G    1     up in England with a British father and a Chinese mother, the author has enjoyed food from both countries ever since she was able to hold a knife and fork — and chopsticks!

Although her dad has come to love some of the food from her mother’s hometown, there are some dishes that he dare not try even after many years of m    2     to her mother. He was even surprised by    3     he saw on the table when he first came to China.

But the author enjoys that sort of food herself. Last week, she went to the butcher’s and asked, “Do you have pigs’ ears?” “No,” the butcher said, p    4    at his own ears, “just these o    5     ones.” It’s because he must have thought she was joking.

Her dad can cook a super “full English breakfast” and also does a t    6    . Sunday roast, but her mum says they’d better not eat too much roast food    7     it may make them suffer from heat inside their bodies, according to traditional Chinese medicine.

When the author first visited China, she came across stinky tofu, which she thought smelt like a b    8     sports shoe, but she g    9     all her courage to take a bite and was amazed to find it wasn’t so bad.

There is a saying that one man’s meat is another man’s p    10    , but the author feels at home with food from both cultures and she believes that there’s nothing better than a cross-cultural afternoon tea of English biscuits and a cup of Chinese oolong tea in a fine china cup.