Chinese Food

No travelogue of China would be complete without a discussion of the cuisine.

With the exception of the breakfast buffets in the hotels, every meal we ate was at a large round table with a humongous Lazy Susan in the middle. Sometimes it was motorized so that the food coasted by like at a sushi bar. The tables were each located in their own private rooms and had two or three attendants present to serve food. Each meal lasts forever, and there is at least five times more food served than the group could possibly eat. By the end, there is no room remaining on the Lazy Susan.

I got by well at the breakfast buffets - bacon, fried rice, hash browns, omelettes, and smoked mackerel. All of the hotel buffets had three distinct food setups: Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Western.

The food in Chongqing was heavily influenced by Sichuan cooking (hot & spicy). One night, as the steaming bowls of unrecognizable food cruised past, I noticed a bowl of green beans and diced chicken approaching. How exciting!! Something recognizable, and one of my favorites. I took a huge helping and before I could taste it, the woman next to me took a bite of the chicken and opened her eyes wide with a grinding CRUNCH as she bit into a mouthful of bones. She leaned over and warned me to watch out - the meat is full of bones. Not chicken - just a diced up rabbit. That's OK - I can eat around bones. I dug into my green beans and returned to the woman the same wide eyed look she had given me. The beans weren't really beans - they were very hot chili peppers that looked like green beans.

Above is the standard lunch in a Chinese diner. In the lobby, there's a side room full of fish tanks and sample food so that you can see what looks/smells good and pick out your fish.

One of our hosts is a septuagenarian that has been running his own factory forever. He makes 30% of the split lockwashers used in Asia. In China, it's bad form to drink by yourself at the dinner table, so if/when you want a sip, you must toast someone at the table and have them drink with you. We each had glasses for beer, wine, and shots in front of us. The old man loved to do toasts with his favorite baijiu (sorghum-vodka). He would come over, fill your shot glass, proclaim something wise, and then clink the glasses and yell "Gambei!" which means "Bottoms Up!!" I quickly learned that you don't ever want to fill your glass more than half full of beer lest someone across the table catch you and hit you with a "Gambei!!" Fortunately, the beer was deliciously weak (2.5%) and the shot glasses were small and the food was awesome, so we didn't feel too bad the next day.

Presentation is key with Chinese food. This delicious dish that looks so tempting is a cup of duck tongues. I didn't try it then, but now wish I had. I tried everything else and found that most of the new foods were yummy.