Airdate: Destination Flavour China

Destination Flavour returns for a 6th season with Adam Liaw this time uncovering one of the most influential cuisines known  – Chinese.

“With every series of Destination Flavour, we try to go behind the curtain, using food as a tool to discover culture. The food we explore is so much more than just a tasty meal, and to be truly honest how a dish tastes is often the least exciting part of it,” he said.

“Chinese cuisines have had more impact around the world than any other. They were curing ham thousands of years before the Italians, brought tea to the English, and even gave Australia good old tomato sauce. Our understanding of Chinese cuisine in Australia barely scratches the surface – limited mainly to Cantonese cuisine from three decades from the 1950s to 1980s. But China has hundreds of different cuisines that go back thousands of years. It’s without a doubt the most fascinating food culture on Earth.”

Josh Martin, Executive Producer said: “The history of China is intimately entwined with its cuisine and this series is a great way to get to know this fascinating country. For anyone who has ever dreamed of travelling to China, Destination Flavour China is a great ‘cheat sheet’; and for Australians of Chinese descent, it will have them longing to plan to visit.”

There are 10 episodes in total.

Starting in the ancient imperial capital of Beijing through the provinces that gave birth to the eight great regional Chinese cuisines, Adam takes on an adventure of historical discovery and introduces viewers to the ancient and breathtakingly diverse culinary traditions that underpin a society going through a period of monumental transition.

Through Adam’s eyes, viewers experience a side of China rarely revealed to outsiders. From fiery cuisine and snow-dusted mountaintops in Sichuan, to Hainan Island’s tropical flavours and palm-lined beaches, and world-class cosmopolitan cuisine amidst the colossal skyscrapers of Hong Kong, Adam bears witness to the rapid change that’s shaking up the food culture of this entrenched and complex society.

It’s a transformation that’s echoed in Adam’s personal history. He has lived many lives. Over the years, he has travelled China in many guises – as a schoolboy, as a backpacker, and as a corporate lawyer. In Destination Flavour China, he’s treading many of the same paths and reigniting treasured culinary memories. But this time, all that’s old is new again.

But there’s another, deeply personal, aspect to this journey. For Adam, China is all about family. He launches his adventure with a visit to his English-born mother, who made Beijing her home thirty years ago, and concludes his travels on Hainan Island, his father’s homeland.

Wednesdays at 7.30pm on SBS from 28 November.