Chinese Cuisine 101 is a collection of essays and accompanying recipes written by students in my English Composition 101 class. These fun, bright, fascinating, and talented young scholars were enrolled in the international academic partnership between Fort Hays State University and Sias International University. Fort Hays State University sends faculty globally, but in my case, to Xinzheng City, Henan Province, People's Republic of China to teach writing face-to-face at Sias International. This program allows students from all over China (as well as from all over the world) to take FHSU courses (all in English) while remaining in China where they study to earn a Bachelor’s of General Studies, a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Information Networking and Telecommunications, a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Management, or a Bachelor’s of Arts in Organizational Leadership. The concept of this collection had been simmering for a few years -- I teach Composition, and unfortunately some students aren’t as interested in writing as I, their writing teacher, would like. So I cooked up the idea of combining three things that I love -- teaching, writing, and eating -- and trimmed my assignments to meet my recipe for good, interesting essays -- with the hope that my enthusiasm for these three things would boil over into their writing. My students were happy to share their background in Chinese food and China’s amazing food culture, and they whipped up some intriguing treats into their recipes, using topics and supporting details that include amusing personal anecdotes, remarkable historical accounts of the recipe’s origin, fascinating legends from China’s mysterious past, and a few other saucy, spicy surprises. I must admit that some of my students thought my essay assignments were half-baked, but when I read their work, I savored every syllable. What they wrote was prepared with diligence, deftness, and a desire to share their culture and traditions in an engaging and charming manner. Thank you for your interest in this book. Like with trying out any new, exotic dish, I would like to serve you with a caveat: these essays are not in perfect prose. English is these students’ second (and even sometimes third or fourth or fifth) language, because what they need to use to communicate includes local languages, the national Mandarin dialect, other foreign languages, and so on. Also keep in mind that all of the ingredients needed for these recipes might not be available wherever you are, and that the quantities of the ingredients are listed in metric measurements. But most measuring devices these days display both. Please don’t let that stop you! If you bite on a bit of bone or nibble on a piece of gristle (so to speak) when reading these essays and trying out the accompanying recipes, please take it with a grain of salt and remember that what you’re enjoying is not perfectly polished or flawlessly refined. But at the very least these pieces are dished up like a home-cooked meal: hand-made, honest, wholesome, and pure. Jason Harper, Author, Editor
