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As Emeril Lagasse， the US celebrity chef， once noted， “To really get to know a place and its people， you’ve got to eat the food.” Food serves as a key to every culture and in China， glutinous rice paste， mooncake， spring roll， eight-treasured rice congee， Y angzhou-styled fried rice and dried persimmon （柿子（）are commonly seen on dinner tables across the country. To Sichuan Fine Arts Institute associate professor Mou Aili， they are her inspiration for a series of picture books that she hopes will “pass Chinese culture and the wisdom it involves on to future generations”.
Mou is not the first to focus on Chinese food in picture books， which has been a trend in publishing circles over the course of the past decade， especially where food related to a particular custom or certain event， like the Spring Festival， is concerned. Despite the dishes having a rich history in terms of their origins and related tales， Mou is trying something different. By employing new， contemporary（當代 的）storytelling， she turns them into fresh and tasty stories for both younger readers and adults.
The six-volume offering This is Chinese Taste was published with the arrival of this year’s Spring Festival. Celebrated illustrator Xiong Liang hails the series for the plot， which combines the traditional with the original. “It does justice to the delicious food， with decent
stories，” he says.
Mou， as the writer of the six stories， says that， when faced with the various Chinese dishes， she selected around 50 before deciding on a final 18 around which to develop the stories. The first six books will be followed by a further two collections.
Picture books have been prominent in the overall children’s book market， especially original titles created by Chinese authors or illustrators.
Mou says picture books share the same camera language as movies， storyboard skills， action design and more.
“In an era of short videos and livestreaming， our young people are educated mainly within a screenwriter’s context， with the focus on written or spoken language alone， which to me is good，” Mou says. “However， picture books help train the video director’s mindset， and can be started from a very young age.”
Mou is not the first to focus on Chinese food in picture books， which has been a trend in publishing circles over the course of the past decade， especially where food related to a particular custom or certain event， like the Spring Festival， is concerned. Despite the dishes having a rich history in terms of their origins and related tales， Mou is trying something different. By employing new， contemporary（當代 的）storytelling， she turns them into fresh and tasty stories for both younger readers and adults.
The six-volume offering This is Chinese Taste was published with the arrival of this year’s Spring Festival. Celebrated illustrator Xiong Liang hails the series for the plot， which combines the traditional with the original. “It does justice to the delicious food， with decent
stories，” he says.
Mou， as the writer of the six stories， says that， when faced with the various Chinese dishes， she selected around 50 before deciding on a final 18 around which to develop the stories. The first six books will be followed by a further two collections.
Picture books have been prominent in the overall children’s book market， especially original titles created by Chinese authors or illustrators.
Mou says picture books share the same camera language as movies， storyboard skills， action design and more.
“In an era of short videos and livestreaming， our young people are educated mainly within a screenwriter’s context， with the focus on written or spoken language alone， which to me is good，” Mou says. “However， picture books help train the video director’s mindset， and can be started from a very young age.”