The young man was chopping garlic with two knives at a table set out on the sidewalk in the Glodok

Food stall in Glodok district in Jakarta — Man chopping garlic

Recently, China has also developed and is called the world's factory. Nowadays, there is not a single industrial product sold by American and Japanese manufacturers that does not use parts made in China.

But there are some things that China has been exporting since before it started exporting industrial products. It is Chinese cuisines. When I roamed the Eurasian continent about 20 years ago, I found Chinese restaurants in surprisingly rural areas as well. French and Turkish cuisine is said to be one of the world's three greatest cuisines, along with Chinese cuisine, but I rarely saw a French or Turkish restaurant in Central Asia or the Middle Eastern countries. There were probably some fancy restaurants, but none that I, a poor traveler, could get into. In contrast, Chinese restaurants could be found in most countries. Chinese food is probably a dish for everyone.

Glodok, where I was walking, is the largest Chinatown in Indonesia. Of course, there were Chinese restaurants lined up on every corner of the town. And the stalls on the roadside were also serving Chinese food. The stall in the photo was one of them. A man had set a cutting board on the table placed on the side of the sidewalk and was chopping garlic into small pieces on it. I didn't know what he was making, but I guess he was making a dish that would be elaborate.

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