Chicken Feet

The Chinese, like all great culinary nations, love their food. I did a section on food a month of so ago in class. I had my students name some non-Chinese foods and just talk about them. One student got up and said, "Chinese has enough good food for me. I think all I need is Chinese food."

However, unlike the Italians, French, or even Indians who savor their food - take a while to eat it, enjoy the flavor and taste - the Chinese don't so much eat their food, as breath in heavily and it somehow gets ingested. Mealtime here is always an experience.

All of the sudden it turns into a race for survival. People are biting off prawn heads and spitting them on the floor, gnawing on chicken feet, slurping up noodles, devouring steamed buns. I think if someone were to come straight from America to a Chinese dinner they'd be, quite frankly, revolted. There is nothing wrong with spitting on the floor or table. Dropping unwanted bones, feet, and heads on the table. Food is shoveled on to your plate. It's pretty impressive. You do get used to it though. Finding rocks, small pieces of paper, and etc in your food is common. I even find myself spitting out small bones and other unwanted on to the table. It is convenient. But if you have a weak stomach for these things, I wouldn't make the journey here. Unless you plan on only eating in very nice restaurants, and because it's so cheap that's very feasible.

Anyway, I like a lot of Chinese food. Despite all my cheese longings and mustard cravings, it's actually alright. Comments like, "Chinese has enough good food for me. I think all I need is Chinese food" make me want to never eat it again, but I have little choice. I think Chinese fish is the best. It's a bit shocking at first. They don't cut it up or anything. You pick out a live fish first and then they serve it up to you head, fins, and tail, but it is spectacular. Most of the seafood is pretty good. Noodles obviously. A lot of the vegetable dishes are good. Tofu that isn't rancid is awesome. People who come to China and only eat fried rice and dumplings are losers. But of course the food does have its down side. Like chicken feet, duck head, and dog.

Zhejiang province and Shanghai have pretty good food. That's the region I'm in, but I think Lin'an missed out on the memo. Food in Lin'an is a bit dull actually. They do have these green sweet steamed buns that are pretty addictive, but that's about all. I'm looking forward to going to Beijing at the end of this month for some northern cuisine. I was sick of it last time I was here, but now I'm kind of craving it.