Story by Michele Fan.
When the air turns crisp and evenings grow chilly, few things feel more comforting than gathering around a steaming pot of broth with friends and family. Hotpot is more than a meal; it’s a cozy ritual, complete with conversation and the occasional competition over who cooked their meat just right.
In my college days, hotpot dinners were the go-to solution whenever my friends and I couldn’t decide what to eat. We’d pile into one of those all-you-can-eat hotpot joints, fill our trays with meat, meatballs, seafood, and veggies, then settle in for a two-hour-long eating contest. The bubbling pot in the middle of the table wasn’t just a way to cook food; it became the centerpiece of our conversations…