difficult to find, the church warmly welcomes foreign guests and offers earphones to listen to an English translation of the service. Most interestingly, is seeing the number of Chinese congregants who arrive at the church as early as 6:00 am in hopes of getting a seat. You won’t know it but more people are sitting in the basement to watch the services via television.

Souvenir shopping at Lost & Found. Skip the mob scene that is known as the Silk Market and head to this small gift shop, located not far from the Yonghegong Lama Temple. The store offers unique t-shirts and vintage items such as old pencil boxes that were used by Chinese children. For those who are looking for one-of-a-kind gifts, this is the place to shop.

Take a cooking class. ChunYi Zhou offers small cooking classes in a hutong specializing in Guangzhou and Sichuan style dishes. Participants have commented that they learned more about Chinese cuisine after taking these hands-on classes. In addition to making food, an alternative “market tour” takes participants to local shops and vendors to introduce ingredients and spices that are vital to making Chinese food. All classes are taught in English.

Visit Beijing Railway Station. Because of very real language and cultural barriers, it’s difficult for tourists to Beijing to get a real sense of China’s rich diversity. A trip to Beijing Railway Station, conveniently located on Subway Line Two, can show visitors a broad swath of Chinese society. As a major destination for Chinese citizens of all stripes, the station is one of the few places to see people from across China. Visitors should be warned that the train station is filled with “sanzhishou” (pickpockets) and beggars. Nonetheless, an hour sitting in this station will tell you more about the Middle Kingdom than a visit to the 2008 Olympics venues.

Tour the Beijing Police Museum. The main reason to visit this museum is because most Chinese people don’t know it exists. When I tell them I went they usually respond, “There’s a police museum?” The museum offers an impressive display of guns and truthfully presents some heartbreaking history such as when the police department was dissolved during the Cultural Revolution and the number of officers who were killed during that period.

Eat at the International Food Warehouse. Even the most adventurous of diners will yearn for more familiar food while abroad. The International Food Warehouse, located off exit C at Guomao subway station, offers a mix of Western and Asian dishes. The concept is “open kitchen” so you see trained chefs preparing everything from dumplings to hamburgers. Food is served fast and service is rendered by professional English-speaking staff. Helpful hint: if your bill is more than 300RMB, request a “discount card” in order to save on your meal.

By Glen Loveland. Read more on Beijing things to do.

The menu showcases authentic Chinese cuisine, but with a lighter, contemporary touch. You can still order traditional appetizers such as pot stickers and eggrolls, but a favorite is the Dioa Yu Tai cucumber salad, with a light spice and sweet-and-sour vinaigrette. Or the crisp shrimp and taro “lollipops,” deep-fried and served on a stick.

Entrées range from traditional such as fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and kung pao chicken, but more contemporary Asian fare include peppery shrimp with spinach noodles, spit-roasted Beijing chicken with mashed taro and a mix-and-match noodle sampler.

The lobby features etched glass and gold artwork on one wall, depicting a pair of dragons playing with a golden ball. (The ball represents wisdom, and the dragons, representing people, are forever chasing it.) The dining room is brightened with colorful lanterns in pale greens, blues and reds and elegant glass sculptures from China backlit on one wall.

Next door, the 200-seat Lotus Blossom Cafe offers counter-service. And the Joy of Tea outdoor cart features hot and cold teas, trendy frozen green tea concoctions and alcoholic drinks such as plum wine and wine green tea slush.

By Larraine Stacey

Rice has a long storage life — indeed, in some cultures older rice, such as basmati, is prized. But like flour, rice will attract grain moths if left sitting around for too long, and I like to get to it before they do.

Rice is a thoroughly sustaining food. According to Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid in “Seductions of Rice,” a beautiful, well researched survey of rice traditions around the world , “Rice has the highest protein digestibility and energy digestibility among all the staple foods.” In most rice-consuming cultures, rice is supplemented with vegetables and legumes, small amounts of meat and fish, and oil.

I don’t share the current national aversion to white rice. True, nutritionists prefer brown rice because the high fiber content slows down the carbohydrate absorption rate. But you can get the same benefit by combining rice with high-fiber vegetables and legumes.

Mr. Alford and Ms. Duguid make another interesting point about the nutritional quality of brown rice:

“It is true that brown rice has more calcium and iron as well as higher protein levels and significantly more of the B vitamins [and] more fiber than white rice. But brown rice is less digestible than white . . . rice. The aleurone layer and embryo, still present in brown rice, contain phytate phosphorus, which seems to interfere with the absorption of calcium, zinc, and iron.”

Bottom line: if you prefer white rice, just make sure you’re also eating lots of vegetables or beans with it.

By Martha Rose Shulman. Read more about Chinese rice.

How would I compare these two books? They are both excellent and should be part of your tea library. Indeed, they could be your tea library, and you would have all the information you would ever need. The best way to compare them then is to say that while “The Story of Tea” brings to life the tea gardens, culture and personalities of the tea-growing world, and most importantly the teas themselves, making the reader not only want to immediately make tea but also to get on a plane bound for China, India or Ceylon, reading “The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea” is like taking a master class from a master buyer/blender. If God is in the details, Harney’s book is a holy manifesto indeed. Like the best wine writers, he has a gifted way of describing the flavors in the cup, such as this comparison of Chinese and Japanese green teas: “Compared with the darker, more mouth-filling Japanese green teas, Chinese greens have the gentler vegetal flavors of steamed leeks, green beans, or bok choy. And where Japanese greens have no sugariness, Chinese greens have charming sweet notes of cooked carrots, jasmine, and sometimes a subtle hint of honey.”

One of the first restaurants I saw that used tea in the kitchen was a place next to the Soho branch of the Guggenheim Museum in the 1980s. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of the place but I remember the passion for tea in the woman who owned it. The shop sold loose teas, tea accoutrement and had a café that featured savory and sweet dishes, the majority of which had tea as an ingredient. The tea was usually a subtle note in the food but the results were delicious. One of my favorite stops in Paris is the Left Bank location of Mariage Frères, a wonderful and evocative tea shop that also features a small restaurant upstairs (in the basement, there is a fascinating tea museum). Several of the dishes on the menu include tea as an ingredient, and they offer tea-pairing suggestions for every dish. It is an eye-opening experience to taste just the right tea that marries perfectly with a particular dish, and often the same tea that is in the dish. It is like drinking the same fine old Burgundy that was used to make the coq au vin. What grows together goes together. The Heiss’ include a quote that is written around the doorframe of a traditional charcoal-firing tea factory in China that is a fitting coda to this piece. It is as follows:

The time is here…
Let everything be happiness
Through the door
Let this fragrance spread
Happiness all over this place.

by James Mellgren

1. Seating is available only by reservation through an unlisted telephone number at least a week in advance.
2. A minimum of 10 to 12 people is required per reservation.
3. The establishment consists of just two or three private dining rooms in an otherwise non-descriptive building.
4. The chef will confer with you in advance on likes, dislikes and budget for a prix-fixe sharing menu.
5. Only cash is accepted.

Read more about hong kong restaurants, By Christine Chow.

Nine South Florida high school students have hit the streets of Beijing again after a weeklong quarantine in a Chinese hotel, according to one of their fathers.

Chinese officials released the group around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Officials feared they had come in contact with someone on their flight who carried the H1N1 swine flu virus.

“They’re on the road again. They’re happy,” said Freddy Aquino, who spoke to his 17-year-old son, Malcolm Aquino, of Plantation, after his release.

After the students were detained last week, they coped with days of boredom and heat in a hotel where the air conditioning was turned off to prevent any germs from circulating. But they had fun, too, said Darien Morrison, 16, a student at College Academy at Broward College.

“It’s really not bad at all. Parents make it seem like it’s horrible,” Morrison wrote, adding the students were given pizza, DVDs, Internet access and large water guns to play with.

By Alexia Campbell, Juan Ortega and Missy Diaz.
Read the entire thread from the South Florida Sun Sentinel

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

My Life as McDull (2001)

Rice Rhapsody (2004)

Sodium content is often high but with planning can be reduced.

The size of the portions of Chinese food is often large, so try asking for a doggy bag upfront and putting some of the food away for another meal. Removing some of the food before you start eating will reduce your chances of overdoing it.

Also, you should try sharing the larger portions with your dining companions to make more appropriate portion sizes.

Ask the server if you can order a child size entrée. That will also reduce the volume of food you receive to a more manageable level.

Best Picks
1. Choose main courses with mostly vegetables and steamed rice.
2. Pick chicken instead of duck.
3. Avoid or try to eat very small quantities of the crispy fried noodles.
4. Ask that your food be prepared with less oil, soy sauce and salt.
5. Ask that your food be prepared without the MSG.

Instead
1. If you like egg drop soup, try the wonton soup instead.
2. If you like the egg rolls, try the steamed dumplings instead.
3. If like the fried main dishes, try them boiled, broiled, or steamed instead.
4. If you like the fried meat dishes, try dishes with lots of vegetables instead.
5. If you like the dishes with cashews and peanuts, try them with water chestnuts instead.
6. If you like the fried rice, try the steamed rice instead.
7. If you like the lobster sauce, try the sweet and sour sauce instead.

Practice the following
1. Can I have this without the sugar or starch?
2. Can I have the sauce on the side?
3. Can I have this without MSG?
4. Can I have a doggy bag before I start eating?
5. Can I have the sauces on the side?

By Lu Young. Lu is a Boston Terrier owner. She rescued her dog from the pound over 7 years. For more information check her out at http:// www.bostonterrierville.com.

Chinese face reading is a branch of Chinese medicine. As health care evolved over thousands of years in China, doctors devised ways to diagnose patients by reading the features and lines of their faces.

As these ancient scientists continued their research over the centuries, they realized what the West has come to accept only in recent years – that our physical health is interconnected with our emotional nature. So they discovered they could also read people’s personalities in their faces. Your face is considered to reveal why you tend to think, feel and behave as you do, and can even show you how to create a life that is in alignment with this unique inner design.

This understanding can be put to use in very practical ways, such as choosing a weight-loss diet that will work for your individual personality type. How often have you picked up the latest diet book in the hopes that this will finally be the answer, only to discover you couldn’t stick with it – and ended up blaming yourself? It probably had nothing to do with your level of willpower. It may have very well been that the diet was not ‘you’.

In Chinese face reading, there are five personality types, or archetypes that have predictable patterns of thoughts, emotions and behavior, and unique needs for success in life. See if you can recognize yourself below and discover the best way for you to diet:

Artist-Healer-Philosopher archetypes have any of the following features: Prominent chin, large rounded forehead, natural shadowing above and/or below the eyes. Women of this type tend to have large hips. Well-known faces of this type are: Jay Leno, Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, Winona Ryder.

Weight loss tactic: You can summon your natural tenacity and stick to a diet with great determination. However, you need independence and are drawn to unusual ways of doing things! Avoid a strict exercise regimen or limited meal plan. Allow freedom in times of meals, many options for food choices. Include lots of soup in the diet. Exercise should be flowing, such as yoga, swimming, tai chi, ballroom dancing, or slow walks on the beach.

Pioneer-Entrepreneur-Athlete archetypes have thick eyebrows, and a strong and well-defined jaw. Their temples (the sides of the forehead) are often indented. Body types are tall and sinewy or short and compact. Well-known faces like this are: Brad Pitt, Hilary Swank, Brooke Shields, Mary Lou Retton.

Weight loss tactic: You have enormous powers of discipline when you’re required to find them! Choose a structured meal plan, with lists of approved foods to eat and at certain times of day. Emphasize salads and only the healthiest of foods. Avoid complicated recipes to fuss with, however as those will frustrate you so much, you’ll end up going out for a burger. Staying active is an important key, so include lots of exercise, especially strength training and competitive sports. In fact, if you can compete with a friend to lose weight, it’ll motivate you the most.

Performer-Lover-Free Spirit archetypes often have very curly hair, red hair, or spiky haircuts. Bald men also share this quality of personality. Their eyes sparkle, there may be a cleft in their chins or their noses are pointed. They talk, move and think fast. Well-known faces of this archetype are: Jackie Chan, Reba McIntyre, Patrick Dempsey, and Shirley MacLaine.

Weight loss tactic: Above all, make meals as FUN as possible. Don’t waste your time on any plan that doesn’t give you lots of variety, especially with different ethnic cuisines or eccentric meal choices. Select brightly colored foods, with lots of different textures. It’s best if you can go on a diet at the same time as your friends, and connect with them frequently throughout the day to chat about how you’re doing. Include variety in exercise; anything fast-paced is always the top choice!

Nurturer-Best Friend-Diplomat archetypes have a large mouth or full lips, plump lower cheeks, and/or a fleshy nose. They tend to have tummies even when slim. Women of this type may have large breasts; men may be stocky or have large muscles. Well-known people who have these kinds of faces are: Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, John Krasinski, and Renee Zellwegger.

Weight loss tactic: The last thing you should ever do is to deprive yourself! Never go without dessert, or you won’t be able to stick with the diet. Create meals that leave you feeling full and satisfied. Include starches and root vegetables. But have somewhere to go right after a meal, because once you sit down, you tend to not want to get up, and you’ll just keep eating. Don’t even consider a solitary exercise plan – work out with friends and you’ll stay with the program!

Visionary-Perfectionist-Authority archetypes have large noses or prominent cheeks, and/or their eyebrows are arched high above their eyes. They often have very small bones as evidenced by thin wrists and ankles and tend toward pale complexions.

Weight loss tactic: You thrive with regularity. Eat meals at same time every day, and possibly even the same food each day. Predictability is comfortable for you. Depriving yourself (within reason) can make you feel proud of your self-control and help you stick to the diet. But watch out for going too far – it can be too easy for you to get caught up in the whole concept of ‘doing without’. Exercising by yourself is preferable, but above all, avoid team sports.

Jean Haner, author of “The Wisdom of Your Face” (http://wisdomofyourface.com) is an expert in Chinese face reading, an art she first discovered courtesy of her Chinese mother-in-law 30 years ago. Since then she has honed her skills and become an experienced speaker, consultant and workshop leader, demystifying Chinese face reading for audiences around the world. “Jean Haner guides us into a world where the lines of a face are viewed as the sacred calligraphy of an evolving soul.”

There was a time when popping out for a Chinese or an Indian was considered the height of international culinary sophistication. Be it a powerfully flavoured rogan josh or a frighteningly fluorescent sweet-and-sour pork, India and China dominated Britain’s ethnic cuisine scene ever since the first batch of hardworking immigrants brought their piquant spices halfway around the world and opened up restaurants on our shores.

Then came the Thai and Sushi invasions of the mid-1990s as Britain’s army of gap-year backpacker and health-conscious travellers trekked further afield for their next Eastern culinary fix. Now, research suggests our tastes are changing once more as a new era of mass immigration and global travel brings an ever-more varied and exciting array of foodstuffs to our shores.

Two new reports suggest that dishes from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Morocco are emerging as Britain’s new culinary kings. Sainsbury’s has recently been experimenting by introducing Moroccan-, Afghan- and Ethiopian-inspired foods into their ranges with impressive results. Sales of Moroccan green tea have risen by 426 per cent in a year while dried mung bean sales have doubled.

Meanwhile, a survey by the market analysts Mintel has found a similar increasing interest in North African and Middle Eastern cooking.

The reason is two-fold. Firstly, Britain is home to a growing Middle Eastern and African diaspora – many of whom have set up their own restaurants like the Bangladeshis and Cantonese before them. Secondly, the Mintel research suggests that holidaymakers returning from countries such as Morocco and Egypt – which has seen a 125 percent increase in British tourists between 2003 and 2007 – are searching for a taste of their trip back home.

So what will be 21st-century Britain’s ethnic food trend? With immigrants from East Africa and Afghanistan now making up some of the largest groups of asylum-seekers to Britain, will we one day head for an Afghan or a Somalian after a hard night’s drinking in the local boozer?

Influenced by its neighbours but distinctly home-grown, Afghan food has all the potential flavours that ought to appeal to the British palate. For those who like something a little more quirky than Middle Eastern food but less fiery than North Indian cuisine, Central Asian cooking offers the perfect compromise with its delicately spiced palaus (rice dishes), kebabs and stews.

In recent years, a small number of Afghan restaurants have opened in London where the vast majority of Britain’s Afghans live. Rafik Muhammadi opened the Afghan Khayber Restaurant in Ealing, west London, with his friend and colleague Hamid in 2003. Since then he has seen a steady stream of customers looking to try the gentle spiced stews and flat-bread that makes Afghan cooking a source of national pride.

“Now we get many different people eating here – Afghan, Pakistani, Bengali and British,” he beams. “People like Afghan food because it has less chilli and ghee than Pakistani and Indian food.” Asked what his restaurant’s best dish is, he replies: “All of them! Every dish here is good.”

By Jerome Taylor