The main food street here on campus is called Lianjin. Lianjin was one of the first places we ate at when we arrived in our little humble town of Xiangtan. It was culture shock slapping me full force in the face! At the entrance of the street lay giant piles of rotting garbage; more often than not they are smoldering. The street is jam-packed with little shops/restaurants selling food and street vendors. The street is covered in trash and everything smells like stinky tofu. On a side note: stinky tofu is the literal translation of a type of tofu they eat here. It’s fried and sold by street vendors. The smell is so strong and putrid it makes me ill every time I smell it, and to think that it is supposed to be edible just blows my mind. Doug and I love almost all other forms of tofu, but stinky tofu is beyond me. Anyway, the street is really crowded with people, dogs, trash, tractors and motorcycles alike. And lets just say the restaurants would not pass any health inspection tests!
)It was scary to me for my first few times; so different from what I was accustomed to. Now, I’m used to Lianjin and can appreciate it. Lianjin really has it’s own charm. We were with student/friend, Peter Pan, in downtown Xiangtan and passing one mall after another then a McDonalds then a KFC followed by another mall. Doug asked Peter Pan what Xiangtan would have been like 20 or so years ago. Peter Pan pondered the question for a moment and responded “Probably just like Lianjin!” It is so sad to me how “culture” is getting extracted world-wide and replaced by Wal-Marts, McDonalds and commercial shopping centers. We’ve got to appreciate and experience what culture we can now before it all disappears and is substituted by commercialism. :(
We were asked by some of my students to join them on Lianjin for “Hot Pot” the other night. It’s really fun eating with students because we get to try new things. Hot pot is a pretty unique meal. The menu is a list of raw meat and veggies. You just put a check mark by the ones you want. The food comes on plates or plastic baskets on a big tray. Below is one of the three or so trays we ordered.
Oh, I forgot to mention there is a big boiling pot of broth in hole in the center of table. Hence the name “hot pot”. Half is spicy, half is mild. There is heat coming from the bottom of the table that keeps it at a simmer for the duration of the meal.
Well, the rest is pretty self explanatory- you take your chopsticks, pick up a raw item, throw it in the pot and wait for it to cook! It turns into a treasure hunt of sorts trying to dig out your favorite things as soon as they are cooked. We chose a large assortment of items at this last hot pot we went to including: beef, chicken, tofu, pork balls (ground up pork and… stuff rolled into balls), potato noodles, spinach, lotus root, potatoes, mushroom sprouts, rice noodles, dumplings, cabbage, something we called “slippery white things” and more things that I don’t know the name of. Charlotte was the only one that was able to pick up a “slippery white thing”. I guess that even Chinese people sometimes struggle with chopsticks. We asked the three students, Charlotte, Emily and Jine, who was the best at using chopsticks and they all said Charlotte. I thought that was so funny because I had no idea that chopsticks could be difficult for a Chinese person. They said they were really hard to learn with as children. But don’t get me wrong, they are all chopstick experts to American standards!
Hot pot is the perfect meal choice for wintertime since restaurants aren’t heated, the boiling pot keeps you nice and warm! Bon apetite!
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8 responses to “Hot Pot”
Jack is great with chopsticks! Aren’t they used as swords in China??? We ate at Old Fongs and he about killed Colton with a pair of chopsticks-ha
China has terrible table manners by western standards (amazingly bad), but they do have 1 very strict rule and it’s that chopsticks aren’t toys!
Funny, because Old Fong’s owners are probably disgusted by Jack using them as a sword, meanwhile we’re over here disgusted that the lady sitting next to us is snorting up and hocking a loogie on the floor (not an even trade-off if you ask me).
Sounds like Hot Pot is similar to fondue, except bigger and hotter. Seeing all that food made my mouth water. And I love seeing the “close-up” pictures of your students, like the one of Charlotte. I hope you take some more of their charming, beautiful faces.
Wow Aly what an experience you are having! Sara just told me about your site, I have loved reading about all your adventures and fun! I love all of the pictures, you look great Aly! Cant wait to read more about your China life!
Hi Brie!! So good to hear from you. I want to see pictures of your baby, you should email me some (you can throw some of Hayden in there too because hes so cute!)
We did hot pot with Tim’s older brother Jake and his then girlfriend “Theresa” when they were visiting from Taiwan, it was really fun! We just did it in their parents back yard with a big pot of water/broth boiling on a camp stove and chairs circled all around. I tried a lot of interesting things. Jake explained to us that part of the experience of doing hot pot is also that you’ll throw things in the pot that you think other people will enjoy, and so when you are picking something out to eat it’s not necessarily just what you put in. We also made some interesting dipping sauce that had raw egg in it….
I saw the making of stinky tofu once on a t.v. show, I think it was either Man Vs. Food, or Strange Food with Andrew Zimmerman…. either way, it was totally gross!! The stuff is rancid, so I’m glad you don’t like it, cus that would probably make YOU a little gross ;) hahah
Oh yeah, “Theresa” was in quotes cus she was native Taiwanese but that was the english name that she had chosen to go by.
Yeah it’s really fun! That’s cool you did it in a backyard, we should attempt it when we get home. The Chinese friends we go with always order new/weird things along with our requests that they want us to try. And it’s definitely a free for all, if you put something in it doesn’t mean you’ll be the one to get it out! But I kind of cheat and dig out the good stuff as soon as it’s cooked! Hope your raw egg sauce was good :)
I’d be interested to see how they make stinky tofu…it just can’t be good!