Photos by Elliot deBruyn
Steve Ge works out of his parents’ apartment west of Shanghai South Station, packing chopped vegetables and steak into boxes. His kitchen is professionally retrofitted, but undeniably cramped. He lives with the uncertainty of little income and small investments. He’s driven by the thought that the service he’s creating, Xinwei Cooks, is something that Shanghai’s urban population needs…
Less than a year ago, the tall and soft-spoken Shanghai native had a stable job in Silicon Valley, analyzing user data for video game company Konami. During this time, he and his friends made frequent trips to the farmers market and would cook dinners for friends. When he showed the pictures to his compatriots back in Shanghai, they always seemed envious.
“They were always annoyed when they wanted to cook because it’s hard to find fresh and safe ingredients. I showed them what I was cooking and they were like, whoa, how do you do that?” says Ge.
“I was just learning myself and thought that, if I could do it, anyone could with good access to fresh ingredients and good information about recipes and food – so I thought, ‘What if we packed the farmers markets into little boxes and sent them to your door? Maybe that’s what people here needed.’”
It was an idea the 27-year-old couldn’t get out of his head, thinking it would be perfect for professionals and married couples tired of eating out. He finally decided to pack up his stuff and return to Shanghai. His parents were understandably worried, but the Business Major from UC Berkeley couldn’t help himself.
“If you look at the first wave of Chinese entrepreneurship that started in the 70s, it was all about meeting foreign demand,” he explains. “But for me and my friends, it will be internal demand that propels us forward. When I was in the States, I’d look back at China and see this opportunity. It makes you itchy.”
He chose to focus on Western dishes because the techniques and portions are more scientific, while Chinese cuisine can be less precise. To get the flavors he was looking for, Ge brought in two consulting French chefs – Clemence Favard and Tomas Fitour of New Heights, who he met over Linkedin – and they spent months sourcing ingredients and working out directions.
Ge did testing and tasting alongside his bright team, made up of Operations Manager Cai Chen Yi (official translator for the Chinese version of Anthony Bourdain’s book Medium Raw) and Operations Chef Snow (formerly of Table No. 1). Xinwei Cooks went into full operation in February and is just starting to gain traction.
It’s a pretty great concept. They do the grocery shopping, chopping, weighing and measuring so you don’t make a frantic trip for a block of butter or a spice you’ll only use once, and then give you tested directions to bring it all together.
The packed box arrives on your doorstep, perfectly portioned, but you take credit for the final wow factor. Forest vegetables and quinoa (RMB68/person)? Codfish in hazelnut butter (RMB88/person)? Seared mackerel over ratatouille (RMB66)? “Yeah,” you can say. “That came out of my kitchen.”
While recipes are straight-forward, Ge cannot protect against human error and palate differences. One of his friends, who had never cooked a steak before, whipped up a beautiful piece of meat. Another customer was disappointed in risotto, saying the al dente grains felt undercooked.
This difference in palate is something Ge has to consider – does he tweak recipes to suit local palates or does he stick to the script?
“I believe in choice,” he laughs. “But we will always stand by what we recommend. For me, you know, I have a big issue with American Chinese food. It’s lazy and it’s not sincere – but maybe that’s what you need to do to be commercially successful.”
Ultimately, Ge thinks the line between cuisines will blur for younger home cooks, as it has for many in the United States.
“In California, you see people cooking soba today and Mexican tomorrow and it’s just commonplace,” he says enthusiastically.
“Maybe it will take some time, but I think eventually we won’t see such a definitive line between Western and Chinese cuisine here.”
For those on this path, Xinwei Cook could very much be the first step on the road to diverse cooking.
Find them at www.xinweicook.com
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