She promotes Chinese food in Brazil (overseas Chinese concern)

The picture shows Jiang Pu showing his food works.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

In 2015, a Chinese face appeared on the Brazilian version of the reality show "I want to be a chef." She passed five levels and beat six generals, passed the knockout round with a beer duck, and finally won the third place, becoming a well-known Chinese chef in Sao Paulo and even in Brazil. She is Jiang Pu, a Brazilian Chinese, who has lived in Sao Paulo for 21 years.

When I first arrived in Brazil, I became attached to a chef

Jiang Pu moved to Brazil with her parents when she was 12 years old. The first difficulty she faced when she arrived was the language barrier. Jiang Pu said frankly: "I was sent to school by my father in the first week of my arrival in Brazil. At first, I couldn't understand anything, and the content of the class left me at a loss. Besides going to school in the morning, I also hired a tutor in the afternoon. Portuguese tutoring 3 times a week. After two or three years, I can communicate with the local people and gradually integrate into the local society.”

Because his parents were engaged in small commodity trade, they often left early and returned late, so the task of three meals fell to Jiang Pu. "There were not many Chinese restaurants at that time, and even the shops that imported oriental ingredients, I remember there was only one in São Paulo. The common condiments at home when I was a child were hard to buy here, and soy sauce was regarded as an expensive condiment." Jiang Pu recalled, "The standard of living at that time did not allow eating out every day, so I could only fiddle around at home."

Video tapes, TV food programs, and short online videos have become channels for Jiang Pu to improve his cooking skills. Gradually, she fell in love with cooking and became interested in the kitchen. After graduating from high school, Jiang Pu originally considered studying at Le Cordon Bleu International College, where he specialized and systematically studied cooking. However, because Brazil did not have a branch school and it was expensive to study in Europe, Jiang Pu temporarily gave up his pursuit of cooking.

After that, Jiang Pu graduated from the Statistics Department of Sao Paulo State University and worked with data in the office. Because he did not like the working atmosphere of the office, Jiang Pu decided to resign after working for a period of time. In 2015, by chance, she saw the registration notice for the Brazilian version of "I want to be a chef." With the encouragement and support of his friends, Jiang Pu signed up for the competition. She said: "I initially signed up just to get a chance to appear on TV and convince my parents to accept my decision to pursue a career in the cooking industry. I didn't expect to get third place in the end."

We cherish each other on the same stage

As a rare Chinese face in Brazilian local programs, Jiang Pu's calm and calm style of doing things in the face of intense competition has attracted attention. Jiang Pu said: "This is the consistent national characteristic of the Chinese nation. It is not afraid of danger and calm. In one game, I was the last to play, and there was a 30-minute waiting time. During this period, I wandered around and chatted with others. I also shared with them. Chinese mahjong, simulates the action of playing mahjong, draws a card to the left and draws a card to the right, and other players are happy."

Recalling the tense moments during the competition, Jiang Pu said: "In the final stage, the contestants were asked to make beef Wellington, and the beef was wrapped in puff pastry. When I took out the puff pastry from the oven, I accidentally dropped the whole puff pastry on the ground. On the ground. Luckily there were some scraps left to make the meringue, and I raced against the clock to make a mini Wellington. That was a knockout match, and with this mini Wellington, I got to the next stage.”

During the recording of the program, Jiang Pu competed and communicated with many cooking enthusiasts on the same stage, and met a group of like-minded partners. Jiang Pu said: "The contestants all really want to work in the catering industry and have a passion for food. At present, most of the contestants stay in the catering industry. We keep in touch, introduce employees and suppliers to each other, and jointly organize large-scale catering events."

In 2016, Jiang Pu wrote a book in Portuguese that introduced Chinese home cooking, titled "Jiang's Recipes and Life". The book introduces mostly simple and easy-to-follow Chinese dishes, and many readers follow the guide to successfully cook their first Chinese dishes. Jiang Pu said: "At that time, most of the Brazilian cookbooks and books related to cooking had no content about Chinese food, so I had the idea of ​​publishing a book. This book is an enlightenment book on Chinese food, with a lunch The price can be bought, there is a certain audience.”

Chinese cuisine wins favor

After the competition, Jiang Pu founded his own Chinese restaurant in 2017. The name of the restaurant is "Chi", which is derived from the pinyin of the Chinese character "eat". The restaurant has been in operation for 6 months, and was selected as the 3rd best Chinese restaurant in Sao Paulo by the Brazilian magazine "See". In the 80th Brazil Best Gourmet Award in 2018, "Chi" won the Best Restaurant of the Year Award, and Jiang Pu won the Most Popular Chef Award as the chef.

In this regard, Jiang Pu said: "Brazilian young people have a high degree of acceptance of oriental culture, and the original intention of my establishment of the restaurant was to break the stereotype of Chinese food in foreign countries. In foreign countries, most of the time Chinese food is associated with cheapness. Many Brazilian customers When I came to the restaurant, I didn’t even read the menu, and said I wanted a fried noodles. In order to better promote Chinese food, I have improved many dishes, such as pot stickers, fried noodles with sauce, Sichuan pepper roasted buds, and spicy hot pot. Open the kitchen so that guests can see the whole process of making dishes and help them understand the secrets of Chinese cuisine.”

Sadly, "Chi" closed its doors in 2019 due to operating costs. Today, Jiang Pu works as a consultant for a Chinese restaurant chain in Brazil, responsible for improving the menu and launching new products.

"Great recipe." "I think I made it successfully." "This dish I made with my family is so delicious." These are the messages of many fans. Recently, Jiang Pu cooperated with the "Chinese Bridge" Club in Sao Paulo and the China-Brazil Social and Cultural Research Center to regularly launch short videos of Chinese food teaching on social media, sharing with 227,000 fans how to use local Brazilian ingredients to make Chinese flavors. Many special dishes, such as five-nut moon cakes, tomato scrambled eggs, and tofu mousse, have won praise.

Jiang Pu has two daughters, both of whom are currently enrolled in a Chinese-Portuguese bilingual kindergarten. "Chinese culture has its own unique charm and way of thinking. It is necessary for children to pass on Chinese culture." Jiang Pu said, "Next year, when children enter primary school, I plan to spend half a day a week to let them learn Chinese. In addition, Every traditional Chinese festival, I will take them to make and taste traditional food and experience the profound Chinese culture."

This year marks the 210th anniversary of Chinese immigration to Brazil. Jiang Pu, who has lived in Brazil for more than 20 years, said with emotion: "The overseas Chinese around me are actively working to create a positive image of China and introduce China's development status. To celebrate the 210th anniversary of Chinese immigration to Brazil, many local celebrations were held in Sao Paulo. Participate in it with the Brazilian people and share the essence of Chinese culture. I think that in my children's generation, more overseas Chinese will be integrated into Brazilian society." (Yang Ning and Li Wenjie)

"People's Daily Overseas Edition" (10th edition on October 28, 2022)

Editor in charge: Li Ran