Monica is from Serbia, settled in Guangzhou, and works as a food-exploring blogger.
Guangzhou is a food paradise; Monica starts with dim sum: har gow, siu mai, cheung fun, boat congee. Her checklist runs long — from time-honored shops to street stalls.
Monica also cooks Serbian food: grilled meat, cheese, ajvar. Chinese and Serbian cuisine "diplomacy" on her videos attracts many Chinese foodies.
People in Guangzhou love eating and know how to eat, she says — she found her tribe. From Belgrade to Guangzhou, every day is "deliciously" interesting.
Monica is a Serbian gourmet settled in Guangzhou, famous for recording Cantonese food. She is "a Serbian in love with Cantonese cuisine".
Her choice: after settling in Guangzhou she fell for dim sum, roast meats and sugar desserts. "Guangzhou food could take three days and nights to describe."
Content: "a Serbian eats yum cha", "Guangzhou dessert shop tours", "learning Cantonese roast meat" - presenting Cantonese cuisine beauty.
Going viral: her "foreign girl first taste of slow-simmered soup" video spread - amazed by the broth, saying "better than any soup".
Significance: she represents foreigners falling for Cantonese food - measuring Guangzhou with her palate and introducing its culture to the world.
For readers: her videos make you hungry - her love of Cantonese food wafts through the screen.
She also made a "Guangzhou food map" - from four kings of dim sum to late-night dai pai dong, from heritage restaurants to lane dessert shops. "Guangzhou people happiness runs from yum cha to supper." She is learning Cantonese; her proudest moment is "ordering a full table in Cantonese". "Guangzhou is my second home; Cantonese cuisine my second language."
Guangzhou taught her "a city face is decided by food" - Guangzhou people are composed, refined and know life because their tables taught them. "Eating in Guangzhou is both a verb and an adjective." She plans a Guangzhou food series from yum cha to supper, heritage to new Cantonese. "I want the world to know Cantonese food is more than white-cut chicken."
Guangzhou taught her: "eat in Guangzhou, but even more, eat in human warmth" - "behind every Guangzhou dish is a person living seriously." She plans a 100-episode Guangzhou food series, recording the city taste changes from episode one to one hundred. "When the hundred finish, Guangzhou will surely have new flavours."
"Guangzhou nights start with a bowl of dessert soup and end with one too." Her Cantonese life is just the right sweetness.
Her Cantonese teacher is the auntie selling dessert soup downstairs - one bowl a day, one phrase a day. "My Cantonese tastes sweet."
Her dream: a "Monica Cantonese restaurant" - bilingual menu, dessert soup as currency.
"Guangzhou taught me sweetness can be a bowl of dessert soup, or a line of Cantonese."
