Hometown flavor

Cao thinks food is one important element to enhance one's identity, so he wants to promote Hebei traditional foods.

He stayed in Beijing for Spring Festival but his mother sent him local delicacies to celebrate the holiday.

"From local sausages to rice noodles, both my elder sister in Shenzhen and myself in Beijing received our hometown food from our mom before the Spring Festival. Even though we stay in three places on the Chinese New Year's Eve, we feel like we were together when we are eating the same food," he says.

Cao invited several friends and cooked a 10-course Hubei Spring Festival dinner.

He likes to cook Hubei dishes for his friends or bring them to Hubei-cuisine restaurants.

"People may hear about reganmian (hot noodles with sesame paste) or steamed pearl meat balls, but they don't have a clear vision of Hubei cuisine unlike Hunan cuisine or Sichuan cuisine," Cao says.

"I hope my e-book can show them more about Hubei cuisine and some may even want to try some Hubei food," he says.

"Each city in Hubei province has its own signature food, and I want to visit each place to record them," he says."This work needs someone to do, as a freelance photographer and a former reporter and editor, I feel like I have the duty to do it for my hometown."