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- Zambia’s first budget air carrier announced
- Why Chinese hate kung pao chicken (and foreigners love it)
- Why misers should head for Budapest
| Zambia’s first budget air carrier announced Posted: 28 Mar 2013 03:42 PM PDT While the past decade has seen a reported 60% increase in arrivals of regional and international air carriers to the Republic of Zambia, relatively few locals have been able to take part in the country's air travel boom. That will change if a group of Zambian aviation professionals and foreign investors can get its revolutionary vision off the ground. According to a story this week in the Zambian Lusaka Times, the investment and operating group has announced the launch of Mukuba Airlines, said to be the southern African nation's first budget carrier. In a press statement, a company official said the airline will be operational within a few months, in time for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation's General Assembly conference, to be held in Zambia in August. Commenting on the "record numbers" of regional and international travelers in Zambia in recent years, Mukuba Airlines chairman and chief executive officer Mwansa Chalwe said the airline would target domestic travelers. Zambians have been left "as spectators in their own country" according to the article, which also stated that Mukuba Airlines would "demystify and democratize air travel and emulate emerging economies like Brazil, India, Indonesia and others that have extended air travel to those who have never flown before, including domestic workers." The airline is also expected to improve the domestic tourism market by making destinations within the landlocked country more accessible to travel. Mukuba Airlines will be based in the Zambian city of Livingstone, near the tourism center of Victoria Falls. It will operate French-built ATR 42-500 and ATR 72-500 turbo-prop aircraft.      |
| Why Chinese hate kung pao chicken (and foreigners love it) Posted: 28 Mar 2013 02:57 PM PDT It conquered the palates of generations of Westerners who grew up with Chinese restaurants down the street. Expats stroll around China in T-shirts emblazoned with its four characters (宫保鸡丁). Facebook pages sing its wonders. This mystic food is the simple gong bao ji ding -- chicken fried with chilies and nuts, better known to non-Chinese as kung pao chicken. However, Chinese generally shun the dish. They're baffled by its popularity abroad, and don't want it to represent their cuisine. Kung pao chicken is the most culturally divisive dish in China. So what's with the love-hate thing? 40 Taiwanese foods we can't live without To explain the conundrum, we asked three prominent Shanghai chefs to chime into the debate. The experts included Wang Lishi, manager of King Kong Eatery on Changle Lu, home of legendary kung pao chicken soup noodles; Anthony Zhao, chef and cuisine consultant at Ultimate Food Concept and kung pao chicken connoisseur; and Corrado Michelazzo, Michelin-star Italian chef at Va Bene Xintiandi, who also enjoys Chinese food. Collectively, the panel came up with the three explanations for the kung pao controversy. The chicken breast explanation
According to Zhao, Chinese are reluctant to eat the meaty chicken breast, which is the main ingredient of kung pao chicken. "Chicken breast in China is usually dry and tasteless," he says. "People here prefer the meat next to the bones because it has some juice." Michelazzo agrees. "Chinese customers generally don't like chicken breast," he says. "Chicken in China tastes too much like poultry for them. I have to import chicken from Japan for them to eat it." Outside of China, however, breast meat is among the most requested and expensive part of a chicken. This helps explain the success of kung pao chicken among foreigners.
"I also had a prejudice toward chicken breast, but then I tried one in Boston and thought, 'Hey, this is nice and moist,'" says Zhao. "No wonder Western people really like chicken breast." The intense sauce explanationOne of the most important features of kung pao chicken is its starchy, syrupy sauce. Michelazzo says Westerners appreciate the dish for the balanced taste of the sauce. "The sweet and sour flavor and starchy texture are typical of Chinese restaurants in the West," he explains. "We like to associate those qualities with Chinese cuisine, even though that might not necessarily be true of Chinese cuisine here." Zhao says the distinctive sauce might be a reason for local aversion to the dish. "To many Chinese, kung pao chicken is too saucy and intense, and you can only accompany it with rice," he says. "Very few Chinese would eat the dish by itself." One anonymous marketing expert says it's increasingly common among young Chinese to suspect that restaurants that use intense sauce -- such as is used in kung pao chicken -- do so as a means to cover the taste of old meat. While rejecting that notion ("We always use fresh chicken"), Wang Lishi of King Kong admits that the intense taste of kung pao chicken makes it increasingly unpopular among young Chinese. "Around 10 years ago, to most Chinese, Sichuan cuisine only meant kung pao chicken and a handful of other dishes," she says. "Now young people want something more delicate and unusual when they eat Sichuanese fare." The cultural pride explanation
Kung pao chicken is a dish that stirs memories and feelings among Chinese that aren't always positive. Zhao explains that when the first restaurants opened their doors after the country's economic reforms, they all served simple dishes, such as kung pao chicken. "At the time, chicken was rare and pork was the common staple, so we regarded kung pao chicken as special," says Zhao. "But now, eating chicken is the norm, and people's tastes are evolving toward more complicated and sophisticated dishes." Get out of your Chinese food rut According to Zhao, to some Chinese, kung pao chicken is a symbol of poorer times. Today's Chinese are eager to shake off the remnants of their indigent past. However, the fate of kung pao chicken isn't yet sealed. Wang believes inflation in China could elevate kung pao back to the top of the menu. "Peanuts are getting more and more expensive," says Wang. "Soon a plate of kung pao chicken will become so pricey that people will stop thinking it's such a cheap dish." Originally published March 2011, updated March 29, 2013.    |
| Why misers should head for Budapest Posted: 27 Mar 2013 12:04 AM PDT If you're looking for a cheap coffee, go to Lisbon, Portugal. Try Prague for a good value glass of beer, or Dubrovnik, Croatia, for a cheap hotel stay. Those are some of the results of a recent survey from the British Post Office, which set out to find the best value cities for travelers from a list of 25. The list of cities included 22 European cities and three U.S. cities, so cannot be described as global or comprehensive. But it does offer insights for those looking to travel to these destinations. Budapest is the best-value city overall, according to the City Costs Barometer 2013 survey, which researched prices of 12 items, including a bus or train transfer from the airport to the city center, a "top art gallery" and two nights in a three-star city center hotel. The list found the Hungarian capital offered the cheapest glass of wine of the 25 cities (US$2.59) and the cheapest three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine (US$37.55). New York, Boston, Copenhagen and Stockholm were the most expensive cities on the list. Rome has suprisingly cheap coffee
In New York, the 12 items will take you for US$821 -- four times the total of Budapest. Stockholm was the most expensive in four of the categories: beer (US$10.04), glass of wine (US$12.54), three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine (US$178) and 48-hour travel card (US$38.46). Chicago offered the cheapest can of Coca-Cola (US$1.21), Rome had surprisingly cheap coffee (US$1.27), while New York had the most expensive bus tour (US$57.50) and most expensive two-night stay in a three-star hotel (US$537.50). "We work with national and regional tourist offices as well as leading tour operators who give us the pricing information for the various locations," says Gabrielle O'Gara of the Post Office press office. "All of this is then cross-checked with telephone and online research. Then we compare this with the travel industry as a whole so that we make sure that we're getting the full picture." Eastern Europe great valuePrices rose in the past year for 22 of the 25 surveyed cities. Eastern Europe is the best bet for money-conscious travelers for the fifth year in a row -- Eastern European cities take eight of the barometer's top 10 cheapest spots. "It is more important than ever to check prices for key items like meals, drinks and sightseeing before booking, as these are costs that most city tourists cannot avoid," said Andrew Brown, Post Office head of Travel Money. Second on the barometer, Vilnius, Lithuania, was named the city to watch by Post Office's recent Holiday Money Report. The Lithuanian city has some of the lowest price tags for cultural attractions. Entry fees to Vilnius Castle Museum's Gediminas' Tower, National Museum of Lithuania and National Gallery of Art come to a combined US$6.93. Basket of 12 items (used to calculate travel value per city): Cheapest/most expensiveCup of coffee: Lisbon US$0.92 / Copenhagen US$6.55 Best value cities (12 items totaled)
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