Macau’s Comuna de Pedra (“Stone Community”) staged a play called ‘The Authentic Flavours (Mei Bin)’ – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of its De-corps-struction Series 2022 at Sky 21 in Nam Van.
The director and three artistes who were involved in it spoke to The Macau Post Daily early this month about their experiences and what they hoped to deliver to their audience.
The exclusive interview with director “Poppy Man” and performers Ng Ka Wai, Ho Chi Iao and Yelo Wong Hio Cheng took place at the Sky 21 restaurant.
Mei Bin: change of taste
Poppy Man said that he had been invited by Jenny Mok, who heads Comuna de Pedra, to participate in its De-corps-struction Series, and later on he asked Ng, Ho and Wong to join the programme.
“De-corps-struction Series describes what has been changing in Macau in the recent decades: people, society, economy, government, and we wanted to bring ‘change of taste’ to the series,” he said.
The artistes were tasked with cooking a dish which they considered meaningful, under the premise that their perception of the dishes had changed over the years, Poppy Man noted, adding that the artistes would also be performing and telling their stories about the food theatrically. Meanwhile, the audience would be served the food prepared by Sky 21.
Time management is one of the biggest challenges, according to the director, because the artistes needed to balance the cooking time frame and present their stories. “There is so much concentration required from the artists as they are constantly multitasking. A lot of time is spent on rehearsing how they can present themselves and be understood by the audience,” the director underlined.
Change of taste irreversible
Ho said that she would be making “tangyuan” (glutinous rice balls) using her mother’s recipe which could not be found elsewhere in Macau. “My mother passed away last year, and I have been trying to make the tangyuan step-by-step following my mum’s instructions again and again, but the taste has never been the same nonetheless. Her passing away has forever altered tangyuan’s taste, as well as its meaning to me,” Ho said.
As society is getting more prosperous, people can access good quality food easily nowadays. Ng said that the changes in society and the catering industry had also made a difference on how people enjoy and appreciate food. “The change cannot be reversed, and the dish I would be making is steamed minced pork from Restaurant Long Kei which has gone out of business, to signify that many things in our lives are irreversible,” Ng noted.
For Wong, a change of heart has altered her taste in her ex-boyfriend’s food. “When we were still together, my ex-boyfriend, a chef, taught me how to make a burger and I used to think that what he said defined the essence of a good burger. After we broke up, I went to his restaurant and tasted his same burger once more: but it wasn’t appealing to me anymore,” Wong said, adding that she had become mature and gained her own perspective to judge what is good and bad.
Change of taste inevitable
As a matter of fact, when a person grows older his or her perception of taste will change unavoidably. To describe this change to the audience, however, is challenging because taste is always subjective, Poppy Man said, adding: “I think many people cannot interpret or even remember what something tasted like in the past, let alone to recreate the sense for others. Therefore, we use personal stories instead to elaborate why our taste perception changed over time based on our life experiences.”
Poppy Man has a rocky relationship with his father who works as a chef, and his family issues have ultimately altered how he perceived the soup made by his mother. “I used to feel annoyed by how my mother poured a huge bowl of soup for me without first asking how hungry I was, and I felt pressured to drink it all. At that time, I still had a close relationship with my dad. On one occasion we even agreed to do a show together, where I would handle the presentation and he would cook for the audience.
“Now, my father has become estranged from us, and whenever I see the soup prepared by my mother – it hits me differently. I will sit down in the living room and drink the soup slowly, every day when I return home from work,” Poppy Man said, adding that it has become a routine for him, but meaningful nonetheless. “I think the soup is tastier than before, even though I am pretty sure that my mother’s cooking skills didn’t improve. My family experience has transformed how I appreciate the soup,” he noted.
These undated photos show the artistes performing at Sky 21 in Nam Van. – Photos: Homen Sam
Ng Ka Wai (left), Ho Chi Iao (centre) and Yelo Wong Hio Cheng pose next to an electronic poster of their show at Sky 21 earlier this month. – Photo: William Chan
