Waters 和江孙芸 [Chez Panisse]

 年过九旬的江孙芸。[Craig Lee/The San Francisco Chronicle 2007]

 全盛时期的旧金山Mandarin 餐厅。[Inside Scoop SF]

Alice Waters说，她是通过老朋友江孙芸（Cecilia Chiang）了解到中国烹饪的。江孙芸是一名美籍华裔厨师，在美国加利福尼亚州旧金山开办了Mandarin 餐厅。她1920年出生于上海周边地区，在北京一座有52个房间的豪宅里长大。她刚到美国的时候，美国人还很少接触到正宗的中国菜，大多数人接触的都是高度美国化了的粤菜。

1960年她来到旧金山，结果一个偶然的机会让她开了这家餐厅。因为会讲中文，她帮两个想在唐人街开餐厅的东京朋友谈租约，还写了一张一万美元的支票作抵押金。那两个朋友最终因为担心风险而退出了，而她又无法终止租约，于是她决定利用这个机会开办自己的餐厅。

江孙芸因将地道的中式美食介绍给美国而广受称赞。她还出版了一本自传——《第七个女儿：从北京到旧金山，我的美食之旅》。

 来源： http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Chiang and http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com

Alice Waters and Cecilia Chiang: A Culinary Friendship

Waters and Chiang [Chez Panisse]

Cecilia Chiang in her 90s [Craig Lee/The San Francisco Chronicle 2007]

The Mandarin in San Francisco in its heyday [Inside Scoop SF]

Alice Waters has said that she learned Chinese cooking through her long-time friend, Cecilia Chiang. A Chinese-American  chef who opened the Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco, California, Cecilia Chiang was born in 1920 near Shanghai and grew up in a 52-room mansion in Beijing. At the time she arrived in the U.S., Americans had very little exposure to authentic Chinese cuisine.  Most Americans’ exposure to Chinese cooking were highly Americanized Cantonese dishes.

She arrived in San Francisco in 1960 and ended up opening a restaurant by accident. Because she spoke Chinese, she was helping out two friends from Tokyo by negotiating a lease to open a restaurant in Chinatown and wrote a deposit check for $10,000. Her friends eventually backed out of the venture, and she was unable to terminate the lease. She decided to make the most of the situation by opening her own restaurant.

Chiang has been given credit for introducing Americans to authentic  Mandarin cuisine. She has written a book on her life entitled The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Chiang and http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com