On the Richmond Dumpling Trail, Diverse Offerings Reveal Cultural Parallels

On the Richmond Dumpling Trail, Diverse Offerings Reveal Cultural Parallels

“Like this.” Cheng Fanfan is teaching me how to wrap a dumpling—leaning over my shoulder in an emerald-green Tang-style shirt embroidered with peonies. With precise pressure, she pushes the filling—white cabbage, sweet corn, and mushrooms—into the dough with her thumb, crimping it with her fingers into a neat pleated curve. She makes it look easy, but I find otherwise: my dumpling emerges bulbous and stretched, with oversized doughy pleats. It’s…