This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

There’s a dumpling variation in pretty much every world cuisine but be honest: When you hear dumplings, you think Asia, right? Dumplings are truly a pan-Asian food. In China, they’re called jiao zi; In Korea, mandu. In Japan, they are known as gyoza and in Mongolia, buuz. Each Asian country also has its own distinctive way of wrapping its dumplings. In China, it’s all about the pleat and the finished dumplings’ resemblance to a tael – that is, a silver ingot. In Korea, the dumpling hugs itself. Japan’s dumplings are pressed together while the Mongolian way of rotating and pinching requires a discouraging amount of manual dexterity. No matter what you call them or how you wrap them, their fusion of chewy wrapper and subtly spiced filling is satisfying to the palate and to the soul. More of a yum-pling, really, than a dumpling.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.