To create dishes to showcase New Zealand product with authentic Chinese flavours, Ruth did some in depth Chinese palate training leading up to the Shanghai Expo. She found exploring flavour profiles and understanding cultural influences on food fascinating and rewarding.

"A week‘s immersion absorbing the culture and cuisine one-to-one with chef Tony Tan gave me a fascinating head-start in understanding arguably the world’s greatest cuisine,” Ruth reports. VIP guests at New Zealand’s Shanghai Expo pavilion are enjoying the results. "

Tony’s Malaysian Chinese heritage and international experience was invaluable. The fifth taste of umami is much more important to a Chinese palate than the accepted Western elements of sweet, salty, sour and bitter. "So we adapted and modified. As Chinese do not like to see blood in meat, our lamb, beef and venison dishes are served medium, not rare or even medium rare.

"Raw seafood or even raw salads are not appreciated, so we serve oysters cooked not au naturel. Adding diced Chinese air dried ham, with black bean sauce, to our Clevedon Coast Oysters Kilpatrick Shanghai-style and grilling them quickly with a dob of Anchor butter is a winner for both Eastern and Western guests” she reported.

In preparing for the Expo, Ruth and her test kitchen team of Jo-Anne Keating and Priska Odermatt created and tested many dishes to suit New Zealand products, and incorporate the excellent variety and quality of fresh vegetables available in Shanghai. Twin priorities were to present the New Zealand product to best advantage, and to ensure the dishes appealed to Chinese palates.

Examples? Pickled vegetables are highly prized, and cut the richness of lamb, salmon and scallops. Pickled cucumber boats with scallops, seared in sesame oil and drizzled with ginger and coriander dressing are absolutely delicious and as much appreciated by Western visitors as Chinese. Pickled vegetables are not so good with wine. Fortunately, the umami flavours like soy sauce, black beans, mushrooms, dried shrimp, and Chinese air dried ham are very wine friendly, especially red wines which Chinese guests tend to prefer.

Ruth says she devoured Chinese cookbooks, including re-discovering an old favourit. The China Moon Cookbook by San Francisco restaurateur Barbara Tropp. The ideas she accumulated from Tony and all those cookbooks opened a new world of food.

"It still looks like New Zealand food but has flavours the Chinese really love. Both Eastern and Western guests really enjoy the dishes, with New Zealanders saying they taste natural without obscuring the original taste of the main products on display,” Ruth says.

Cultural factors are also important. Rice is not usually served with formal meals, as it would imply the host is not being generous with the food. Formal dinners are generally eight to ten courses, but never seven which would be for funerals only.

The New Zealand Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo is presented by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. Ruth’s team is responsible for VIP hospitality, where New Zealand companies can host existing and prospective business partners away from the hustle and bustle of the Expo.

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