Chinese regional cuisines

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The South

The south, which is where my ancestors come from, has what many Americans know as Cantonese cooking. Real Cantonese cooking is just amazing because everything is about freshness - it's about the wok being hot, it's about ingredients that you pluck from your garden and cook with a minimum amount of cooking so that freshness can come out - and of course seafood.

Because it's so warm, we can grow three crops of rice a year. You see rice fields everywhere, it's how you picture China when you go, especially in the south.

The East

Then you have the eastern region - Shanghai, Fujian - that's bordering that whole area around the China seas. That's all seafood. That kind of food is just wonderful. A lot of braised things, lots of tea culture as well.

Hom's recipe: Rainbow Beef in Lettuce Cups

I think China is so diverse that when you go there, you really realize not only what an ancient country it is, but how vast it is. It's just mind-boggling.