Beijing Guide to Eating
I have decided that the best policy for eating in China is rather like the military's policy on homo-sexuality: don't ask, don't tell... Or at least don't explain in English.
A close second is, of course, close your eyes and try it.
Today i swear I ate lamb ear, but the only word I knew in the explanation when I asked was "yang" (lamb), and I don't have the stomach to look up the rest. There are lots of things that look terrible but are quite delicious, and I'm sure that I've liked things that I wouldn't normally eat... Not that I really want to know what I've eaten.
A lot of names are misleading: broccoli is literally translated as the "western blue flower," and there is a dish called Mao erdou (cats ears) that has nothing to do with cats or ears (sorry Happy), it is just a noodle dish from Shaanxi Province.
My new game is to go to a restaurant, close my eyes and point. I order what ever i point to, and eat whatever it is without asking questions. It is kind of like Russian roulette... But with food and hopefully no deadly consequences. It isn't always a terribly rewarding game, but it works out pretty well most of the time.
You do have to be a little picky about where you eat. China does not have health inspectors or Marvin Zindler looking for slime in the ice machine (most places don't have ice machines) so you need to have standards. Check the floor when you walk in: most of the time if the front of the house is a mess you can bet the back of the house is worse. Take a look at the tables and make sure they are clean. If you drop food on the table leave it there; even if it is he most awesome food in the world it is not worth what you will feel an hour or so later.
There is no five second rule.
Which brings me to table manners.
Forget everything you have ever learned about table manners. Put your elbows on the table, slurp your soup, do not pick up food that you drop on the table, and most importantly hold your bowl a few inches from your face. Yes, I know that it is appallingly rude to shovel food into your mouth, but you aren't in Kansas anymore Toto. Think of it like this: you won't get a napkin in China (if you do it is at a nice restaurant or because you are white) so you have nothing to protect your clothes from the food you drop. If you decrease the distance between your food and your mouth there is less of a chance that you will end up with egg on your tie... or in your lap.
Also, spitting things out is totally normal. Really. You don't even have to do it sneakily, everyone does it because Chinese food is big on bones.
A close second is, of course, close your eyes and try it.
Today i swear I ate lamb ear, but the only word I knew in the explanation when I asked was "yang" (lamb), and I don't have the stomach to look up the rest. There are lots of things that look terrible but are quite delicious, and I'm sure that I've liked things that I wouldn't normally eat... Not that I really want to know what I've eaten.
A lot of names are misleading: broccoli is literally translated as the "western blue flower," and there is a dish called Mao erdou (cats ears) that has nothing to do with cats or ears (sorry Happy), it is just a noodle dish from Shaanxi Province.
My new game is to go to a restaurant, close my eyes and point. I order what ever i point to, and eat whatever it is without asking questions. It is kind of like Russian roulette... But with food and hopefully no deadly consequences. It isn't always a terribly rewarding game, but it works out pretty well most of the time.
You do have to be a little picky about where you eat. China does not have health inspectors or Marvin Zindler looking for slime in the ice machine (most places don't have ice machines) so you need to have standards. Check the floor when you walk in: most of the time if the front of the house is a mess you can bet the back of the house is worse. Take a look at the tables and make sure they are clean. If you drop food on the table leave it there; even if it is he most awesome food in the world it is not worth what you will feel an hour or so later.
There is no five second rule.
Which brings me to table manners.
Forget everything you have ever learned about table manners. Put your elbows on the table, slurp your soup, do not pick up food that you drop on the table, and most importantly hold your bowl a few inches from your face. Yes, I know that it is appallingly rude to shovel food into your mouth, but you aren't in Kansas anymore Toto. Think of it like this: you won't get a napkin in China (if you do it is at a nice restaurant or because you are white) so you have nothing to protect your clothes from the food you drop. If you decrease the distance between your food and your mouth there is less of a chance that you will end up with egg on your tie... or in your lap.
Also, spitting things out is totally normal. Really. You don't even have to do it sneakily, everyone does it because Chinese food is big on bones.