@kate,

that's exactly what mm's been peddling on here.

but as someone posted earlier, a lot of this is snobbery. what she's desribing is a 5-star restaurant which many people can't afford.

genius chefs don't come cheap.

and something else which completely invalidates her whole book.

if 10 people go the same world-class restaurant with all her conditions met and order the same dish, does it mean that they will necessarily all enjoy the dish? no. i went to one of the top japanese restaurants in hong kong once and one guy at the table didn't like it.

i don't care how many books have been written. this stuff is quackery.

@Kate: Well, all that seems to make sense to me, though I can't really do any of these things. But I'm certainly persuaded to try anything that anybody produces on the basis of consideration of these principles - beats the hell out of some unconsidered positive reaction to, say, sugar - ants can do that.

@right, Magnifico, quackery - just like the stone-cold musical equality between music produced by guys who can play chopsticks on a piano and those who can play Mozart. This doesn't mean you have to like Mozart, even after hearing it a thousand times, but it may indicate to you that you may be missing something.

the author is describing 5-star restaurants which are $$$.

also, mm seems to put brothers jiang in the same category because it's prepared with "fresh ingredients". it's fresh crap is what it is.

there's a reason we have the term "junk food". even an 8-year old chinese kid knows mcdonald's is junk food.

and mm is on a mission to prove what exactly?

this is a joke. and i'm getting off this bloody forum. wasting too much time here.

I doubt if mmkunming would put the Brother Jiang in the same category with 5-star restaurants. I think he's on a mission to try to get people to 1. understand that there are things they don't know (necessary 1st step) about food, and that 2. they might try to do something about it.
Having said that, I'm a slow learner, though even I have discovered a few things through experience. You can, too.

Magnifico, I have NEVER argued that only expensive, 5 star food is the only good food. I have said that fresh ingredients, prepared correctly and skillfully, make good food.

Just stopped by to say that I like McDonalds, cause in every country it tastes the same and it's a safe choice when you don't know local cuisine and don't want to risk stomach problems during short trip.

Serrure, but it tastes terrible. And why is local food "unsafe"? Why are Westerners so morbidly terrified by food? You do not have to eat weird, exotic stuff on a short trip, but my God, do you really think that food in other countries is "dangerous" and terrible? McDonald's is greasy crap, and it is NOT consistent: every McDonald's in every country gets some or all of its food from different sources.

Every Macs I've been to in other countries has tasted more or less the same. Sure they have weird menu variations, like the fungus soup shit here on the menu in China... But in general Big Macs, Fillet o Fish etc taste the same.

EDIT: Actually the fungus stuff could be KFC...

Nope McD's has always had a slight taste variety to it wherever I've gone. Come to China had one burger and it put me off for a good few months, just until I'd eaten so much chinese food that a small burger was needed once in a while whatever the rubbish taste compared to back in london!