Chef finds a recipe for natural success

Huang put an emphasis on "green" food and materials. In the 1990s, he and his team sought out folk cuisine and recipes in the remote areas of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces and tried to introduce the local delicacies to the outside world. Consequently, he has developed over 500 dishes on the basis of what he discovered.

For example, Huang once found a delicious fried meat which was a traditional dish for people of the Yao ethnic group living in the Dayu Mountains in the south of China. Huang learned the rigorous cooking techniques from them and developed a fried meat with bamboo which combines the local techniques and his own creativity.

Huang recalls the many difficulties he met at that time. Places he visited were so isolated and only accessible by treacherous roads that he sometimes had to walk for a whole day to reach his destination. He discovered many traditional foods and cooking crafts that had been passed down from one generation to another, and invited local people who mastered the recipes to leave their hometown and work in cities so that their dishes and skill could be appreciated by outsiders.

"Since I come from an isolated mountainous area, I enjoyed natural and fresh food in childhood and know we must go to the source to find delicious food. Since 'green' food and distinctive dishes are often hidden in mountainous areas, I want to introduce them to the public."

But wild animals are not included. Huang says some people mistakenly believe wild animals are "green and natural", some like eating them simply for their novelty value, but these animals are actually an integral part of nature. He believes that killing them may break the natural balance and have disastrous results.

Huang also develops dishes which remind people of their past, like a dish that may evoke memories of something your grandmother once cooked for you, the restaurant that your uncle took you to for dinner, or even a gathering with your close friends.

For example, in Huang's hometown, there is a hot spring that has an average temperature of over 90 C. People used to soak bamboo shoots in the spring for two days before cooking them so that the shoots tasted better with trace elements from the spring. Based on that childhood memory, Huang has developed spring bamboo shoots and he soaks them in spring water just as he saw before, trying to reproduce the taste of his memory.

A customer who visited Huang's base and tasted some of his dishes said: "The dishes evoke memories at first, then I listened to the stories behind them. I'm moved by the emotions of the dishes."

"This cuisine is popular in China, especially among young people, and occupies a large market share. I believe it has great potential to develop further in the future," says Huang.