Yang Zhao

Please meet Yang Zhao, founder of Beijing Opera Dim Sum Eatery in Cape Town, which transformed from a brick-and-mortar space into a phone and SM order-based pantry shop in Johannesburg. Yang started with medicinal bone broth and dumplings and is currently looking at expanding the pantry range into other items. She tells us that she’s currently building her online community (i.e. website/ online shop), through the pantry to promote wellness products that tap into ancestral knowledge and understanding of the well-established learning system around ancient medicine, especially TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).

Q & A with Yang

Question: What’s your goal/vision for this conference?

Answer: At #SAPOCTable conference, I hope to learn from everyone involved. I want to gain a broader perspective of this great initiative, and to contribute where I can.

Question: Name one person in this broader industry whom you look up to or a person who you really admire and why.

Answer: I admire novelist and writer Yemisi Aribisala (@longthroatmemoirs), for her accessible and genuine food storytelling. I want to be like her when I grow up, basically!

Question: Fill in the following: Transformation in this industry (name your specific field or cause) will happen when…

Answer: Transformation will happen when women are included more, especially women of colour; when we all acknowledge the need to, and work together in closing the gender and racial pay gap in the industry.

Question: What would you love people to know about you and your work?

Answer: I’m always curious. I love to travel, to learn and tell stories about food on my travels. I’m currently working on developing my pantry items, simultaneously working on combining all my passions mentioned above, to create some fresh online content for people with similar interests.