Chapter 36
Food on the Streets
Sometimes when I would go out for walks, I would pick up something to eat that was sold on the streets. Maybe some of these things could be considered a Chinese fast food. Fast and cheap. A couple of things that I really liked were jidanbing and youbing (yobing). Jidan is the Chinese word for egg. Both of these items were kind of like pancakes. Youbing is flatbread and has green onions in it. It is made with dough, not batter. The vendors on the streets would make them while I waited. It would only take a few minutes. I also found a small shop that had pieces of chicken. They had a little spice in them and really good. At a certain time of the year you would find pineapple on a stick on the streets. They would cut up a piece of pineapple and put part of it on a stick, like a Popsicle. There were always lots of fruits for sale on the streets. Another thing I could buy at a certain time was cooked sweet potatoes. Men would have a cart on wheels with a barrel on it and they would have a fire or coal on the bottom to keep the potatoes warm.
Here in the US, you don’t find places like this to buy food. In China, the farmers would bring vegetables in and set up on the sidewalks and sell them. If you bought some of these things, you would have to wash them when you took them home.
I do miss buying food on the street. It was so nice and convenient to find those places and buy something to eat. Besides that, it was cheap. In some of the parks, there would be places selling water, tea, pop, ice cream bars and other snacks.
Chapter 37
Food Vendors on the Streets
One thing I really missed when I came back to the US is being able to buy food on the streets. That is one of the things that I really liked in China. I would go out for a walk and there would be vendors and I would buy something for a snack or take it home. There would also be fruits and all kinds of things. Depending upon the time of year, there would be pineapple on a stick also sweet potatoes that would be cooked, pieces of fried chicken, jidan bing and you (yo) bing-they are kind of like pancakes. There were also small restaurants to pick up something to eat.
In the middle of the picture, you can see the boxes of fruit and other things to buy. This is February, 2013, during the Chinese New Year celebration.
Pick up a fish on the way home.
Vendors selling apples and other fruits
Selling watermelons
In the middle of the picture, by the entrance going downstairs, is a man selling vegetables on the sidewalk. If you buy something on the streets, it is a good idea to wash the fruits or vegetables when you get home. The farmers would bring in whatever they were growing in their gardens and you would find them all over the city.
This couple would be on the corner early in the morning for a couple of hours selling Jidan Bing. Jidan is the Chinese word for egg. The Chinese called jidan bing a pancake in English but it isn’t the same as what we call pancakes. They actually say it is more like a flatbread than a pancake. Across the street to the right was the Number 19 High School where I taught. Some students would buy some of these for breakfast. I also bought them now and then. There were a lot of these vendors in the mornings on street corners.
This man is selling fruit. Vendors would move around from one area to another.
This couple is selling You (yo) Bing. It is similar to Jidan Bing except there were little pieces of onion or scallion in it. Also You Bing below.
Baozi, steamed bread, for sale. Kind of like a bun. In the middle would be either meat or chopped vegetables. You can see the little white buns in the silver containers. There are many containers in that stack. These are very popular for people to buy as a snack or take them home.
This is called Iron Squid. It is fresh squid grilled on iron. We were at Shanghai Market in Luoyang having this delicacy. Delicacy?
This is the squid cooked. It is chewy like rubber. I think there was some kind of seasoning on it. For me, I think it would have been better with ketchup. Ketchup will pretty much fix everything.
Mmmmm...what did you say this was? This is Guan Xin (Cindy), one of my students. She is the daughter of Guan Jigang and Huang Guoqin. We are enjoying (?) our Iron Squid.
They call this a food market, in the US, we would call it a farmer’s market. These are everywhere. The farmers bring vegetables in from their gardens to sell.
These three pictures are of a food market underneath the Da Zhang grocery store.
Chapter 38
Ice Cream Truck
One day when I was out walking in Luoyang, I faintly hear music in the distance. It gets closer and I start to recognize it. It sounds like the music from an ice cream delivery truck in the US that goes around neighborhoods so children can buy ice cream bars and other treats. I can hear it getting closer and I look forward to seeing it and what it has. Even though I can’t speak much Chinese, I do know that Chinese for ice cream is bing qi lin. Then I am happy because I can tell the man that I want some bing qi lin but not a specific item so I can point to it.
The music is almost by me and I am looking around. Then I see a truck. Then the excitement becomes disappointment…because…it's a garbage truck. Oh no! The music we use in the US for an ice cream delivery truck is used for a garbage truck in China. So sad.
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