Food

I've always thought that one of the best ways to get to know a culture is to know the food, and so I'm dedicating a blog post to the awesome food I've found so far around Chengdu.

Since I'm vegetarian, I thought that I would have a tough time finding good food to eat in China and was even tempted to pack easy mac in my suitcase. But I've been pleasantly surprised to find that every restaurant that I've been to so far has had vegetarian options. The food is delicious, but often pretty spicy. Chilly oil is really popular, as well as a pepper that tastes a bit tingly rather than actually spicy. (And will numb your mouth in large doses.) In fact, finding mild food seems to be harder than finding vegetarian food, and a lot of the members of our group are finding the food hard to adjust to as a result! Sichuan is known for its (delicious) spicy food for a reason.

It really helps that we have Chinese speakers in our group, or else I would have a really tough time ordering at restaurants. The menus are entirely in Chinese and often indecipherable even for the Chinese speakers on our trip, since many of the items are prefaced with non-descriptive adjectives. (We found a store which translates to “flying tower ice cream,” and food titles tend to be similar.)

Some of the meals which I've had over the past few days include:

-Mapo tofu (spicy but good!)

-Sticky rice and red bean with a triangular leaf wrapping (“zao zi”)

-A popular dish with eggs and tomatoes

-Egg dumplings

-Eggplant and rice

-Cucumber salad

-Noodles with pickled vegetables

My eggplant (“qie zi”) rice bowl:

I had the zao zi today (the sticky rice and red bean deliciousness) because they gave them to us as a special delivery today in the middle of class. The dragon boat festival is coming up on Monday, and zao zi is eaten in celebration of the holiday.

Admittedly, I didn't really like the noodles with pickled vegetables, and the amount of chilly oil in it was a bit gross. So we've started going to slightly nicer restaurants. But it was no big deal because the entire meal cost 7 kwai, around one dollar USD. Twelve dumplings also cost me 7 kwai. Next time I get a 4 dollar drink from Starbucks in the US, I'll keep in mind that I could have bought over 60 dumplings for the same price in Chengdu! (I'm definitely going to be reverse culture shocked when I get back. Maybe I can sneak some dumplings into my luggage.)

I'm also so grateful that I finally learned how to use chopsticks a week before I left. I love chopsticks now that I can actually use them. It forces me to eat my food more slowly, rather than shoving it in my mouth like I usually do at home. The restaurants don't generally have other utensils on hand, and I would look dumb for using them anyway.

The food here reflects what I am noticing about this city. Everything is totally different but great. And, American influence is pervasive. If I ever get sick of the Chinese food here, there's good old Walmart (actually called “Trust-mart” since people don't trust Walmart, but the shopping carts still say Walmart). And everyone's favorite, good old McDonalds...