Some food for thought on job morale

Although a foreigner, I'm truly Chinese in one respect: I see food, from preparation to consumption, as the cornerstone of good living.

This love goes back to my mom's cooking, and to the many restaurants in my home country, as well as in China and across the globe, where I've enjoyed the bounty of the fields and the fruit of skilled labor.

In Beijing and elsewhere in the food-adoring Middle Kingdom, you'll find chefs who, judging from their scrumptious results, work miracles each time they light a fire in the kitchen.