About Tea & Oranges
Tea & Oranges explores the unknown food of Northern China through recipes and stories.
Heilongjiang - Jilin - Liaoning - Hebei - Beijing - Tianjin - Shanxi - Shaanxi - Ningxia - Gansu - Qinghai - Xinjiang - Inner Mongolia
There is much to celebrate in these thirteen provinces, from the hearty pork stews of the North-East to the grass-fed lamb of Inner Mongolia to the hand-pulled noodles of Xi’an to the humble mutton broths of Gansu.
About Northern China
The North is not the China we know in the West. From the most northern city of Mohe on the border of Russia to Kashgar in the desert of Xinjiang, this is a culture hugely different from what we expect in China.
A land of brutal winters and frozen soils; of sandstorms and suffocating smog; of vast blue skies and rainless clouds; of sprawling ghost cities and frontier towns; of luscious grasslands and deserts the size of European countries.
The North of China stretches from the factories of old Manchuria down to the megacity of Beijing before hopping through Shanxi and Sha’anxi, into the wine region of Ningxia before venturing out to the remote provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, part of the Tibetan plain, empty and beautiful. Further north, Inner Mongolia and out west, Xinjiang, both unique and fascinating.
With Tea & Oranges I want to document the food, people and places of Northern China.
About the Name
“And she feeds you tea and oranges all the way from China”
Tea and oranges are the perfect example of China’s influence on the world. Tea plants native to Yunnan, oranges native to Guangdong or Fujian, both quickly spread through ancient China, and were later exported as commodities. Tea became one of the most valuable imports to Europe in the 16th century.
Both plants can now be found all over the world, from Indian, Myanmar, Indonesia to Spain. Tea is even now grown in my home county in the UK by Tregothnan (one of the most northerly produced tea in the world).
Sean St John
I grew up in Cornwall surrounded by farms, fisherman and artisans. I was close to the hands producing my food. The butchers and fish markets, of course, but also makers of chocolate, sea-salt, coffee, sourdoughs, cheeses, salami, wine, gins and tea.
But I didn’t understand the magic until my first part-time job as a kitchen porter in a farm-to-fork restaurant. Fruit, veg and meat would arrive by crate in the morning and by lunch, we had beetroot hummus, braised lamb shoulder, apple frangipane and a thousand other dishes forever on rotation.
That was it. I immediately fell in love with food, chefs and restaurants. I spent the next ten years working in restaurants and managing in spectacular places (some with Michelin stars, others with superstar teams) and a lifetime of writing for publications across the UK and US.
I have lived in Beijing since 2015.
Clients: Ryn Frank, Eat Boutique, Olive Magazine, Remedy, Caffeine Magazine, Food Magazine, Food & Drink