Answers on a postcard, please, for what you think I have and haven't eaten
(so far)
Some people may find the following pictures disturbing. This one wasn't
taken by me, but its of a street butchers in Huang Gong, a town 60km away taken
by an English teacher there called Caro. All I
can say is that cat lovers might quite like it. If you are a dog lover,
read on and don't click here.
A far trustier bet from the guess-work point of view is to go to the street
stalls. Here you can generally point at what you want and see it cooked
and scream at the appropriate moment to stop the MSG being added.
Here are just a few of my favorites from the street food.
Jiaozi
This
is our favorite Jiaozi lady. Jiaozi translates as dumplings. These
little guys are either fried, steamed or boiled depending on where you go.
The idea is much the same throughout though. A little nugget of meat,
vegetable or meat and vegetable in the middle of a pastry-type envelope.
You
get seven or eight for 10p and it makes a great evening snack. I've only
just begun to start eating them with hot sauce. This adds quite a punch.
Baozi
Baozi
can generally be picked up anywhere where you can get Jiaozi. The idea of
a nugget of meat and vegetable in the middle remains the same, but with Baozi
the pastry envelope is replaced by a white bread-like ball of fluff. The
Hot sauce is a must for this otherwise it can become a little bland. It
is, however, more filling than the Jiaozi. 10p will get you five or six
Ham'bau'bao
This
guy knows how to make a good han'bau'bao. He is out there chopping up the
meat and corriander all day everyday - as opposed to the Jiaozi ladies who
generally only appear at about three or four o'clock in the afternoon. The
'foreign experts' are well known by the students to love this stuff. At
15p a shot you might think you can't go wrong. However, extravagant as we
are, we have now decided to bargain them up so that we get 'all meat' versions
rather than the mostly fat versions that we previously got. This means
that we now have to stump up 20p.
The
ingredients themselves are pork, green pepper and corriander chopped-up together
and them placed in a pita-like pocket of bread. Quite spicy but a great
snack at any time of the day!
Chao Mian
Beef Chow Mein in England was always a firm favorite of mine (and my
mother). Here in China I often go for Chao Mian at lunch. There is a
nice selection of different ingredients infront of these guys and pointing gets
you a surprisingly long way.
These guys have it easy in winter because they get to stand next to a hot wok
all day long. However, in summer they don't get it so easy. When it
is already 40c and very sweaty, the last job you really want is to swoosh round
chicken and cucumber around a roastingly hot pan whilst stood next to a gas
furnace, breathing like a dragon.
Hot Pot
A firm favorite of students. This fondue kind-of-idea is very communal
and a clear affront to any health and safety inspectors who might be visiting
the East.
Stinky Tofu
I was once asked 'Why is it called stinky tofu?' After you have walked
past a stall selling it (and there are lots of them over here) you will
never need to contemplate that question again. Quite the most revolting
smelling food I've ever encountered. And its eaten by the bucket
load. When questioned why they eat it when it smells so unuterably foul,
the students just say that they like the flavour and try not to breath too much
when eating it. I've never gone as far as to put any into my mouth - but
James from next door. Convinced that it couldn't smell as bad as it tasted
he tried it in his first week. Every now and again I hear the screams from
his bedroom as he remembers the experience in his nightmares.
Re Gan Mian
Literally "Hot, dry noodles" is a specialty of Wuhan. This is
a bowl of noodles with some tasty sauces added (they look like chocolate but
taste like beanpaste) Normally this is eaten for breakfast. The
Chinese also particularly like it with lots of Monosodium Glutomate added.
Pancakes
The crew below have appeared only recently outside the
University gates. Simple food done well. What it normally consists
of is carrots, beansprouts, shredded tofu, kelp, coriander and assorted spices
with either egg, sausage or beef stir fried then wrapped in a pancake covered in
plum sauce. Beware of the beef though. This is the expensive option
and will set you back 30p. If you are feeling reall extravagant you can
have egg and beef for 35p
.![pancake1.jpg (41338 bytes)](images/pancake1_small.jpg)
![pancake2.jpg (51097 bytes)](images/pancake2_small.jpg)