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Originally Posted August 20, 2008
My turn for a blog entry! I’ve chosen, this week, to discuss local flavor and the food we’ve all been eating. Every morning I see people hitting the local corner store to pick up cookies, chips, drinks, etc. China has so much of the same, yet in different twists. In the past week I’ve eaten more than 3 different types of pringles. There was a strange meat/salsa flavor, blueberry, and a third I’m still not sure about… Of course they have plain, but it seemed to be hidden behind the others. I find China’s snack food the most exciting! Unlike America, there are so many different varieties from store to store. I usually see only a few types shining over the rest at home, yet here it runs very differently.
I have also noticed quite a variation between the old and the new in China. For one meal they serve traditional noodles or rice, yet for another they use cola with chicken to make something close to sweet BBQ wings. Another favorite is something called “rou bing” (meat cake… I admit that doesn’t sound appetizing… But it is!) My host parents gave me this stack of triangle bread with some sort of thin meat filling that ended up tasting a little like pizza. It was amazing, and yet looked so simple! I am also enjoying the chance to have so many different kinds of fresh fruit! There are many small shops on the street where I can get everything from peaches to dragon fruit; almost every day I have fresh lichee. In my home town I can buy lichee flavored snacks and ice cream, but never any fresh ones. I think my host family finds it strange that I always have fruit with me when I’m home.
Now that we are living with separate host families, I love coming to school and discussing last night’s dinner with my classmates. Every family has a different way about making and eating dinner. From the Chinese restaurants in America I would have never guessed this is how things actually are in China. I know this blog entry is rather vague and broad, but I encourage you readers (if you haven’t already) to talk to us students about the food. There is so much variation from family to family, like there is in America, that it’s hard to cover everything.
I admit it took a couple days to get used to the food, but now I am willing to go out and try almost anything!