Chiara

The only chef in The Great Panda City who still measures cooking times by the tide is Chiara. They arrived from the coast with a single fishing rod and a talent for grilling anything that swam. But high on this mountain, the winds are freezing, the river is shallow, and the locals prefer bamboo shoots to sea bass. So, Chiara adapted, or tried to. They traded their fishing skills for a chef’s kimono and opened a tiny stall. These days, their famous fishing rod is used to lower dumplings to customers below or to toast marshmallows over a small brazier, a local custom they perform with a look of perpetual surprise. They still wake up smelling salt on a wind that only carries the scent of cherry blossoms.