Refining Asia'S Long-Term Competitiveness - Singapore: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve worked in two high-end Chinese restaurants, both serving authentic Cantonese cuisine and more than eight different smaller authentic Chinese dim sum restaurants. (so authentic that our wait-staff were often described as curt and brusque).I’ve also worked in two Korean restaurants, one a warm, cosy, family-style affair that specialized in samgyeopsal, and one a smaller affair inside a food court that served the usual varieties of bibimbap and guksu dishes.Also, I’ve worked in one Japanese izakaya establishment specializing in more eclectic stuff - think uni omelette and motsunabe, two dishes Western folks might not find at their local sushi bar. And for one week, I had a wonderful opportunity to work with some very fine folks at a ryokan in the onsen town Yamashiro, in Ishikawa, preparing kaiseki-ryori. Well, they prepared it, I mostly listened, attempted, documented and wrote about it :)Here’s a tofu dish I prepared that I (somehow) managed not to bungle:(I actually do own this picture :) )“Do you consider the Japanese cuisine the most refined cuisine in Asia? If not, why?”From my living and moving from country to country, I’ve come to the conclusion that many Westerners (and by that I mean white folks from Australia, the UK, Ireland, the States, Canada, and Western Europe) consider Japanese cuisine the most refined of all Asian cuisines.After all, in terms of aesthetics and plating, it mirrors the precision and beauty of French haute cuisine. That is the type of food that wins Michelin stars and haughty food critics rave about. It’s definitely no surprise to me that Japan is the Asian country that has the most Michelin 3-star restaurants (the second is Hong Kong by the way…) Forget Asian country - Japan is THE country with the most Michelin 3-star restaurants, in the world.To people who salivate at eating at such restaurants, refinement means 3-stars. And Japanese cuisine ranks very high on that list, perhaps at their personal top spot.To such people, “Refinement” in cuisine is equated to Michelin stars, aesthetics, and clean flavors.Such people often consider all other Asian cuisine unrefined.As an Asian, I’ve heard the below reasoning too many times:“ Asian cuisines (non-Japanese) use spices to cover up the inferior quality of their ingredients. You would only use spice if you had inferior quality ingredients.”Look no further than to one of the answers here, written by one Angel Lopez.I have found this reasoning to be popular in white-dominant countries.You can see it on Quora as well. I’ve lost count of the number of people here who think European cooking is superior to Asian cooking because - get this - Asian cuisines uses “spices” to “cover up” “inferior/bad quality ingredients”.I’ve heard it all:Chinese cuisine is too sweet, too greasy.Korean cuisine is too spicy.Thai cuisine is too spicy.Indian cuisine is too spicy.Filipino cuisine is too messy and simple.Singaporean / Malaysian / Indonesian cuisine is too spicyAsian cuisine doesn’t have fresh foods! (this is the most bizarre one yet)I think Vietnamese cuisine may be the only Asian cuisine I’m familiar with that tends to escape such criticism.And Vietnamese cuisine is influenced by French cuisine…. so…. well….Many of the people who come up with the above criticisms (not all, but I would posit many) have never even been to the above mentioned countries and base their opinions on the localized versions of the cuisines they get in their own country.For example, saying “Chinese cuisine is terrible” based on their experience eating at Panda Express or a Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere that serves Teriyaki chicken opposite Beef and Broccoli.“Yes, Dante, but do YOU consider the Japanese cuisine the most refined cuisine in Asia? “If by “refinement”, you’re talking about cuisine that can win Michelin stars, that focus on visual aesthetics in plating and in presentation, that focus on clean tastes - then yes, I would say that Japanese cuisine could be considered the most refined cuisine in Asia.But, unlike those who find the spices found in Asian cuisines off-putting and base that opinion on the very erroneous presumption that people only use spices when the ingredients are inferior or bad, I find great joy in eating Asian cuisines of all kind.I’ve never considered non-Japanese Asian cuisine to be, in any way, shape, or form inferior to European cuisines.The food in Asia is super fresh - sometimes, the chicken/fish etc has just been slaughtered minutes prior to your meal - and tasty to boot.Why settle on one Asian cuisine when you can have more than handful of ‘em?Why settle for one flavor palette when you can have an explosion of different flavors and textures?I enjoy eating these:(I own none of the pictures below)Just as I enjoy eating these :(I own only the first two pictures)In conclusion, the more the merrier!

I am not sure how “refined” and “subtle” are understood, Matthew Nghiem, but if I can say anything, I think Chinese-influenced art is no less subtle than Indian-influenced art, neither is Chinese-influenced art more refined than Indian-influenced art.To give an example other than Vietnamese, let’s look at some works of art by the Japanese.File:Tokaido Nihonbashi2.jpgFile:Hiroshige55 kyoto.jpgFile:The Great Wave off Kanagawa.jpgI am no expert in art, but I could say that these works used a lot of colors, and its shapes and lines reflected humans and objects quite realistically. That stands in contrast with black ink paintings usually considered to be quintessentially East Asian, like these:File:Pine Trees.jpghttp://thuymacviet.com/upload/images/product_1373610382.JPGTraditional Chinese painting did not only include the above monochrome painting, but many works of art also feature bold and rich use of colors and clear shapes and lines, much similar to the above colorful Japanese paintings:File:Gu Hongzhong's Night Revels 1 edit.jpg - 维基百科，自由的百科全书File:Departure Herald-Ming Dynasty.jpgAbout Vietnamese traditional painting, the most famous is the Đông Hồ paintings:Tập tin:Đám cưới chuột.JPG – Wikipedia tiếng ViệtTập tin:Vankhac.JPG – Wikipedia tiếng ViệtFile:Vinh hoa.JPGFile:Phú quý.JPGIt seems that, Đông Hồ paintings prefer the realistic and boldly colorful over the subtle and black-and-white technique. I have already provided my opinion on the possible reason why Vietnamese and Chinese culture are different, and I think, the reason for which Vietnamese art prefers realism instead of Chinese abstractness was simply because it is closer to reality to the Vietnamese.James Luong (梁孟俊)'s answer to What are some key differences between Vietnamese and Chinese culture? The Vietnamese and the Chinese share much in their respective cultures. They celebrate the same lunar new year, enjoy similar day-to-day food, and they also have similar religions.So, it appears to me that, Chinese-influenced art has at least two main techniques: the abstract and monochrome (水墨) and the realist and colorful (工筆). Both Japanese and Vietnamese traditional art exhibit much influence from Chinese art in terms of drawing and coloring techniques, and both prominently feature the realist technique (工筆). Seeing how Japanese and Vietnamese paintings pay attention to details - shapes and lines of objects - and coloring, I doubt that subtlety is ever the main point or focus of Japanese and Vietnamese art. About how refined the works are, I am not in the position to judge the refinement of such works, but I am sure that, Thai paintings also use a lot of techniques from India. How refined those techniques are, I dare not say.

1. Plant design and what types of oil it can process.2. Cost plus transport of feedstock including water.3. Environmental regulation4. Availability of skilled operating and turnaround labor.5. Availability and cost of parts and equipment6. Local market prices for the various products that are produced.People generally think of refining as just producing gasoline for cars when in reality lots of products are created. Margins are heavily affected by whether there is a good local market for those products or it has to be shipped out again.7. Fluctuations in currency value versus the dollar.