STORY: Traditional delicacy on Daxue solar term: sweet potato
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 4, 2023
DATELINE: Dec. 7, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:49
LOCATION: SHANGHAI, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE (English): LILE SONG MAHONEY, Student from East China Normal University

STORYLINE:

SOUNDBITE (English): LILE SONG MAHONEY, Student from East China Normal University
"Daxue is here, and it is getting quite cold. If I could have a hot grilled sweet potato right now, that would be very satisfying.
Auntie Tao, I come to take some sweet potatoes. Where did you get them? From your vegetable garden beside the house?
(Auntie Tao: Yes.)
Sweet potatoes can be stored for a very long time and can be used as staple food. So therefore, many families stock up on sweet potatoes during winter. Look how huge these sweet potatoes are. Still covered in mud from the garden.
Roasting sweet potatoes around a warm earthen stove is a great pleasure for winter. They cannot be put into the stove immediately after lighting the fire. We must wait until the fire is strong before putting them in. As a meal is cooked, the sweet potatoes will be about ready.
Having stove-boiled tea is a fallow way of life that Chinese people have enjoyed for thousands of years, and is now widely appreciated by young folks as well. Setting up a charcoal stove on the table, boiling tea, grilling sweet potatoes, and pairing them with various snacks is a relaxing activity perfect for a cold winter day.
It's really nice and soft, with the slightest touch of sweetness to it, the only thing is it kind of burns the hand. But I think it makes it better.
Other than being grilled, sweet potatoes can be made into various desserts. People from northern areas have a dish of candied sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes can appear red inside and out, and have a sweet taste and mellow texture. Eating red sweet potatoes can also express the wish of 'red and fieriness' meaning success and wellness."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shanghai, China.
(XHTV)