Ningtsu with her grandson Johan, 1985
History of Ningtsu and her Sichuan oilrien om Ningtsus sichuanolja
In 1948 the young scholar Göran Malmqvist traveled to Chengdu in the Chinese province Sichuan to study dialects. He ended up living with a chinese family called Chen. The piano playing daughter Ningtsu was very beautiful and one day Göran asked Ningtsu's father for his daughter's hand. Both Ningtsu and her father said yes and 18 year old Ningtsu left for the long journey from inland China to Sweden. From Sichuan she brought one of the richest food cultures in the world, but in Sweden at this time there was not even garlic on the shelves and even less sichuan pepper. Ningtsu recieved ingredients from visiting relatives and went shopping in London. She loved food, made the most amazing chinese dishes and also came to master european cookig.Ningtsu was a person who made lots of friends from around the world and she was widely known for her warmth, generosity och not least her cooking!
Still today there is always some sichuan oil on the Malmqvist table, whether Chinese dumplings are served or pasta bolognese. Since the red oil has always been praised by family and friends, Ningtsu's son Per Malmqvist and her grandson Johan Malmqvist decided that the rest of the world should taste the marvellous sichuan oil. Ningtsu's sichuan oil is now sold in most speciality food stores in Sweden.