Celebrating Taiwanese Culture, Cuisine and Tea with Ang Lee

The 85th Oscar Awards shines on Taiwan as Li An (Ang Lee) receives the best Director Award for Life of Pi. Taiwan Tea Crafts joins in to celebrate a great director, a great man, and one of the best promoter of Taiwanese culture throughout his brilliant film career. Today, we will ride the wave of this year’s Oscars and share our love of cinema and Taiwan, all in one package, by re-exploring and inviting you to (re-) discover one of Li An’s earlier movies that beautifully showcases Taiwanese cuisine … and one of Taiwan’s tea institutions: the Wistaria Tea House of Taipei.

As most of you in the West who’ve spent time in front of your TV watching the Oscars this Sunday evening, you’ve probably gone to bed with a feeling of “there goes another year of Awards”. Here, in Taiwan, where the show is broadcast live (with Mandarin commentary) it is more a case of getting to a late start on your workday. So off to my computer I went, all charged-up with giddy excitement, pride and an unusual level of energy for a Monday morning. The excitement comes from the wonderful findings made during the last weekend that will make its way onto the site during the week, both in teas and tea wares (more on this later this week !). The unusual level of energy must also come from the same items that I was re-sampling while watching the Oscars. And the pride ? Well, 李安, aka Li An, and know in the West as Ang Lee has just won his second Oscar as Best Director! This time for Life of Pi which was shot, in most part, not far away from here, near Taichung.

Now, before I get tagged as suffering from the Stockholm syndrome and rooting only for the local guy (oh, for those who didn’t know or hadn’t guessed by now, Ang Lee is Taiwanese), you will need to know that I am a bit of a movie buff and have been following Mr. Lee’s career since the early 1990’s. I’ve always been admirative of his sensitive use of the camera, his skill at mastering the language of film and unobtrusively, yet penatratingly depicting the lives of colourful characters. He is on my top ten list of favourite Directors. Nonetheless, as the results for best Director were announced, I was the first one to be surprised ! After all, he already had won one with Brokeback Mountain, or maybe I just couldn’t truly grasp the merit of winning this time since, I will have to admit, I did not see Life of Pi (yet). If you had lived through the barrage of media coverage about this movie here in Taiwan which has been going on for years (remember, it was shot here) well, you might wish to take a pass and wait for it to appear on HBO in the coming months. One may guess, with the movie’s good performance at Oscars, that this may take a few more months. The film is bound to make a new run in the theatres now.

But, as I walked to the office in the other room, thinking about Ang Lee, what came to mind was not images of Hulk or Crouching Tigers but memories of one my favourite movies of Ang Lee: Eat Drink Man Woman. This 1994 movie dates from his Taiwanese period, just before he started working for Western studios. It is set in modern Taiwan, at least the modern Taiwan that was prevailing nearly 20 years ago just as it was ramping-up as a young democracy on its way to become one of the dynamic economy and society it is now today. Curiously, this film is also about transitions but at a more microscopic level: that of a family of a soon to be retired widower that had to raise three daughters who are now in their twenties. The daughters are moving on with their lives and are about to leave the family house and the father is struggling with having to transition to retired life and finding the house suddenly empty. The main character is also a reputed chef so food, more specifically Taiwanese cuisine, features prominently in this film. I have many friends who didn’t particularly care for the storyline of this movie but simply relished at the several scenes where food is prepared, served and enjoyed. One of the most fascinating sequence of the movie for anyone who likes to cook and/or enjoy Asian cuisine is the opening scene where we see the chef preparing the Sunday family meal (see below). It is a beautifully shot cooking course in less than 5 minutes where we can witness how distinctive and refined Asian cuisine is. I think this is the first Ang Lee movie I ever saw, and right from these first minutes I was completely hooked about the man’s work. This is what I wanted to share with you today. I will let the master’s images do their trick on you. And, if you like this short sequence, do look for a copy of the entire movie which is well worth it. And, as a tea drinker, you are in for a treat!

 

 

Indeed, tea drinkers might appreciate a scene later on in the movie that was shot at the Wistaria Tea House in Taipei. This historical landmark and tea institution which you can still visit today has an interesting past as a hot bed for progressive thinkers and artists to meet and discuss during the not so distant troubled past of Taiwan. It is interesting to consider that of all the tea houses in Taipei, Ang Lee decided to feature this one to shoot a scene in. This is one of subtle metaphoric touches of Lee’s cinema that makes it even more so captivating and meaningful to see, and see again, for me at least!

My top 5 Ang Lee movies:

1. Lust, Caution (2007)
2. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
3. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
4. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)