The work we do still results in challenging the status quo, but the way we go about it now is different. These days, I think about it a little differently. I think if you asked me a year ago, I would have agreed that I was on a mission to challenge these racist and xenophobic standards in food culture, but also more widely in the West. Gao: The context is the undervaluing of food, but the impact is undervaluing Chinese people and culture. Why was it important to you to challenge existing biased perceptions on a grand scale, and how is Fly By Jing doing that? At Fly By Jing, we like to say that our sauces are not “traditional,” but personal.īastian: You talked about how Chinese food tends to be undervalued in the West. We must embrace that and allow people, whether it’s a grandmother in China or her granddaughter in America, to express and define their own experiences of that cuisine. People who are passionate about their cultures and the foods that they make are what breathe new life into our traditions. The most exciting part about Chengdu’s food culture is how it is always changing. Gao: In my opinion, with every cuisine, the only way that it can thrive is if it evolves. We have big goals to become the first modern, high-quality, mainstream Chinese food brand and we’re just getting started on that journey.īastian: How does food play a role in keeping traditions alive and in pushing cultures forward? Each turn in the road led me to Fly By Jing-which by far has been my biggest challenge yet. For me, it’s when I feel comfortable that I know it’s time to make a change. I saw my corporate career as the place for me to learn as much as I could in preparation for eventually making the jump to my own venture. Gao: I always knew I wanted to start my own business. How do you know when it’s time for a pivot, and what have you learned from making major changes more than once? Bastian: You’ve taken several big career leaps, leaving your corporate career to start a restaurant, leaving that restaurant to start a pop-up dinner series, and pivoting that into a spice and condiment company.
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