China is hosting a range of events this week to celebrate the diversity of Asian cultures. Today, we go to the city of Chengdu, which hosts some ten-thousand hotpot restaurants. Among them, one is founded by an American who came to the city twenty years ago. Jonathan Kott, co-founder of 'Because of Fate Hotpot', thinks sharing food helps people appreciate how much they have in common across races and nationalities.

JONATHAN KOTT, CO-FOUNDER BECAUSE OF FATE HOTPOT "So we opened in 2016, and at the time, we were the first and still only, foreigner opened hotpot restaurant in Chengdu."

JONATHAN KOTT, CO-FOUNDER BECAUSE OF FATE HOTPOT "In 1998, I came as an exchange student. At the time, I didn't know much about China, but I knew a little bit about Chinese food. And I knew I prefer Sichuan cuisine because of the spice."

JONATHAN KOTT, CO-FOUNDER BECAUSE OF FATE HOTPOT "Cuisine has no borders. You don't have to learn the language. You don't have to know how to make it. You just know how to enjoy and if you like it you like it, if you don't you don't. Hotpot, spicy food not just saying in the last few years has been becoming even more popular in Beijing and other parts of China. It's also becoming much more popular in America, for example. I knew a few hotpot restaurants in the Seattle area where I grew up. Because with the exchange of cuisines, it brings understanding that basically we are all the same - we all need to eat good food, and other things like the protectionism aren't as important as the people.