Jen Lin-Liu takes us on a tour of today's China as she progresses from cooking student to noodle-stall and dumpling-house apprentice to intern at a chic Shanghai restaurant. Along the way she meets poor young men and women streaming in from the provinces in search of a "rice bowl" (living wage) and a burgeoning urban middle class hungry for luxury after decades of turmoil and privation. Together they present a slice of contemporary China in the full swing of social and economic transformation.