Cooped up by Covid-19, millions in China discover the joy of cooking

Chefs wearing face masks conducting a cooking lesson through a livestreaming session inside a restaurant at an office as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus that can cause Covid-19 disease, in Shanghai, China. In the month since the virus outbreak began late in December, cooking and food-related content drew more than 580 million views on its platform, Chinese video streaming firm Billibilli said. — Photos: Reuters

BEIJING/SHANGHAI: Apron-clad Zhang Xuesi adjusted the flame on his cooking stove, while wielding a spatula to flip in his pan the ingredients for a dish of Cantonese-style prawns coated in breadcrumbs.

"It ruins the dish if you burn the breadcrumbs," he said into the camera on his mobile telephone, advising hundreds of viewers of his livestream to maintain a small flame.