Excerpt: « What are we talking about when we talk about dumplings »

Perogies. Ravioli. Shumai. Har Gow. Samoussa. Gyoza. Tamales. Every culture has a version of dumplings, those savory doughy creations found everywhere from grocery store freezers to street food stands to restaurant menus. In « What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings », edited by John Lorinc, the writers reflect on the importance of dumplings – their populism, their cultural significance and, of course, their deliciousness. To whet your appetite, read an adapted version of the book’s introduction, written by Karon Liu of The Star.

The more I write about food, the more I realize that…dumplings are universal – which is why they’re such an easy entry into a culture’s cuisine. At the same time, there are many variations of dumplings: steamed, fried or boiled; filled or not; sweet or salty; big or small; in soups or alone. There are nuances in cuisines that vary between regions, cities and, heck, households and generations that no one can ever fully grasp.

Technically, matzo balls in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, xiaolongbao or soup dumplings in Shanghainese cuisine, and Jamaican spinners used in soups and stews are all classified as dumplings. But these dishes don’t have much else in common, other than how delicious they are. I remember being introduced to spätzle as a teenager, when I was invited to a friend’s house to try Austrian home cooking. I gobbled down the spätzle with the schnitzel, puzzled but amazed that the dumplings existed beyond the wontons I ate growing up.

Heck, even with wontons, everyone in my friends and family circles prefers a different filling or fold. A friend prefers the squeezing method – literally putting a bit of filling in the wrapper and then squeezing his hand into a fist to seal it – because it’s the quickest method (and most common with sifus in restaurants ). My mom, on the other hand, prefers the fold that makes the dumpling look like someone wearing a beanie because that’s what her mom taught her. Don’t even get me started on the differences between a wonton, water dumpling, potsticker and soup dumpling… mainly because I’m still learning the different techniques and regional variations of each of them as I dive more and more deeply into Chinese cuisine.

To live in a city where there is no monoculture or definitive definition of a dish is to be spoiled with a seemingly endless collection of flavors, culinary knowledge, and memories that people are eager to share. Here is a story about what dumplings mean to me.

Ever since I can remember, when my mom was out of dinner ideas and in a rush, wontons were one of her favorites: ground pork, nappa cabbage, a mix of dark soy sauces and clear with a little cane sugar and a pack of store-bought dumpling wrappers. I watched her pinch a walnut-sized piece of filling from a large metal bowl and place it in the center of the wrapper. She dipped a finger into a bowl of rice filled with water, brushed the edge of the wrapper, and through a series of pinches and creases, a dumpling appeared in seconds.

In the early months of COVID-19, in January 2020, I went with friends to a noodle restaurant in Markham called Wuhan Noodle 1950 to order its dry pot noodles and a side of dumplings. Months before the official declaration of the pandemic emergency in Canada, Chinese restaurants had begun to see their business collapse due to old racist stereotypes about Chinese food and cleanliness, all of which had resurfaced amid a quivering fear about the virus.

This particular place had been inundated with racist hoaxes that were perpetuated on social media. Feeling the place could use a positive boost, I went there, had a great meal, and wrote about it for the Toronto Star. I explained the restaurant’s regional Chinese cuisine and how a place like this fits into the evolution of Chinese cuisine in the GTA. In recent years we are seeing a greater proliferation of regional Chinese cuisine from both independent owners and international chains using the GTA as a test market before expanding elsewhere. Chinese cuisine here evolved from Canadian-Chinese chop suey houses to more Hong Kong and Cantonese cuisine as the GTA saw an influx of immigrants in the 80s and 90s. Then other mainland Chinese people came , bringing their regional cuisine – as well as international Chinese chains serving everything from hot pot to different styles of noodles.

Chinese food is no longer lumped into one giant category, and diners are increasingly aware that hand-pulled beef noodles are representative of Lanzhou, and to get a xiaolongbao steamer basket, you need to go to a Shanghainese place. Although the circumstances in which I discovered this place serving dry noodles from Wuhan were unfortunate, it gave me the opportunity to talk about the dish originating from Hubei province.

Dumplings came into my life again during the first months of the pandemic lockdown in Toronto. Bags of frozen potstickers became a bit of a savior in my house in the pre-pandemic vaccine era, when every trip to the supermarket felt like running for supplies during a zombie apocalypse.

We bought frozen potstickers in bags of a hundred from a wholesale store called Northern Dumpling Co. in our Scarborough neighborhood. For the many days in those first few months when I could barely get out of bed, let alone cook a meal from scratch, the dumplings fueled me to carry on another day.

Similarly, in the spring of 2022, church basements and restaurants across Canada produced varenyky by the thousands to raise relief funds for Ukrainian refugees. Diners wanting to show their support ordered the dumplings by the dozens and became more interested in learning more about Ukraine’s response to pierogi.

What I’m trying to say is that everyone has a different relationship when it comes to food, including something as mundane and traditional as the dumpling. As people move on, generational attitudes and values ​​change, ingredients and techniques adapt or evolve, and as technology changes the way we cook, the role food plays in our lives changes. also.

Who knows? Maybe five years from now, if you ask me what my relationship is with dumplings, I can say it’s one of my quick weeknight meals. I might add masala spices because an Indian restaurant owner gave me a few jars of his dad’s mixes and bragged that they could be used in anything. Or I’ll add finely chopped mint to the garnish as a nod to Vietnamese restaurants I always turn to for takeout – and as a way to use local ingredients – because I have a serious problem with overgrown mint in my yard.

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