articles
China Elevator Stories
Falling In Love Over Potato Soup
I invite a co-worker and friends to have dinner at my place in Shenzhen.
28/02/2013
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
One day in early December 2012, I invite my co-worker Y and two friends to my place to eat homemade Austrian potato soup.
I had only recently started working at a Chinese advertising agency in Shenzhen, and Y had accompanied me the whole day to buy materials for making handicrafts. In the evening, I wonder what else I should cook, when Y offers to help me out and cook some Chinese dishes. We buy a whole stash of vegetables, tofu, and some meat, and joke around in the tiny kitchen.
Suddenly, Y pauses, a seemingly confused look on his face. “There are only two people in my life who I usually agree to cook for”, he says. I look at him cutting vegetables and wait for him to continue. He says, “One is my mother; the other is my girlfriend”. I reply jokingly, “What does that make me—your mother?”. He says, still serious, “No, and neither are you my girlfriend”. I know that he’s not in a relationship at the moment and find his confusion about himself quite cute.
A bit later, we sit at the table and eat a big meal of seven dishes. I’m not very satisfied with the outcome of the potato soup, which is a bit overcooked, but my friends and Y say that it’s really delicious. I’m not sure if I should believe him when he stresses how delicious my homemade potato soup is this evening.
But as I find out later—overcooked or not—he really does seem to like my potato soup. In the last few weeks, more often than not, I’ve heard him say, “I’m craving potato soup”. The way to a man’s (and a woman’s!) heart really is through his stomach—or, as we would say in German, Liebe geht durch den Magen (love goes through the stomach).
Have you ever fallen in love with someone over food?