Chinese Food: A Lost Art

While I was cooking dinner tonight, I looked down at the mess of E-Fu noodles I was making.  My Chinese cooking never turns out the same as my moms.  I partly blame it on the fact that I have a crappy electric stove, and not a gas stove.  My moms Chinese food is always better than mine.  I can watch her cook to learn, but there's never any recipes to take with me to recreate.  That is because real Chinese food doesn't have any recipes.  Chinese chefs cook by taste.  My mom and grandma cook by taste.  I tried to cook Chinese food by taste, and it doesn't work out as well as me cooking Western style food by taste.

Sometimes I worry that my generation has lost a lot of the Chinese heritage, not only in cooking, but speaking, reading and traditions.  I hate using the word "Fusion"  I see that too often at those Western style restaurants who are trying to attract a Chinese customer base.  But I would have to classify my versions of Chinese dishes as "Fusion" or the "new" Chinese.  My dishes are a lot simpler, less salty, less greasy, some may just say bland.  My stomach cannot handle the grease, and my face gets swollen after eating salty foods.  As i'm getting older, i'm more conscious of what I put in my mouth.  My mom has said i'm getting pickier.  Maybe thats why my Chinese food doesn't taste the way my mom makes it.

 I need to somehow figure the lost art of Chinese cooking and soup making with the hopes that I can somehow pass it on to the future generations.

Non-Chinese Vegetarian E-Fu Noodles