Josh leads a double life. He keeps his blogger identity a secret from his colleagues, so he is known by first name only, or by his blog persona, Cha Xiu Bao. For those of you who don’t know, cha xiu bao is a Cantonese dish of steamed buns filled with barbecued pork. He named his blog after his favorite food.
The focus of CXB is on Chinese food and dining culture. Chinese cuisine is one of the most refined cuisines in the world, but I find that Chinese food is rather misunderstood in America. It’s not about eating weird disgusting things just for the fear factor, and not everything is overly greasy, deep-fried or drowned in soy sauce. Chinatown in Manhattan is a universe of its own and I find it hard to relate to most of what I find there — a lot of low quality, dirty, unrefined foods and a lack of service or professionalism, which is not representative of the culture I grew up in. So I’m glad that Josh is writing about Chinese cuisine from Hong Kong, the gastronomic capital of China. A true food-lover with a sophisticated palate, Josh also travels a bit and takes us on his world food journeys, so CXB is not limited to just Chinese food in Hong Kong.
