What’s For Dinner?

I think the term communist would be a good description of the whole eating experience in China. Whereas, in western culture I would use the term democratic to describe the process of ordering and eating food. It’s interesting how a broad political concept leaks down into even the tiniest details of someone’s life. This is not to say one is better than the other, just different. Think of going to a restaurant back home with a group. You each get a menu and all have the individual opportunity to order whatever your heart desires. It comes on a large plate, just for you. You have the choice to share or give someone a “taste” of your meal but that is only if you feel like it. Otherwise, all that food that you ordered is yours (the salad, the soup, the main course, and the side dishes)! In China almost every dish is served “family style”. Typically, one person (the leader,  if you will) will order for the whole group- they may or may not take requests while ordering. Each mealtime we become a small community sharing what we are given with the group.

Everyone is given a small bowl and chopsticks. As one would imagine, rice accompanies nearly every meal in China. You take a dollop of rice, put it in the bottom of your dish then start serving yourself from the other large dishes on the table. Serving spoons are uncommon, it’s every man for himself with his chopsticks. You just dig into whatever is in front of you, mix it with some rice and viola! Usually, we order about as many dishes as there are people. So if it is just Doug and I- we’ll get two dishes and have a bit leftover. For a group of say five, we’ll order 4 or 5 dishes. There are some definite benefits to eating with a group- the more people, the more choices of dishes. Eating alone means you either order one dish and get sick of it, or order two and have lots of leftovers! There are cons as well,  as I mentioned before, it’s every man for himself. If you like a particular dish, you better be quick with the chopsticks before it’s gone! Also, you might not get your say in dishes and be stuck eating boiling frog (true story). It’s quite enjoyable going out with new friends because you’re bound to try something new. If you don’t like it- there’s always another dish to try.

Chopsticks have almost become second nature to us. I wouldn’t say we’re pros, but we can definitely manage ourselves. I don’t even think about the mechanics of how to work them anymore like when I was first learning. We both prefer chopsticks to forks in almost every situation here. Quick, easy, gives a better reach and the food is designed for chopsticks. Much like our food is sort of designed for forks and spoons.

We live in a city called Xiangtan which is located in the Hunan province. Hunan is known for its spicy food! Unlike some of the other foreigners here, both Doug and I like spicy food so we haven’t had any trouble acclimating to the new tastes/spices. Many of you probably remember my concern with liking the food once I got to China. So, just to quell any worries you may have- I quite like it! A few of our favorite dishes are: beef and potatoes, beef and carrots/onions, egg fried rice, fried egg and tomato, fried noodles, kung pao chicken, steamed cabbage, lotus root, spicy green beans, dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, fried pumpkin, and my very favorite- eggplant! I know eggplant exists back in the states, but does anyone use it? If so, where has it been my whole life? I’ve never eaten eggplant before China and now I can’t live without it! I eat it almost daily and have yet to tire of it. Most every meal is made with fresh ingredients. Most dishes here are fried in oil (lots of oil!).  Back home after eating an oily/greasy meal I would feel heavy and gross. I never feel like that here which is great! Fish is common here, although I usually avoid anything seafood, judging from the few bites I’ve tried, it’s pretty good! If you like fish, I hear the fish is wonderful. So far I’ve avoided most of the “weird stuff” like: boiled intestines, chicken feet, pig tongue, pig feet  (or “porket’s trotters” on our poorly translated menu), blood soup etc. The only problem with the food in general is that the variety is lacking. I went to lunch with my (Chinese) friend Laura the other day. She asked me what I felt like and I so cleverly responded “How about Chinese food! Haha…” I don’t think she caught the joke. I’m used to having any number of genres of food to choose from when answering that question. I even recall arrogantly thinking “Ugh, we can’t eat Mexican, we just had that last week!” Surprisingly, I haven’t even found other Asian restaurants here, e.g. Korean, Mongolian, Thai etc.  We do have a McDonalds and a blessed Pizza Hut in town :) That is saved for very special occasions.

Many restaurants we frequent here I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole back home. They are literal “hole in the wall” places.  Last night we tried a new restaurant out. As soon as we walked in we exclaimed “Wow! This is a nice restaurant!” There were even some booths to sit at, (as opposed to the usual poorly manufactured metal chairs or white lawn chairs) which we rushed over to. Upon further inspection we noticed a large spider lingering in front of a picture, in the booth opposite us. Then we saw the silk roses they chose for decorations; stuck on the wall in each booth with 4-5 pieces of yellowing tape. That was after we noticed the picture of the naked woman the rose was so delicately “accenting”. There was a constant light cloud of smoke being issued from the kitchen area. Yep, definitely a nice restaurant! It’s amazing how quickly your standards can change. Meals here cost us about $2-3 for both Doug and I. If we’re really springing for a nice meal, maybe we’ll drop $7. Hence we eat out for almost every meal; much cheaper/easier than cooking here.  I will try to start taking some photos of our meals so we can share if anyone is curious.

So, what’s for dinner? Chinese of course!

We just learned that China has mashed potatoes and gravy! Although different from what we are used to back home, they are so delicious! Really spicy, and yes, you eat them with chopsticks.

Below are some steamed dumplings. Sort of like a big noodle covering veggies or meat (in this case, both). Served steamed, boiled in broth, or deep fried. Often eaten for breakfast (I guess baozi isn’t the only breakfast food!)

This store was all based around corn products. They made “corn juice” and Doug is holding the infamous ball waffle- made of corn of course. It was really good even though there wasn’t any syrup to go with it.

Dessert isn’t all that common here but still available. When you order dessert it just comes with the rest of your meal or before it; I must say- mom’s were always right about “spoiling your dinner!”  Below is a picture of “ba shi tudou” or caramelized potatoes. Also available: caramelized bananas and apples. Really delicious but really rich. We can’t ever finish our portion. We love to say the phrase for caramelized bananas because it’s kind of a little song. It’s pronounced like this: “bah shur shun jow!!” Go ahead, try saying it out loud.

The other dessert-type item I’ve had here are pumpkin cakes. It’s not quite pumpkin pie… but they’re good! Really greasy one or two is my max.