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Students create an interactive map highlighting regional specialties from China and Russia. They research and present the historical significance, ingredients, and cultural context of different dishes. Students can use color-coding to show similarities between regions and add personal reflections on how these foods reflect local identities.

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6/21 Food Culture Webinar google slides 

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6/21 Food Culture Webinar google slides 

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Chinese Dumplings Wrapping style: pinched crescent shape

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Chinese Dumplings Wrapping style: pinched crescent shape

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In small groups, students prepare and record a cooking show segment featuring either a Chinese or Russian dish. They must explain the cultural significance of ingredients, traditional cooking methods, and when the dish is typically served. Groups should include relevant vocabulary in both English and the target language.

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Create an annual calendar highlighting major festivals and celebrations in China and Russia, focusing on traditional foods associated with each event. Students research and present why certain foods are eaten during specific celebrations and how they contribute to cultural identity.

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Students research and act out proper dining etiquette scenarios for both Chinese and Russian formal meals. Topics should include seating arrangements, proper use of utensils, serving order, and appropriate mealtime conversations. Groups perform scenarios and provide cultural context for each custom.

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Students keep a week-long food diary comparing their own eating habits with traditional Chinese and Russian meal patterns. They analyze differences in meal timing, portion sizes, ingredients, and social aspects of eating. Conclude with a reflection on how food habits shape cultural identity.

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Research and present common food-related idioms and proverbs from Chinese and Russian cultures. Students create illustrated cards explaining the literal meaning, cultural context, and equivalent expressions in English. Discuss how these sayings reflect cultural values and wisdom.

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Set up a classroom market where students take turns being vendors and customers, using target language vocabulary to buy and sell traditional ingredients. Include cultural elements like bargaining in Chinese markets or Russian bazaars. Students must explain the cultural significance of their products.

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Create an interactive timeline showing how historical events influenced Chinese and Russian cuisine. Students research and present on topics like the Silk Road's impact on Chinese food or Soviet influence on Russian cuisine. Include how these changes affected cultural identity.

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Students research and recreate traditional table settings and food presentation styles from both cultures. They photograph their arrangements and create detailed descriptions of the cultural significance of presentation, including the meaning of colors, numbers, and arrangement patterns in each culture.

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Investigate how certain foods in Chinese and Russian cultures indicate social status or special occasions. Students create presentations exploring topics like imperial cuisine, regional delicacies, or modern food trends. Discuss how food choices reflect and influence social identity.

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Students choose a dish that exists in both Chinese and Russian cuisine (like dumplings) and research how it evolved in each culture. Create a presentation showing similarities, differences, and cultural adaptations. Discuss how food adaptation reflects cultural exchange and identity.

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Research and compare traditional food preservation methods and sustainability practices in Chinese and Russian cultures. Students create proposals for applying these traditional wisdom approaches to modern sustainability challenges. Discuss how food sustainability connects to cultural values.

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Russian Dumplings Wrapping Style: Round Shape

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Russian Dumplings Wrapping Style: Round Shape

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Top each dough circle with a spoonful of the meat mixture. Fold over the sides to create a half-moon shape. Next, pinch the pointy edges together, securing them tightly with your fingers. Dust with flour and freeze for later or boil to eat straight away!

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I'm half russian and it was really interesting to learn about how dumplings are made, i've always had them but they were premade. But I really enjoyed learning about the recipe for it.

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I found that russian and chinese dumplings are very similar

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It was interesting to see how many cultures have evolved to make dumpling-style food. The similarities are very interesting to me, and makes me wonder about earlier cultural interactions between China/Russia.

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i was really surprised to hear about the indigenous background of pelmeni!

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I have never had pelmeni, and I want to try them, but I already know how to make Chinese dumplings, and I make or eat them pretty often. Learning the differences and similarities between them was very interesting, and how they both play a part in their cultures. Like their significance within the family or festivals. Or the differences in their shapes and the methods by which they are created.

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I am happy to know how to make these now because I've only had them like twice and I've been craving them ever since. Furthermore it is very fascinating that the two cultures (Chinese and Russians) have a similar cuisine and dish.

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It's interesting how similar Russian and Chinese dumplings are! I've never had pelmeni, but I have tried pierogi and multiple different kinds of Chinese/Taiwanese dumplings. I thought it was also interesting that you weren't able to find premade dough for pelmeni in the United States, although dough for Chinese dumplings is readily available. I'm curious if this reflects the number of individuals with Russian heritage as opposed to Asian heritage living in the United States. I don't know of any Russian enclaves (at least in my area), but there is a relatively large community of individuals from China, Korea, and Thailand.

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By: Sascha Reverón

In my culture, my family is from the Caribbean, so in that region we have patties. In Haiti, patties are similar to a croissant on the outside and filled with beef or chicken. In Puerto Rico, we have empanadas which are also a flaky dough filled with meat or vegetables.

The difference between dumplings and patties is interesting because they're both a dough filled with meat or vegetables.

According to Google:

Dumplings have a dough wrapper surrounding a filling, while patties are a single mass of ground ingredients.

Dumplings are typically cooked by boiling, steaming, or frying, while patties are often grilled, fried, or baked.

Dumplings can have a wider variety of fillings, while patties are primarily based on ground meat or meat substitutes.

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I used to live in China, so I grew up eating and making 饺子，but my family usually likes 包子 more. I'm curious if Russia has something similar? It's like a steamed bun with filling.

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Learning about Chinese and Russian dumplings was interesting to me because it had many of the same ingredients, which is cool that different cultures cook something similar. My mom’s half Russian, and she always used to talk about how her grandma made dumplings from scratch, so it was cool to finally understand what goes into that. Even though I haven't made dumplings before, now I understand the process and effort behind making dumplings.

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It was really interesting for me to hear about! Although I am part Ashkenazi, I've never really had our dumplings, so I'm coming mostly as an outsider to the Mongol Empire belt of dumplings. In my Bolivian culture, the dumplings (called salteñas, similar to empanadas) are very different from all these, so it was so cool to see how similar the Mongol Empire cultures are. I also liked seeing the etymological connection between words like buuz and bāozi—I enjoy researching linguistics, so it made me happy to see.

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Dumplings are really good, especially soup dumplings. My favorite part of them is taking a bite, then stuffing the inside with extra ginger and vinegar. Maybe even some chili oil as well.

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I thought it was really interesting that the Russian and Chinese dumplings were so similar, along with many different cultures that also have dumplings. Making dumplings is super fun, and I love hanging out with my friends and family when making them. Me and my sister always try to beat each other with how many folds we can make with the wrapper!

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This is the recipe that my family uses, but we usually buy frozen wrappers. I also don't really like cabbage so I will just put a lot of green onions. I have made it with my friends that don't eat pork before, so we used ground turkey instead! You can do a lot of different fillings. It was cool to learn about how Russian and Chinese cuisine have some really similar dishes, I have never heard of boozy before which is very similar to soup dumplings!

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It was really cool to learn about Dumplings in Different culture. Its kinda so weird at the same time, that all of us atleast have some sort of dumplings in our culture.

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I thought it was really interesting to see all the similarities in the 2 different foods. In my mandarin class at school we made steamed and boiled dumplings for lunar new year. We also learned about the different meaning behind dumplings. We learned the different ways to fold the dumpling and we all tried to do the hardest fold. My favorite part was trying to do the prettiest fold.

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I still like frozen dumplings, but I haven't tried homemade ones yet. I'm hoping to make homemade dumplings soon! I'll make sure to sample all of their various cooking and wrapping techniques.

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Dumplings are really good, I've especially liked the boiled and steamed dumplings and it was super cool to see the difference between the 2 cooking styles even with the dumplings having the same ingredients. In addition to this, I thought it was super interesting that both Russian and Chinese dumplings were so similar by the similar meat used, ways of cooking it, and when they're eaten. Such as Chinese New Year, and cold winter days. So because of that I found it very interesting to learn about. Especially since it shows how a food can bring others together and form bonds or strengthen bonds between different people. For example, in my mandarin class we have learned different ways to fold the dumplings, and the different meaning behind dumplings which brought a lot of my classmates to bond because of the experience being so cool.

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I enjoy making 饺子 with my friends. I have made them twice at school with our professor 刘老师, she has taught us how to make the dough, roll it, and make the filling/wrap them. We also then used leftover dough to make green onion pancakes which was really good. I think in a large group making the dumplings is more fun since you can split tasks. I have been trying to do the fancy folding so I think doing the folding similar to the Russian ones will be easier. I think it was cool to learn how similar the two countries were in fillings and wrapping style. I also thought it was interesting that the store bought Chinese wrappers need water to stick but the Russian wrappers do not need water to stick.

Melissa Zurla 林姮

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It was very interesting to see the different proportions of ingredients in Chinese and Russian dumplings. It was also interesting to see that even within Chinese dumplings there were differences. The Chinese dumplings I made had many differences with the ones in the video while also having many similarities to both Chinese and Russian dumplings. Dumplings are a great way to bring people together for both Russian and Chinese culture. Although it is much easier to go to a place like Ding Tai Fung I think that doing homemade dumplings is better. You get to stay in the comfort of your home making dumplings with family!

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I thought this webinar was very interesting and informative. Dr. Lin has introduced us to the topic of this shared culture that comes with dumplings, since so many different areas have them. I think it's beautiful that so many people around the world can enjoy a similar dish, but it is also interesting to see the slight differences and to appreciate how other aspects of peoples' cultures impact how the dumplings are prepared. I didn't actually realize that Russia had dumplings like in China, but I had always associated my family's pierogi with Chinese dumplings since they have a similar concept. I've never had Russian dumplings, but dumpling adjacent dishes in other cultures (ravioli, samosas, etc.) are always really good, so I would like to try them someday! I think everyone should watch the Ted Talk Dr. Lin posted during the webinar because it shows the history of dumplings. She showed it to us in class once, and I personally think it is fascinating. I would really like to learn more about the linguistic side of the conversation, especially after we compared baozi, boozy, and buuz during the webinar. Thank you to all who came together to make this webinar happen! It was highly educational and fun to me.

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This Zoom meeting was very informational because Chinese dumplings are the most well-known form of dumplings. And I had not known about Russian dumplings with the different types of fillings. I normally make wontons with my family instead of dumplings.

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I thought it was really intresting to learn about the similarities and differences of the different kinds of dumplings and food that Chinese and Russian culture have. The fillings and ingrediants had subtle differences that make the dumplings unique to their cultures. For example Russian culture uses different kinds of meat in their filling, while Chinese culture mainly uses pork. But both use a thin circular dough and are folded in a similar crescent shape. I thought it was really intresting that besides dumplings their were even more foods that shared resembelence between the cultures and how foods can be so similar but also have their own uniqueness. I've always loved going to Din Tai Fung in Taiwan, so I enjoyed learning more about dumplings today, and the different ways different people fold them.

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I really loved seeing the differences and similarities in the dishes between cultures, despite how similar they look at first!! What interests me the most, though, is the different flavor profile that the cultures achieve. Looking at the recipes and remembering my experiences trying them, Russian cuisine tends to go for a richer flavor, with pelmeni having a slightly thicker dough, more mild spices, and being served with sour cream. Chinese dumplings, on the other hand, focus more on umami / spice (no clue if those are the right terms, I'm not an expert), with stronger spices / ingredients, less dough, and the tendency to be served with soy sauce or chili oil. From what I can see, these trends continue throughout a lot of these culture's other dishes too, and it's really cool to think about :D

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Watching this Zoom recording, I thought it was very interesting how similar each culture makes their dumplings in a similar way. The use of ingredients are mostly the same as well as the wrapping techniques that are used which starts off with pinching it into a crescent shaped dumpling. I am mostly ethnically Chinese, so I'm very familiar with Chinese cuisine, however, I wasn't familiar with those Russian dumplings which I didn't even know was a thing until now.

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I never knew the similarities between Russian and Chinese culture within the dumplings. In my culture, we really don't have dumplings so I've never been exposed to these as much as others, the only similar thing we have is empanadas, which are also meat filled, so to learn about them was really cool and how to make them at home! Furthermore, the history of them also piqued my interests seeing as how they've been here for quite some time.

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I'm curious about the folding techniques. Did they originate from different areas? Does a different fold mean a different type of dumpling? Like vegetable ones are folded a certain way. Or as a family if you have several different types, would you use a different fold to indicate different flavors?

Or is there a type of fold that reigns superior? I almost think of the way you cut sandwiches (into fours, down the middle, diagonally, etc.) and, at least in my family, everyone has a favorite cut. Is it the same with dumplings?

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I thought this was interesting, especially since an activity for each module in Chinese 2 is discussing an idiom. In the US we seem to have a ton (it's a piece of cake, like bread and butter, not my cup of tea, etc.), so I looked first into Chinese and there seem to be a lot of idioms that follow 吃 + food, and they mean completely different things.

Like 吃醋 (to eat vinegar is the literal translation) means to be jealous? Or 吃素 means cowardly or weak. Vinegar tastes terrible, and it reminds me of the saying, "left a bad taste in my mouth."

I also found this idiom, 生米煮成熟饭, which translates to "the rice is already cooked." This is similar to the phrase, "What's done is done."

I think it's so interesting to see the idioms we have in common and the idioms we don't + how they are expressed (what sort of analogy is used to describe it.

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I thought the similarities between two very different cultures that are geographically far apart is very interesting to see. I didnt know dumplings were a russian cusine as well, I thought that it was just in east asia. Ive tried making chinese dumplings before from scratch and frozen, but im excited to try and make the russian dumplings and share them with friends and family.

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I found it very interesting that these cultures share such similar foods. I was especially surprised that Russian cuisine also has a type of soup dumplings, because I've known about 小笼包 and I've always thought they must be so hard to make properly. It's great that two different cultures have mastered that! I also think the comparison is really cool with cuisine from cultures outside of Asia that also have versions of dumplings (or at the very least, meat inside of dough). For example, Argentinian empanadas, although much bigger and cooked differently, are still packets of dough filled with meat!

I also like that dumplings symbolize togetherness with family and friends in both cultures. Folding dumplings is such a great activity to bring people together!

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After learning about pelmeni and kreplach, I'm now curious about the origins of pierogi and how similar kreplach and pierogi are. They both are made with mashed potatoes so what is the difference?

Aside from 饺子 and pelmeni being prepared and cooked in very similar manners, I noticed that the way of eating them is very different. 饺子 are eaten with soy sauce or 混沌 eaten in soup or dry. Pelmeni on the other hand is eaten with sour cream and dill, as well as a side of salad.

Both sound equally delicious!

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I love making dumplings I remember making them from scratch during covid with my mom. They taste supper good especially with soy sauce and are supper fun to make.

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Was interesting to learn about. I was a little surprised that they fold dumplings that way.