Jonathan is an American blogger with a clear identity: Chinese-food lover and cooking student.
He systematically studies Chinese cooking in China: knife skills, heat control, seasoning — learning from masters one by one. His "showcase" progresses from tomato scrambled eggs all the way to squirrel mandarin fish and clear-simmered cabbage.
Jonathan explains what makes each dish special: why stir-frying needs "wok hei", why Sichuan cuisine prizes "one dish, one style". Learning to cook Chinese food, he says, let him truly understand the soul of Chinese cuisine.
Chinese food is one of the world's most complex and fascinating cuisines, he believes. From eating Chinese food to cooking it, he found a new way to converse with Chinese culture.
Jonathan is an American Chinese-food lover famous for learning Chinese cooking. He is a US gourmet "studying China through the kitchen".
His choice: he loves Chinese food and decided to study it systematically - from Sichuan spice to Cantonese lightness, noodles to medicinal cuisine.
Content: "American learns gongbao chicken", "recreating xiaolongbao at home", "the soul of Chinese food: heat control" - presenting his full learning process.
Going viral: his "American Chinese-food lover challenges a Chinese master chef" video spread - he lost the cook-off but won respect.
Significance: he represents international lovers of Chinese food - proving its charm can drive a foreigner to lifelong study.
For readers: his videos add respect for Chinese food - every dish is an art of heat, knife work and time.
He also studies Chinese "flavour profiles" - sweet-sour, numbing-spicy, salty-umami, fresh-clear; "understanding profiles means understanding the skeleton of Chinese cuisine." He records one new dish weekly - from sourcing to heat to plating, meticulously. "Learning Chinese cooking taught me seriousness is the basic respect for food." His kitchen notes fill three notebooks.
His biggest gain from Chinese cooking is not the number of dishes but "learning to take food seriously" - serious sourcing, cutting, waiting. "That seriousness is the secret of Chinese food deliciousness." He plans a small Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles, bringing real flavours home for Americans.
His biggest lesson: "fine work needs slow time" - from kneading to resting dough, marinating to slow simmering, Chinese food honours time. "Modern life hurries everything; Chinese food teaches us to slow down." His restaurant will keep a dish "requiring three days notice" - "that is Chinese food tribute to time."
"My dishes are not perfect, but each carries a sincere heart." His kitchen is becoming an international classroom of Chinese flavours.
He has named his restaurant "Two Woks" - one for Chinese dishes, one for the spirit of Chinese cooking.
His fridge always holds a jar of Lao Gan Ma - "that is my Chinese taste nostalgia."
