Spicy tastes of China fire up an Italian chef’s palate
WHEN Gianluca Luisi tried spicy Chinese hot pot for the first time, it numbed his mouth so completely that he thought his friends had been pulling a prank on him. But now, the Italian is not only comfortable with the challenging taste but has also dived deep into the spice business.
Luisi’s office in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality is filled with all kinds of spices. Spicy sauces are marked in degrees ranging from zero to 75. There are even bracelets and cufflinks inspired by red chilies.
“This is our newly launched product called ‘soft ear’ pepper powder. ‘Soft ear’ in the Chongqing dialect means an obedient husband. I am totally soft ear,” said Luisi in fluent Chinese. He is known by his Chinese name Zhang Luka.
Luisi, 33, began learning Chinese when he was studying for his bachelor’s degree in London. Drawn to Chinese culture and history, he decided to apply for an exchange program at Peking University.
After completing his studies, he joined the newly opened Italian consulate in Chongqing in 2014. During his three years there, he worked to facilitate business in China for Italian companies, turning opportunities into real benefits for both sides.
Eating like the locals
After settling down in the southwestern Chinese city, Luisi fell in love with the typically spicy local food, although at first, it surprised him how one pot could be stuffed with so many chilies. “I learned that it was the local way to eat and I myself couldn’t do away with hot pot now,” he said.
Luisi sees market potential in the vast Chinese culinary culture and believes he is well-positioned to increase foreigners’ knowledge and appreciation of Chinese cuisine.
At the end of 2017, he quit his job and established a joint venture with DeZhuang, a Chinese company specializing in hotpot, to produce Chinese food for overseas markets.
“When I was young, my dream was to become an astronaut. Then I set foot in diplomacy. Now I am spreading Chinese cuisine to the world. Different careers, but the same in essence. I always want to see the outside world and promote international communication,” he said.
In 2018, Luisi established the World Chili Alliance, a nonprofit organization fostering exchanges in the global chili industry.
SAUDI Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday announced plans to approve a set of new draft laws designed to enhance the efficiency and integrity of the kingdom’s judicial system, a step that would eventually lead to an entirely codified law.
The prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, has launched a series of social and economic reforms aimed at modernizing the conservative kingdom, which has no codified system of law to go with the texts making up Shura or Islamic law.
The state news agency quoted the prince on Monday as saying that four new laws — the personal status law, the civil transactions law, the penal code of discretionary sanctions and the law of evidence — are being finalized and will be submitted to the Cabinet and relevant bodies as well as the advisory Shura Council, before they are finally approved.
“The new laws represent a new wave of reforms that will ... increase the reliability of procedures and oversight mechanisms as cornerstones in achieving the principles of justice, clarifying the lines of accountability,” Prince Mohammed said in the statement.
A Saudi official said on Monday that setting clear codes to four major and fundamental laws through applying the best international practices and standards means the kingdom is “definitely moving towards codifying the entire law” to meet the needs of the modern world while adhering to Sharia principles.
“While there is a decent and independent judiciary, the main criticism is that it is not consistent and judges have significant discretion on many of these issues, which leads to inconsistency and unpredictability,” the Saudi official said.
Having no written laws that govern certain incidents had for decades resulted in discrepancy in court rulings and prolonged litigation, hurting many Saudis, mostly women.
Riyadh has, for example, long endured international censure over the guardianship system that assigns each women a male relative — a father, brother, husband or son — whose approval was needed for big decisions.