things i ate in china that surprised me

like

i thought i knew chinese food before going. i was wrong.

first surprise was breakfast. i expected eggs and bacon but people eat noodles and dumplings and congee. congee is like rice porridge. sounds boring but it is actually really good with pickled vegetables and youtiao which is fried dough stick.

second surprise was how regional everything is. in beijing everything is wheat based. noodles and dumplings. in shanghai everything is sweeter. in chengdu everything is spicy but also numbing because of the peppercorns. my mouth felt weird for like an hour.

third surprise was street food. so much street food. i ate grilled skewers from a cart at midnight. jianbing which is like a savory crepe for breakfast. roujiamo which is like chinese hamburger. all were cheap and delicious.

one thing i could not get used to was the bones. they leave bones in the meat so you have to eat carefully and spit them out. felt weird at first but you get used to it.

also i tried stinky tofu. once. never again. smells like garbage tastes like nothing. people love it. not me.

best meal was hot pot in chengdu. we went to a place with no english menu and just pointed at things other tables were eating. turned out great. sweating by the end but worth it.

if you are vegetarian china is harder but not impossible. get the happy cow app. it helped me find places.