Argentina in Beijing Through a Box of...Bakes

Ana Padilla Fornieles | Jun 27, 2022 10:00 am | Add a comment | 535 reads

You know how the adage goes, dear reader. Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer and your eats portable. Did I just coin that last bit? Maybe. What can I say —as a writer, I am irrevocably tied to my current times, and boy are they volatile. One day you can dine in, the next day…who knows! With that summer heat, though, who wants to get into the kitchen?

However, sometimes we get into a rut of favorites. Time for new-to-us flavors! Say, for instance, that you suddenly crave Latin American cuisine. Yes, you could order tacos. Or, you could hit entrepreneur Emi Yang for a taste of her amazing Argentinian catering.

Che, Emi. Pleasure to meet you! How would you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey, everyone. I’m Emi Yang, although you may also call me by my Chinese name — Yang Tianyi. I was born in Beijing, but lived eighteen years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As you may imagine, I get all sorts of questions about my identity. In true diasporic fashion, the answer would be that I feel Argentinian in my heart of hearts while keeping my Chinese roots. I did return permanently here, where I keep doing what I’ve always done, really — being an unapologetically independent woman. I want to do life on my own terms, earning my own livelihood and breaking away from certain traditional patterns.

What a badass answer. How did your business start?
Who doesn’t have a phoenix story from the start of the pandemic in 2020? Christmas came around and I had this sudden idea that I could maybe try and use my kitchen skills to supplement my income. If I have to be perfectly honest, it was a serious challenge at first. From fine-tuning my recipes to figuring out conversions between different systems, there was a steep learning curve.

Brain squeezing always gets me hungry. How did you learn to cook? Why Argentinian food instead of Chinese?
Initially it was all a matter of second-doubting recipes here and there. Were those the right amounts for each ingredient? Did I really need all that sugar? Shortcuts are no bueno, but I did want to streamline things in order to get what I truly craved and thought others would love, too.

Why Argentinian? Well, being in China we logically get our fill of local cuisines and traditions. Beijing’s status as a metropolis makes it so that we have plenty of international flavours within easy reach, and yet I felt Argentinian offerings were largely absent. Sure enough, some folks can evoke meat, wine and mates, but that’s about as far as it went.

Yum. Tell us more about the flavors of Argentina. In what ways does Argentinian cooking differ from that of China?
It’s this unique mix between Spain and Italy. For instance, an Argentinian pizza worth its salt is going to be 90 percent cheese. Pizza in China gets disappointing when you see all these allegedly healthy concoctions that are in sore need of… cheese! Ah, man, this question won’t fit in a single article. Milanesas, gnocchis, choripan, asados, dulce de leche… I want to bring some of that goodness here.

What are your business goals? What would you like to offer to your customers?
I would love for my customers to enjoy the flavours that I crave. Are you dying for a sweet treat? Hit me for your fix of alfajor (a traditional Argentinian confection; I make mine with dulce de leche!). Those who’ve tried them say they’re better than the Havanna brand. Feeling particularly decadent? Go for my budines (an Argentinian-style type of pudding), or maybe even a flansito (pudding). Bet you a peso you haven’t had chicken empanadas (Argentinian style handheld pies) as juicy as mine. And, I’m always open to personalized requests.

This is a business, of course. But that’s not all there is about my catering. These are trying times where many of us long for home but can’t be there physically. Nostalgia travels through the stomach, too. I want my customers to take a bite and feel the comfort of a homemade meal in the company of your family and loved ones, the Argentinian way. When you meet with your friends to watch a football game and it smells like empanadas, when a spoonful of flansito is a throwback to your childhood? That’s home for me. So, contact me (WeChat ID: emichung0079292) and…bienvenidos.