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The Scent of Green Papaya


Food, Film and Friends: Global Cuisine and World Cinema

Sunday, April 22nd, a Vietnamese cooking class followed by a Vietnamese film screening.

Vietnamese cuisine bears the influence of its neighboring cuisines: Indian, Thai, Cambodian, Malay and Chinese, as well as of its colonizers: the French. Contrast and balance are the principles that decide how vegetables and spices are carefully combined with poultry, meat or fish. The resulting dishes are scrumptious but light and colorful to the eye. The importance given to the freshness of ingredients and the minimal use of oil has earned Vietnamese food a reputation of being one of the world’s healthiest.

Learn about Vietnamese cuisine and its influences, and how to make authentic Vietnamese dishes that are simple, fresh, light, and delicious.

FILM: THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA
Dir: Ang Hun Tran, Vietnam, 1993, 104 mins

An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Tran Anh Hung’s “luxuriant, visually seductive debut” recreates antebellum Vietnam through both the wide eyes of childhood and the deep blush of first love. In 1951 Saigon, 10 year old Mui enters household service for an affluent but troubled Vietnamese family. Despite her servile role, Mui discovers beauty and epiphany in the lush physical details that envelope her, while earning the fragile affection of the household’s grieving matriarch. As she comes of age, the now grown Mui finds her relationship with a handsome pianist she has admired since childhood growing in depth and complexity. The film’s heady, scrupulously detailed and wholly authentic depiction of a society in decline, a family in quiet turmoil, and lovers on the threshold of romance earned the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A timeless evocation of life’s universal enchantment and a powerful portrait of a vanished world. (Roger Ebert)

Food, Film and Friends is done in partnership with Electric Shadows. Electric Shadows hosts a variety of events in Beijing and beyond, including a short film showcase on the first Sunday of every month, practical experimental film workshops and an amorphous film club. For more information: electricshadows.bj@gmail.com/ 136 6135 9749

Screenings are open to those who don’t wish to participate in the class (fees and starting times above), but registration on The Hutong’s website is greatly encouraged as seating is limited.

Click here to register for our April edition of Food, Film and Friends.

Cost: Cooking class + Screening, 249 RMB, 199 for members + 1 RMB lolly bill (click here to find out more).

Screening Only: 7:30pm, 30RMB.

Click here to find out how to become a member, and click here to find out about our Year of The Dragon 6 Course Card, and here for information on our MonthLong Card.

Last not but not least, if you are a photography enthusiast click here to learn how you can win a voucher for 2 for a free cooking class, by entering our Culinary Photo Competition.

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