North Point, Hong Kong

Tea is the leaves, leaf buds and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant. Opium is the dried latex of the Papaver Somniferum plant.

From the mid-17th century onwards a significant trade imbalance arose between the British Empire and Qing-dynasty China due to strong British demand for tea and low Chinese demand for European goods. In the 18th century British traders started importing opium from India into China to address this trade imbalance. As a result opium was banned in China. The continued smuggling of opium ultimately lead to the Opium Wars. The first Opium War ended with the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 which ceded Hong Kong Island, Stonecutter Island and Kowloon as far north as Boundary Street, to Britain.

We visited Hong Kong recently, in part to add to our collection of antique opium pipes. Although we found that there were many very good restaurants, we were unable to locate a ploughman's lunch.

Consequently we took matters in to our own hands. A short stroll to the local Saint Honore Cake Shop provided us with a pineapple bun. From a grocers in Central mysteriously called City Super, we obtained a piece of Bavarian smoked cheese. We were disappointed in the produce of City Super finding it to be almost entirely imported and decidedly overpriced. We received the gift of figs from a Carmelite nun in Stanley, for which we were most grateful. This plain but wholesome meal we found most fortifying particular accompanied as it was by the brewings of the Camelia Sinensis plant.