Chapter 31- 33 - Chinese Food

The next few posts will explore Rick's impressions of food in China. Bon Appetit!

Chapter 31

Food in China

I loved the food there. I would go out with friends often and it was fun. I could not eat spicy food. I am not used to that. I didn’t grow up with it. As time went on, I could have food that was a little spicy but nothing like what some of my friends could eat.

I would try everything, now and then I would find something I didn’t care for but I liked most everything. I was open to trying things and adjusting to the culture. It was an adventure and I was there to learn and enjoy.

There is one thing the Chinese do differently from us when it comes to food than what we do. This is just a culture difference. They are just trying to be polite and make sure that you have had enough to eat. The way we do it in the US is when someone’s plate is getting empty, we pass the food around again and ask them to have some more if they would like or we may just ask if they would like some more to eat without passing the food-may I pass you some more chicken-that kind of thing.

If we say “no”, they stop offering. Chinese push you to eat more. Even if you tell them that you have had enough or they still try to push you to have more. I went home many times too full, I did get sick now and then. I learned how to find polite ways to refuse. Again, they were just trying to be nice. When the Chinese teachers came here, they saw how we did it and they liked our way. They could say “no” and wouldn’t be pushed.

I can’t remember many of the names of the foods I ate. I recognized it when I saw it. Certain ones that were my favorites I remembered. Of course, there are the dumplings that we are used to here. In Chinese, they are called jiaozi and there is also baozi-steamed bread. One of my most favorite dishes was gai jiao mian. Mian is noodles. So any food that had that name in it was noodles. Niu rou mian is beef and noodles. Then you could add beef to the gai jiao mian and you could have niu rou gai jiao mian. There are noodles, pieces of meat, onions, peppers-things like that and it was very good.

Between the Number 19 High School and my apartment were small restaurants. A lot of the students would go to them and eat. I was walking home from school one day after I had been there a short time and looked in the window of one of the food places as I was going by and they had pictures of the food they made. I went in and looked and just picked one that looked good and it happened to be gai jiao mian. I ordered it, took it home to eat, it was great. As time went on, I also tried other dishes. I would learn the names so I could order them.

Other foods I liked were Beijing kaoya (Beijing roast duck) pineapple and chicken-boluo ji. Another one is eggplant-qiezi. Eggplant is not a popular food in the U.S. but it is in China and it is very good.

There are many kinds of noodles in Luoyang - too many to remember their names. They actually have one kind of noodle that is called Luoyang noodle. It is a local dish. One noodle I really liked was dandan mian.

A way of making food is called shaokao. This word means barbecue. It was wonderful. There would be meat on a stick and the way it was made and with whatever they used for spices or flavoring made it taste so good. I really miss having that.

There were all kinds of toufu (dofu). We have that here and you can buy it in grocery stores but it isn’t as good. Like anything, when you go to the origin of the food like China, Italy, Mexico, the US and have the food from the country it is much better.

We have many Chinese restaurants here in the US. Americans like them, most are buffets I think, but it isn’t like the real food in China unless you would go to a Chinatown then it is like being in China.

There is yang rou-mutton stew, also mutton soup-yang rou tang. Mutton is very popular in China, not so much here.

Another very famous way of fixing food is called hotpot (huo guo). Kind of hard to explain this. There is a table and in the middle is a hole and a small propane tank below the table with a burner where the hole is. They bring a kettle with water and other things in it to add flavor. Sometimes the pot is divided where one side is regular and the other side has spices in it for those who like spicy food.

You order what you want, meat that is sliced very thin, lettuce, vegetables, all kinds of thing. The water is heated and you put these things in it. The meat takes less than a minute to cook, none of it takes long because it is so thin. We do not have this in the US, only in Chinatown's or Chinese people’s homes. Sometimes Mary and I would go to a hotpot restaurant and she would order it. It was something we did together so we would go now and then. It is a favorite for the Asian people. The first year that I was in Luoyang, 2002-2003, Justin and I were taken out for hotpot eight times in two weeks. I did have a favorite hotpot. It was Beijing hotpot. Ms. Wei and I went to a restaurant one time that served that style and I really liked it. There was something different about it compared to the others.

I really got to like eating rice. That was a staple food in China. In the US, we have meat or potatoes.

Bai ji mo. This is what would be called a Chinese hamburger (meat burger). This is usually pork that is chopped up and put on flatbread. Sometimes beef would be used. Although it didn’t have a bun like we do for a hamburger I sure liked it.

Western food restaurants; they made western food like our Chinese restaurants make Chinese food. The first few months that I was in Luoyang, friends would take me to a Western food restaurant now and then. Two of them were called Ke Xiang Lai and Hao Ke Lai. Different names, same kind of food. Like China Buffet and China Inn, different names, same kind of food. It was ok, but I really preferred Chinese food.

We ate with chopsticks, kuaizi, of course. No problem. When Huang Guoqin and Zhang Li were here in 2001-2002, they taught me how to use them. It took just a few times eating with them. My hand would get tired because it was different to hold them but then I got used to it and relaxed and it was fine. Chinese food is cut up into small pieces so that it is easy to pick up with chopsticks. I had trouble with a certain kind of noodle, it is kind of clear and slippery. I really had to squeeze the chopsticks to hold those noodles. I remember after I had been there for some time, I was eating in a restaurant and I was having trouble with the chopsticks and the waitress brought me silverware. I thanked her and kept on using the chopsticks. That was nice of her.

The American food that I missed the most in China was hamburgers. Even though there was KFC and McDonald’s, their hamburgers didn’t taste like ours. When I came home in 2004, I couldn’t eat enough of them. If I was out somewhere and thought about picking something up to eat, it would be a hamburger. When in doubt, have a hamburger. If I couldn’t make up my mind which place to stop at, have a hamburger. To this day, I still like hamburgers very much.

One thing that I regret is that I wish I would have taken pictures of food and labeled them so I could have learned more of their names and would have been able to order them. Like I said, when I saw the food then I knew what it was and which ones I really liked.

Chapter 32

Chinese Food

I have eaten Chinese food over the years at Chinese restaurants in the US. I like it but I really liked eating the real Chinese food in China more. It is so much better than the food at the Chinese restaurants in the US. It is the real thing in China. In the US, they sweeten it up for some reason. You can get real Chinese food in Chinatowns. In China, they have what are called Western food restaurants. They try to make the food like we have here but it isn't the same.

There are so many kinds of restaurants and foods there. From Chinese food to western food to fast food. I have listed some different kinds. I ate at so many restaurants that represented many kinds of foods from all over China. Luoyang is big enough that you could find restaurants that represent different areas of China. If you wanted a certain kind, for example if you liked spicy food from Sichuan Province, you could find it.

I really wish that I would have taken pictures of the different foods that I ate and written their names down so I could have remembered them so I could have ordered them when I went to a restaurant.

In the writing part of my journal, I have one chapter entitled “Chinese Food” and that tells more about the food there.

I am going to start with what is called the Luoyang Water Banquet. If someone should go to Luoyang to work or visit people you know, you may possibly be taken out for this. If you are, you will be treated like royalty.

Chapter 33

Luoyang Water Banquet

In Chinese, it is called shuixi (shway she). There are twenty-four dishes in total, eight cold dishes and sixteen warm dishes which are cooked in various broths, gravies and juices. There are vegetables and meat dishes, cold and warm and all kinds of flavors. Starting with 8 appetizers, 4 main courses and 8 complimentary dishes. It concludes with 4 finale dishes. Every dish is served in bowls rather than plates and another meaning comes from the way the guests are served their dishes in sequence-like flowing water. This is considered one of the three wonders of Luoyang. The other two wonders are the peony flower and the Longmen Grottoes. This banquet has a history of more than one thousand years and it is served to treat important guests or for important celebrations. Below are pictures that will give you an idea of what this is like.