Mariah Carey may be traveling all over the U.S. now promoting her new album, “Caution,” but a month ago she was busy touring in Asia’s major cities.
One fun activity the Grammy winner did with her twins, Monroe and Moroccan Scott, was making dumplings in Taipei. In an Instagram video, the mother of two said, “We’re learning about different cultures.”
The cooking class was held at The Regent Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, where Carey performed a concert in mid-October. The hands-on cooking course is part of Regent Academy that provides guests a chance to understand local culture while enjoying the Taipei experience with professionals. In addition to private cooking session with Regent’s star chef, there are also: a master class with National Palace Chinese culinary history expert, customized Parisian fragrance-making, Luc Besson favorite old Taipei location tour, Regent Taipei resident band recording studio duet or butler-accompanied shrimp fishing outing – a local Taiwanese pastime.
While making dumplings, Carey explained, “It’s very intricate work here.” Then Monroe added, “It’s very interesting.”
According to History.com,
Chinese cooks have enjoyed a version known as iiaozi for more than 1,800 years. According to legend, Chinese stuffed dumplings were invented during the Han Dynasty by a man named Zhang Zhongjian. The event occurred when Zhang returned to his ancestral village during the winter, after a long absence. He noticed that many of his fellow citizens were suffering from frostbite, particularly around their ears. As a way to solve this problem, Zhang cooked up a batch of mutton, chili and healing herbs and wrapped them in scraps of dough. He folded the dumplings to look like little ears, boiled them and handed them out to his afflicted neighbors. Who knows if they cured frostbite, but the villagers loved the taste of Zhang’s creation so much that they kept making the dumplings long after spring began.
Today, making dumplings or jiaozi is a past time shared between family members. Like how Moroccan women gather to make couscous, Chinese grandmothers will lead the pack of aunties, daughters, and granddaughters to make these tasty treats!
