This Chinese Nomad Chef Cooked His Way Across France
For the last year, Shan Liang, a Chinese self-taught chef, has been traveling in a food truck across France in search of new ways of cooking.
Romantic as it may sound, waking up in lavender fields is not idyllic, says Shan, a 37-year-old vagabond. “But it’s simply magical waking up by the waters.”
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The interior designer-turned-culinary artist cut his teeth at hip Parisian bistros Sélune and Coup De Tête before deciding two years ago to leave the comfort of Parisian living to embark on a culinary journey. He decided mostly on a lark. “I simply wanted to hang out with farmers,” Shan says. “This has been the most wondrous experience because you never know what will happen on a day-to-day basis.”
Reality quickly got in the way. Before he could embark on the epic journey, Shan spent a year and a small fortune fixing up an out-of-order, ’80s circus minivan (an impulse buy). After gutting it and installing a professional-grade kitchen, there wasn’t much room to sleep — so Shan slept on a portable mattress laid over the stovetop.
Excited, Shan painted the van bright red, repainted its original “C’est Quoi Ce Cirque?!” slogan, and was finally on his way in the summer of 2023.
Shan’s mobile restaurant was not very fast, rolling at a little more than 70 kilometers an hour, but traveled with an unmistakable Wes Anderson comic glint that helped him charm his way in with winery owners, swineherd and fishermen.
Serving his farmer friends hearty Chinese food was a quick way to break the ice, and it rapidly morphed into a distinguishable feature of Shan’s cuisine. He used local, seasonal produce to craft freestyle Chinese food, including stir-fried beef and peaches, wild Chinese chive dumplings and lavender egg omelets.
Local spices were substituted for traditional Chinese ones, while Shan learned how to make more specific ingredients, like fermented bean curd used as a dipping sauce for fried chicken, from scratch.
“Sometimes simple things surprise people, such as cooking beef and peach with thinly sliced ginger. It’s really Chinese, but I don’t think anyone has ever tried in this way,” says Shan, who cooks intuitively and with a sense of urgency.
His culinary philosophy: “Eating can be really complicated, but it can also be simple and sincere.
“I can’t say I have a specific dish that I’m proud of. I just want to provide simple pleasures,” he says.
The self-professed “unprofessional chef” prefers to cook out in the open, amid the elements, with branches on a fire. Perhaps it reminds him of the grandiose landscape in his hometown, Xinjiang.
“Roasting food on an open fire, making really traditional French cuisine that most might not have heard of, is what I want to do,” Shan says.
Most recently, Shan and his red food truck sailed to Corsica, where he learned how to braise collagen-rich beef skin, which he brought back to Yongfoo Elite, a cultural hub and restaurant in Shanghai.
Overlooking a Chinese-style garden, Shan’s permanent bistro pop-up operates within Yongfoo Elite’s dimly lit speakeasy, Keep It Quiet. He livened up his menu with dishes such as “A crazily running cow in Corsica with mushroom,” “Pesto playing tricks on seashell,” and “Braised cuttlefish witch and glutinous rice cake.”
Shan also returned with some quintessentially French spices, including the piment d’espelette and salt flowers, which add a barely discernible layer of refinement to his otherwise hearty dishes.
For Shan, despite hardships — being stuck in the French Alps without heating; contending with a vehicle that could break down at any moment — his culinary Tour de France proved a meditative journey in minimalist cooking.
“Simple flavors are the hardest, but the best,” Shan says. “You see a lot of restaurants that prize form and technique over substance,” adds Shan, offering his two cents on the local culinary scene.
Founder of Yongfoo Elite, Wang Xingzheng, says the local food scene needs more chefs like Shan in order to evolve. “It’s my personal belief that good chefs doesn’t have to be good at cooking. It’s better that they focus on how to create an experience that engages the five senses,” Wang says.
This fall, Wang and Shan will reunite at Yongfoo Elite to host a three-day outdoor banquet inspired by regional produce, like handmade bean curd sheets and Tantu, a freshwater “jumpy fish.”
But for now, Shan has dispatched himself back to Corsica, where he will bathe under the dizzying sun and dream up new dishes. “I need to go back to my little red van, my ride or die, which has taken me on a trip of a lifetime,” he says.
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