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Eat Drink Asia Podcast

The world of Hong Kong noodles

19 Aug 2024 - 11:15AM

Hong Kong bakeries 101

31 Jul 2024 - 10:15AM

The art of modernising dim sum

11 Jul 2024 - 11:53AM

How overtourism created Bali’s most popular street food, babi guling

10 Jul 2024 - 4:44PM

17:04

The Lunar New Year food turning parts of China into a desert wasteland

26 Jul 2024 - 9:14AM

A centuries-old Lunar New Year treat in Hong Kong

26 Jul 2024 - 9:15AM

The evolution of sweet and sour pork

26 Jul 2024 - 9:13AM

21:46

How KFC became a Christmas tradition in Japan

26 Jul 2024 - 9:13AM

How instant coffee became the hottest Korea-wave export

26 Jul 2024 - 9:16AM

Hong Kong’s ‘endangered’ dim sum

29 Oct 2023 - 8:00AM

33:52

Is this the end for Asian culinary icon Sara Lee?

26 Jul 2024 - 9:08AM

11:06

Century egg: misunderstood snack a Chinese favourite for 500 years

17 Sep 2023 - 10:30AM

Wok stars of Hong Kong: understanding ‘wok hei’, the breath of the wok

15 Sep 2023 - 10:33AM

Tempura isn’t from Japan? How the country made the dish its own

Tempura – seafood or vegetables coated in batter and deep-fried – is as much a staple of Japanese cuisine as sushi and sashimi, but its origins are on the other side of the world.

15 Jan 2021 - 9:22AM

Unlike a lot of Western fried food, tempura is known for its light and airy batter. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Journey to the West: how tofu made its way to America

From its invention in China 2,000 years ago to acceptance in mainstream America today, tofu has gone from an acquired taste to trendy superfood.

3 Dec 2020 - 11:38AM

Tofu has come a long way, from its invention in China 2,000 years ago to acceptance in mainstream America today. Photo: Getty Images

Egg tart history: from medieval England to global dim sum hit

Chefs in Canton, southern China, created the egg tart by adapting an English recipe for custard tarts brought there by homesick merchants. Custard tarts go back to 15th century England, where they were a savoury affair and contained bone marrow.

13 Jun 2023 - 11:02AMvideocam

The hidden history of xiaolongbao, Shanghai’s famous soup dumplings

It is said that xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings, loved around the world thanks to Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung, originated in snack shops in a town on the outskirts of Shanghai, and may have had a very different name.

19 Aug 2020 - 12:43PMvideocam

How Parasite put ‘cheap student grub’ into high-end restaurants

Ram-don, or jjapaguri, is not typically served with marbled sirloin like it is in the film Parasite, but the dish is common in South Korea, a country that embraces its love of instant noodles.

6 Jul 2020 - 6:10AM

Jjapaguri (or ram-don) prepared by Do Yong-soo at Silencio in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Tory Ho

A refugee invented butter chicken, and changed the face of Indian cuisine

The story of butter chicken is one of three hard-working refugees, a hugely popular Delhi restaurant, and an accidental combination of ingredients born of necessity.

29 May 2020 - 5:36PM

How Korean fried chicken – the other KFC – became a huge hit

South Korea is widely known for having one of the best and most crispy versions of fried chicken, a dish enjoyed the world over that was first introduced to the country by US troops during the Korean war.

8 Dec 2019 - 2:30PM

South China Morning Post wins two awards at Asia Podcast Awards

The two podcasts were recognised for their exploration of food, entertainment and technology.

14 Nov 2019 - 11:07PM

(L-R) Zen Soo from Inside China Tech, and Alkira Reinfrank, Yang Yang and Bernice Chan from Eat Drink Asia, winners in the Asia Podcast Awards. Photo: Antony Dickson

How Vietnam’s humble banh mi took on the world

Introduced to Vietnam by the colonial French, the baguette was later adapted for local tastes. Banh mi is still sold in Vietnam as a cheap snack, but can now also be found around the world.

27 Oct 2019 - 9:30AM

Le Petit Saigon chef Theign Yie Phan with a pork banh mi. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Banh mi: where Vietnamese tradition and French colonialism collide

The dish was born in a time when Vietnamese weren’t even allowed access to wheat flour, making it hard to imagine the sandwich would become world famous.

25 Oct 2019 - 4:38PM

‘A taste of America’: how Spam became a hit in Asia and beyond

Fried, baked, boiled or braised, pork-based Spam was first a hit in the US during the Great Depression and then in Asia after World War II. Now some chefs are incorporating it in upmarket dishes.

29 Sep 2019 - 12:10AM

All about that Spam

American icon became popular during the war and managed to stick around.Your junk email is named after the canned meat, by the way.

27 Sep 2019 - 12:58PM

Spam advertisement by Hormel Foods Corporation.

The story of Sichuan food and the secret to its popularity

We think of Sichuan food as numbing and super hot, but the cuisine is much more subtle than that, say chefs and fans. Dishes such as mapo tofu and Sichuan hotpot are popular all over the world, but two-thirds of Sichuan dishes aren’t fiery.

28 Jul 2019 - 11:02AMvideocam

Sichuan cuisine is known for being spicy and numbing, but it is more complex. Photo: Alamy

The surprising history of Sichuan cuisine

Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank analyse the cultural appropriation, and fascinating history, of Sichuan cuisine. They delve into the chemistry of the Sichuan pepper and unpack the components of a traditional meal.

31 Jul 2019 - 1:48PM

Sushi did not originate in Japan: how raw fish and rice became a world favourite

It turns out that early sushi was not about rice. And it originated from the Mekong, not Japan.

28 Jun 2019 - 2:23PM

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Eat Drink Asia Podcast

SCMP culture journalists and dedicated 'foodies' Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank speak with chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs from across Asia as they sip, sample and taste their way through the local and international cuisine in Hong Kong in this delicious bi-weekly podcast.

last updated:

9 September, 2024