In 2004 Beckerman, with three other investors, established SAFE Foods in Shanghai, a business that is looking to capitalize on China's emerging taste for premium beef.

A passionate cook, Beckerman holds cooking demonstrations and says he loves nothing more than cooking in his kitchen and entertaining.

Reflecting on his time in Chinese and a life spent traversing the globe, Beckerman says his journeys have been driven by a hunger for knowledge.

'Knowledge is the most important thing. As a young man I was on a quest for knowledge and, even now, that is why I came to China where the things you can discover are infinite,' he says.

(Shanghai Daily September 9, 2008)