A Bite of China strikes a chord with food lovers
Source: Xinhua |
May 29, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A DOCUMENTARY series combining human interest elements with foods from across China captured the country's hearts and stomachs for the entire first week that it aired.
On May 14, the series "A Bite of China," produced by China Central Television, debuted, kicking off a week-long surge in viewership for CCTV-1 during the 10:30pm time slot.
The series has stirred heated discussions both on- and offline, and episodes have been watched over 20 million times online and attracted an unexpectedly high TV audience.
"The food, cooked by the most ordinary people in the remote corners of China, reminds me of my hometown, my mum's cooking, and my childhood," said Wang Xin, 28, who hails from northwest China's Shaanxi Province but works for a bank in Beijing.
"No matter how far you go, no matter who you become, your stomach will still be your hometown stomach," said Chen Xiaoqing, the director of the documentary as well as a famous food writer in China.
The seven-episode series weaves together stories of ordinary Chinese and the diversity of their food and cooking methods, with each episode focusing on a particular food-related topic, including ingredients, staple foods, and how one ingredient could be used to make many different dishes.
The first in-house documentary broadcast on CCTV-1, the series attracted an audience 30 percent larger than that for the TV dramas that usually fill the station's 10:30pm time slot, said Liu Wen, the producer of the documentary.
Netizens have described the documentary as "a disaster for people who are trying to lose weight."
The program boosted online food orders around the time that it aired, and orders for previously unpopular local specialties peaked after these foods appeared on TV, said a spokesman for Taobao.com, China's largest consumer-to-consumer trade website.
During that week, more than 8.9 million people bought over 10 million local food items on the website, up 12.5 percent from previous months.
On May 14, the series "A Bite of China," produced by China Central Television, debuted, kicking off a week-long surge in viewership for CCTV-1 during the 10:30pm time slot.
The series has stirred heated discussions both on- and offline, and episodes have been watched over 20 million times online and attracted an unexpectedly high TV audience.
"The food, cooked by the most ordinary people in the remote corners of China, reminds me of my hometown, my mum's cooking, and my childhood," said Wang Xin, 28, who hails from northwest China's Shaanxi Province but works for a bank in Beijing.
"No matter how far you go, no matter who you become, your stomach will still be your hometown stomach," said Chen Xiaoqing, the director of the documentary as well as a famous food writer in China.
The seven-episode series weaves together stories of ordinary Chinese and the diversity of their food and cooking methods, with each episode focusing on a particular food-related topic, including ingredients, staple foods, and how one ingredient could be used to make many different dishes.
The first in-house documentary broadcast on CCTV-1, the series attracted an audience 30 percent larger than that for the TV dramas that usually fill the station's 10:30pm time slot, said Liu Wen, the producer of the documentary.
Netizens have described the documentary as "a disaster for people who are trying to lose weight."
The program boosted online food orders around the time that it aired, and orders for previously unpopular local specialties peaked after these foods appeared on TV, said a spokesman for Taobao.com, China's largest consumer-to-consumer trade website.
During that week, more than 8.9 million people bought over 10 million local food items on the website, up 12.5 percent from previous months.
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