A matter of good taste

To commemorate his creation, Su Shi wrote the poem Ode to Pork with the lines "Heated by a slow fire, simmering in shallow water, its best qualities emerge when cooked for the perfect amount of time."

Nine years later, Su Shi worked as an official in Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province where he treated friends with his red-braised pork. As the dish's popularity grew, it was named after the poet and was called Dongpo meat. It has been a classic of Chinese cuisine ever since.

Su Shi attaches great importance to the relationship between diet and health preservation.

Although he liked cooking and jokingly referred to himself as a glutton, he never over indulged. If there were distinguished guests, there were no more than three dishes, he wrote.

When he worked in Hangzhou, people grateful to him for his good deeds for commoners, as well as colleagues and friends admiring his talent, would invite him to banquets.

Indeed, he became so disenchanted with banquets that Su Shi called Hangzhou the "wine and food hell".