FOR most Chinese, Chongyang Festival, which falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is a day for climbing mountains and paying tribute to the elderly.
But the Huang family in Shangsha Village, Futian, has an additional celebration a big dinner party serving their traditional dish the big basin dish (dapencai). A traditional Cantonese dish, a big basin dish contains around 15 courses prepared in huge woks in one big basin.
This year 470 tables were served. Guests included the Huangs' offspring in Hong Kong and Macao, who took the chance to reunite with their friends and relatives.
The party began at noon, following a round of firecrackers. "It's done!" said the tired head chef Huang Jiemei, taking a seat at the entrance to the family temple.
The beginning of the party put an end to more than 10 days' preparation by over 60 people, who worked overnight Saturday.
The last step of the preparations presentation was completed only two hours before the dinner began. This proved the most difficult part. Every ingredient had to be cooked separately and then layered and stacked in a big basin properly. Chicken and duck meat are usually placed on the top, representing birds returning to the nest. Those in the know, however, scour the bottom where the gravy gathers after trickling through the ingredients.
Preparation for the big basin dish is challenging just in terms of sheer physical strength. Huang Jiemei, in her 60s, had a team of about 60 people to help her out. They included three head chefs, one manager and six assistant chefs. The head chefs are all in their 60s. People in the 40s and 50s were responsible for chopping and washing ingredients, and the youngest people in their 20s and 30s took the simpler tasks of packaging and delivering.
Huang Jiemei, with 20 years' experience of making the basin dish, calls herself a "second-generation" cook of the big basin dish.
The "first-generation" cooks are Huang Canlin and his peers, all aged over 80. Huang Canlin is now a consultant for the "second-generation" cooks.
Huang Canlin, who has made a living cooking the big basin dish throughout his life, said his family was poor and by making dapencai, he could take the leftovers home. "That's why I chose the job," he said.
Huang said that the courses for the big basin dish had not changed over the years, but the ingredients had greatly improved. "For example, pork skin has to be bought from Hong Kong," said Huang.
While the big basin dish parties had previously been held to celebrate weddings and the birth of a child, now with the village becoming rich, the party has become a village thing held every Chongyang Festival.
Huang Qimei, 20, and her friends recorded the event with cameras and digital video. Huang has never made a big basin dish in her life. "My cousin was recruited to chop shallots for half a day," she said.
Huang, a sophomore with Shenzhen University majoring in advertising, has no plans to stay in the village or even Shenzhen upon graduation. For her, the big basin dish is a childhood memory, as well as a chance to see childhood friends. "Young people are not interested in dapencai," she said. "But if I'm still in Shenzhen when I grow old, I'll certainly help with the cooking."
(Helen Deng)
