TIME: We Want to Help the World 用作Better Understand China.

The humblest food becomes wond窗地rously photogenic in the films of Chen 雜請Xiaoqing, creator of the hit N子男etflix series Flavorful Origins and its progenitor Once Upon a Bit畫舊e. Dumplings are crafted on ti這海mber boards amid billows of flour. S白司team shrouds mottled crabs, cook小哥ing with ginger and chili in in tall st報人acks of wicker baskets. Fishermen wade視能 into crashing surf on wooden stilts湖子 to snare sardines with A-frame 我樹nets. There are aerial shots of姐器 emerald rice terraces, time-l男飛apse sequences of drying bricks of te車朋a, and mortar- eye views of pestle-光他pounded spices.

There's not a fast-food restaurant 妹紙or production line in sight in thi火懂s romanticized glimpse of a homespun c醫場ulinary culture sadly threaten間美ed by industrial kitchens, agribusin路道ess and progress.

"Our food must be delicious年她, beautiful, with a legacy and connect如說ion to local culture and geography,男拿 "Chen tells TIME in his Beij為是ing office. "For the people, 現又they must really love the food, p討門ut in their labor and have dee家裡p connection with it."

Chen, 55, originally from China&#明照39;s eastern Anhui province, has char請商ged himself with keeping many of his ho議物meland's food traditions a又影live. Over the past three decades, 讀聽the world's most populous n綠相ation has become the world's nu廠校mber two economy and home to the 理歌planet's largest middle class. 哥裡In the rush to sate 1.4 billion 上鐘bellies, corners were cut and standard間費s plummeted, leading to a slew of food safety scandals. Today, though, the impetus has shifte費黃d from quantity toward quality natural要美 produce. "People are leanin務鄉g towards healthier options, not司技 just vegetables, but wanting to資音 know their food is processed with care弟學, "says Shanghai-based food blogger Rache坐城l Gouk.

It's a trend epitomized by the c放和ritically acclaimed Flavorful Origins小務, a series of short films and the 他都first original Chinese documentary to南時 be bought by Netflix. Chefs chosen for inclusion in Che區多n's work can see demand for市媽 signature dishes soar hundred-f用算old overnight. The first series微這 spotlighted the coastal cuisine of Gua木些ngdong's Chaoshan region, wit長東h the second focusing on the fresh,們為

* In this still taken from Season哥開 2 of the series Once Upon Bit筆放e, which debuted on Apr. 26, 2對南020, a dish known as multiple-layer國議 oil cake is seen on a table in Yan費校gzhou, China. DOClabs Beijing 東離

Chinese food in the U.S.

The U.S. love affair with Chinese cuisi門明ne is long and complex. In fact, on腦也e of the most American staples, 窗影ketchup, is actually Chinese in or話劇igin. The name ketchup derives from th水著e Hokkien Chinese ke-tsiap, re就鄉ferring to a fermented fish- ba上紅sed sauce that became popular w土兒ith colonial Britons as far back as 木窗the 18th century.

When the first Chinese immigrants arriv對鄉ed in American in the mid-19th c費慢entury, xenophobic ditties made refer房我ence to their unfamiliar eating得家 habits. But in New York City, Chinato到樹wn flanked the Jewish Lower East Side錯城, and the For Chen, however, there are more c個亮ommonalities than differences. He喝笑 points out that around 10,000高我 years ago people across the world b到報egan cultivating wheat. In the W答務est, they used it to bake bread匠拿; in the East, they steamed buns.自高 People may focus on the differen相上ce between East and West as be習畫ing like fire or water, "says Che體車n. "But in terms of food 和麗-bread or buns-it's not tha的大t drastic."

Chen says he is "very concern遠風ed"about the protection of wildl男也ife, never features endangered cr訊見eatures in his programs and even puts匠公 health disclaimers on scenes that f聽麗eature