The IKEA Experience

When fast food cultures from around the world enter into the city of Hong Kong, strange things seem to happen. For instance, fast food franchise McDonald’s has opened up numerous McCafés - equipped with sofas, Espresso’s, and cheesecake -  in the area in an attempt to meet the needs of the extremely health-or diet-conscious society. Also, Pizza Hut, the take-away delivery catering chain from America known for absence of seating space has transformed into a three-star restaurant with tea sets, professional waiter training, and 10% service charges after stepping foot onto the former British colony.

(On a side note, did you know that Pizza Hut and KFC maintain friendly relations? Together with Taco Bell and Long John Silvers, they all belong to the world’s largest restaurant company, Yum! Brands, Inc. No wonder they all taste so unhealthily good!)

Anyway, back to the topic, last night when we were ravished after a day’s lectures we decided to head over to the IKEA in Sha Tin for the raved IKEA poached salmon. To our utter dismay, our eyes scored the posters only to realize that the delicious set is no longer on the menu. (In fact, there is a petition going on Facebook to “Bring the IKEA poached salmon back!” ) So, we opted for the sad sliced pork and the mundane mushroom pasta in cream. When we turned to find seats for ourselves to receive yet another shocker - the place was packed to the brim like a dim sum restaurant at peak hour and the noise of Cantonese chatter bounced off the walls like a million ping pong balls! Fortunately, we found a spot sharing tables with another couple (of which the male stank of sweaty socks!) and were left to contemplate on this abnormal occurrence while slurping on some faux-high class but economic IKEA mussels.

How on earth did the IKEA experience of relaxing, modern, and creative furniture transform into one like that of a noisy and bustling fast food chain along with swedish meatballs?

Poon Choi

Poon Choi (盆菜) aka “Big Bowl Feast” is not simply a Cantonese dish, but a mouth-watering cuisine caught in the mess of identity politics. It was originally served during banquets or other special occasions (think, Chinese prom, maybe? I kid, I kid) but has now, as all things cultural do, been caught up into the business of commercialism. The dish originally consists of 9 distinct layers of ingredients but now contains a variety of the following: chicken, duck, pork, abalone, prawn, mushroom, fish balls, shark fin, fish maw, squid, shrimp, pigskin (yum!), bean curd, and white turnip or Chinese radish (with the most expensive ones such as pork meat and abalone proudly displayed on top, and more bland-ish choices such as white turnip line the bottom). Rumoured to be associated with Chinese emperors from the Qing and Sung dynasty, poon choi is filled with a high sense of Chinese-ness and defines the identity of numerous Cantonese speaking groups in South China (including Hong Kong) while providing a precious time of family gathering in today’s hectic world. Recently, however, new concoctions such as the “poon choi cake”, packaged poon choi, and take-away poon choi are beginning to appear on the market, threatening to steal away the authenticity of poon choi.

If you ever happen to have a craving for poon choi, steer away from those boxed-offers and be sure to go for the real deal! 

Movement

Movement is everywhere we go. What kind of movement can you see around you that represents a part of a culture, a lifestyle, or a part of you?

Introduction

Culture is all around us.

It is difficult to give an actual definition to culture.
We are going to show you our interpretation of culture through our productions.
We love oddities.
We do not know recondite theory.
We believe in curiosity which leads us to discover our world.
We keep creating until the exhaustion of our ideas.

We are dummies, actually.