Skip to main content

The Chinese and their Desserts

Support Provided By
ophelia_chong_bakery

When I was in Paris last year, the word that fell from my mouth the most was "ooohh." It was the only word that I could think of that best described the desserts that peered back at me from refrigerated cases. There were mounds of candy colored macaroons, deep chocolate cakes covered in powdered sugar and whipped cream, chestnut filled pastries, glazed fruit that could have only come from special hidden farms sheltered in deep green valleys; I was in dessert heaven.

My summers spent in Germany were late afternoons filled with dark coffee with sweetened cream and warm plum tortes with a splash of cream. I learned that apple strudel was best eaten while on a farm patio, watching the grass slowly sway in the breeze.

Closer to home, I have the Armenian baker who rises at 4 a.m. everyday to bake fresh baguettes and croissants. He doesn't speak any English, but my smile is always greeted with a friendly wave of his oven-mitted hand. His croissants are flaky and buttery, with the right touch of crunch when you break it open to spread the fig jam I made from my fig trees.

Desserts are the exclamation mark to the end of a dinner. A great dessert can make up for a so-so meal, its the taste on your lips you leave with, the hint of sugar and cream.

Dessert to the Chinese is a completely different matter. Dessert is just an extension of dinner. Traditionally at the end of a birthday dinner, you are served sweet rice buns filled with lotus bean. It's about as exciting as unscented hand cream. We do have a version of flaky pastry, but again we fill it with either red, black or lotus beans. At dim sum, I will order the egg custard tart in flaky pastry or the tofu with ginger and sweet syrup. We are a "savory" people, the "sweet" is an afterthought that we begrudgingly whip up to finish the meal, we don't even linger over dessert -- it's served communally on a plate, we grab a bun and run. In my family, dessert was sliced oranges or apples; and looking back I am now thankful for the fiber and not the love handles from nightly bowls of ice cream. If you were to compare sugar levels, Chinese would be a -5 to a nuclear French +100.

"But Ophelia! I see sugary stuff all over Chinatown!" Yes you do and in the grocery stores you will find fake lychee jello packets shaped as Pandas and Pokky sticks (thin cracker sticks dipped in chocolate), all of these are a response to the market. And next to all of that is the dried salted plums, tangy dried orange peels, cracked seed, cashews coated lightly with honey, and stuff wrapped up in thin paper with only Chinese written on it, stuff you won't know what it is till you unwrap it; even then you still might know.

In my past life I am sure I was French, this latest reincarnation is to balance out the excesses of my cake eating past. However, in this life I can still partake of the multitude of bakeries in Los Angeles, but I think about it more than I eat it; probably because the thought of driving to get it puts a damper on it. My sloth has saved me a few pounds.

In my next life I will be lactose intolerant and grateful for the break from candy colored macaroons and buttery croissants. Therefore I know I will be coming back next as a real Asian.

Artist, designer and teacher Ophelia Chong explores her adopted city of Los Angeles with an eye and ear for the small moments that tests the duality of being an Asian American. Join her on her journey every Thursday on KCET's SoCal blog

Image: Ophelia Chong

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.