Every single person said they were willing to try anything. So I was able to order exactly what I thought was most interesting and representative of each regional cuisine – even in a Sichuanese hotpot restaurant, where it is customary to eat a fair amount of offal and rubbery delicacies. The son of the owner joined us for dinner, and couldn’t believe it when he saw a bunch of Westerners tucking into tripe, goose intestines and rabbit’s kidneys. He told us we had totally changed his view of what was possible for foreigners dining out in China – which means, I hope, that he will extend his translated English menu to include not only the meatballs, sliced beef, mushrooms and vegetables, but also the offal and other stuff that an increasingly number of Westerners might be keen to try. Actually in several restaurants I had to argue vociferously with waiters who assured me that foreigners would not eat this or that, and urged me to order just sweet-and-sour fish and boneless stir-fries. When even someone who speaks Chinese and knows how to order has to battle to get beyond the traditionally acceptable stuff, you can see how tough it might be for an ordinary tourist, speaking no Mandarin but hoping to eat the most Chinese versions of Chinese food.
Gastronomic tour of China 吃货团! | Fuchsia Dunlop (via felixsalmon)
This happens in Chinatowns across the US as well. When I returned from China, it seemed nearly impossible to find the same things I ate back there in NYC. Even in the various Chinatowns across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, and despite ability to speak Mandarin, it was a chore to find restaurants willing to serve some of their off-the-published menu stuff. In fact, I often found it harder here in the US than in China, where the only English menus you could find at the time where in Western restaurants, hotels, or high-end establishments.
10 Notes/ Hide
- kyrajimenez123-blog liked this
- karion liked this
- hawstyn-blog liked this
- brianvan liked this
- tomasglobal liked this
- marksbirch reblogged this from felixsalmon
- fragmentedfictions liked this
- shorttermloansinarizona liked this
- mrbrant said: I’m adventurous..but I don’t know about rabbit kidneys. Tripe is okay.
- felixsalmon posted this