‘Biting’ parody of popular TV documentary series
Print Edition
LUNCH is such a treat for Grade 6-9 students at Wenlai School that they decided to share their canteen delights with the digital world.
To celebrate the new year, students at the school, which spans grades 6 through 12, filmed a short parody of the popular “A Bite of China” TV documentary series. It’s called “A Bite of Wenlai” and has become popular across online social media.
“At dawn around six, Mr Wu welcomes the delivery truck from suppliers. He needs to double check yesterday’s order…” The script of the 10-minute documentary imitates the style of “A Bite of China” to the extreme, and one of the narrators from the TV series was invited — for free, of course — to narrate the school film.
The idea of the video was hatched among students, staff and parents. Bai Bin, headmaster of the school, said it has been a tradition of the school for the past three years to shoot a short documentary to celebrate a new year.
“At noon on December 31, we upload the new video on several social media platforms,” said Bai.
In 2013, when the “Gangnam Style” was sweeping the world, the school shot a music video entitled “Wenlai Style.” Students and staff, including teachers, security guards, maintenance workers and canteen cooks, all did the horse dance in the video.
Last year the theme of the video was more serious. Three students talked about their campus life in a five-minute short called “Times of Wenlai.”
This year, food took center stage.
The new film documents the operations of the school canteen, where more than 10 cooks spend a busy seven hours preparing food for 2,500 students and faculty.
On camera, the cooks display chopping skills every bit as masterful as restaurant chefs. The camera zooms in on sliced potatoes of perfectly even thickness and pork sliced thin as paper.
“In fact, most of the cooks were once chefs,” said Bai. “We recruited them from the well-known Qibao Restaurant, and they have really helped lift the quality of school meals.”
The documentary shows the wide array of dishes served. Unlike standard school canteens where the menus are predictable and the food often unappetizing, the Wenlai canteen offers up to 50 different dishes a day. On birthdays, decorated cakes appear.
Fried dumplings, boiled fish with pickled cabbage, steamed chicken with glutinous rice in lotus leaves and egg tarts are among the most popular dishes with students.
“It’s true that we enjoy lunch here very much,” said a Grade 7 student, who identified herself only by the surname Ma. “The food tastes good, and we have so many dishes to choose from.”
Huang Gaoli, a cook who has been working in the canteen for 15 years, said the documentary made her feel proud of the work the kitchen staff do every day.
“I am always very happy cooking for the children,” she said. “Seeing their happy faces, both in the video and in reality, makes me feel proud.”
The kitchen chores don’t stop with lunch. After clean-up, the cooks sit down to brainstorm the menu for the next second day. There are just a few rules for menu design: the meals must have nutritional balance and use quality ingredients, and the dishes should appeal to a variety of tastes.
“I think cooking for 2,500 people every day is much the same as managing a school,” said Bai. “Like teachers, cooks need to address the needs and interests of a wide variety of students. I think both our canteen and our faculty do very good jobs in their own realms.”
The school curriculum is designed to address various levels of educational ability and potential, aiming to ensure that every student has a beneficial experience.
There are more than 100 different outward-bound courses, covering social and natural sciences, arts, literature and sports. If students want to learn something not in the curriculum, they have only to ask and special lectures are organized.
“For example, after watching the recent hit movie ‘The Greatest Hypnotist,’ students wanted to know more about hypnotherapy, so we invited a therapist to give a lecture to the students,” said Bai.
He said the annual new year documentary also helps forge a closer bond between the school and parents because parents participate in the film’s production.
This year, the director and screenwriter for the parody was a parent using the pen name of Black Soil.
“As a parent, I think of myself as a member of the school,” said Black Soil, who owns a film studio. “I’m very willing to do something for my child and for other children.”
Black Soil said pre-filming work took about six months and included no less than 20 interviews with canteen staff.
“The cooks perform their duties as though they were parents cooking for their own children,” he said. “No wonder the food is so good!”
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