Master Chi remembers it clearly. When he was young, his approach to a meal came down to two simple, non-negotiable standards: it had to be filling, and it had to have meat.
So no matter how fancy the dinner, before the evening wrapped up, he wouldn’t fuss over appearances. He’d wave over the server right there in front of everyone and order two bowls of plain white rice.
Then he’d take all those delicacies that everyone else was too proud to reach for — mixed them into the rice — and eat with pure, unashamed gusto.
The result? When he first stepped into the working world, a surprising number of elders actually came to respect and appreciate him for exactly this behavior.
Counterintuitive, right?
Now that he’s reached middle age, he understands what was really happening. It was a kind of candor — and a rather interesting one at that.
Think about it: at a dinner table where everyone’s interests are entangled, nerves are tight, and every word is being carefully measured — if a young man simply sits there and eats, genuinely and unreservedly, with an appetite that tells you exactly what’s on his mind… everyone around the table thinks: this kid is real.
Because “real” starts with not hiding anything.
Of course, there’s something he forgot to mention: at that age, his capabilities were solid across the board. That was the foundation. The candor only worked because there was something genuine underneath it.
And this habit? Master Chi has kept it to this day. No matter the occasion, no matter how formal or how much face is at stake, he still asks the server to bring two bowls of plain white rice toward the end of the meal.
Eating well, eating his fill — that matters to him.
As for what goes with the rice, if he’s being honest, he still loves the classics: hong shao rou (red-braised pork belly), Huaiyang-style lion’s head meatballs, yan du xian (salted pork and bamboo shoot broth), stir-fried eel strips — that whole lineage of Jiangnan home cooking. A whole-chicken broth is especially welcome.
That said, he stops at eighty percent full. Health, after all, is no small thing.