Shopping for vegetables by the book

Buying ingredients for cooking a Chinese meal used to be a challenge when I lived in the United Kingdom, but now I'm overwhelmed by choice.

Items that are widely available in Beijing could be difficult to track down, and finding some often involved a good deal of searching.

I once spent months trying to buy cassia bark, something that is common here but can be hard to find at home, where its close relative cinnamon is preferred.