Lazy Man in China

Winter Diet 1984

In the 1980s cabbages were almost the only vegetable available during Beijing's long dry sub-zero winter. Chinese carted them home on their bicycles, a few at a time, up to their ration of about 200 per family. They stored them for months on balconies, stairways, bedrooms and living rooms, and consumed pickled cabbage, cabbage dumplings, stir-fried cabbage and other forms of cabbage. Now, every sort of vegetable is available in fresh markets and in gleaming modern supermarkets. (John Martin)