Committed foodie Perri Dong has carved his niche from living at the cutting-edge of culinary culture. The classically trained chef left the United States in 2001, and is now a Shanghai-based food, wine and beverage consultant whose opinion is widely sought as the last word on the local gastronomical scene.

 

Born and raised in Seattle, the fourth-generation American says he has inherited the legendary passion for food of his Cantonese ancestry.

 

"I have always enjoyed cooking, since I was a child," Dong says.

 

"Maybe one of my first inspirations was watching one of my aunts cook. Her family had a restaurant in San Diego, and it was one of the first authentic Cantonese restaurants at the time."

 

But on moving to China with his wife Helen, Dong decided to apply his expertise outside of the kitchen.

 

"When I came out here, the tech bubble in the US had burst so as the air was being sucked out of that balloon I decided that China was an interesting opportunity," he says.

 

Once here, Dong invested time in developing contacts, and over the ensuing years regularly wrote for local magazines and industry publications, later taking a position as North America brand manager for China's largest wine distributor, ASC Fine Wines.

 

He now travels extensively, with recent "discovery tours" to Tuscany in Italy, South Australia's Barossa Valley, and Spain to investigate those regions' wine industries. Dong says the South American industry also holds great potential, with Argentina recently replanting its grape vines as part of a sharpened focus on exporting quality wine.

 

Dong says his gastronomical knowledge has at times been a burden, because he can pick subtle shortcomings when dining out at a restaurant. Service quality and the challenge of faithfully reproducing a foreign cuisine are key issues that can make or break the experience, he says.

 

Dong says China provides ample opportunity for expatriates with business nous to make a living by following their passion.

 

"One thing about being an expat here is that if you try to find, or look for, or reproduce a career track of any sort, it is not typical, not at all," Dong says. "If you can figure out your little niche, in one to three years, you can actually make a very nice go for yourself.

 

"You have to be able to identify what it is that you have that is unique enough that few people have what you can offer, but in order to make a career out of it you have to be able to convince someone else to pay you money," he says.

 

"So it has to be tangible enough to be translated into a living, it has to be consistent."

 

(China Daily July 13, 2007)