China: A Personal Word on Chinese Food

Of course, Chinese food is the most commonly eaten food on the planet. With its billions of people, multiple ethnic strains, varied geography, vast gap in resources and its long history, the food in China is varied beyond imagination. It has been my good fortune recently to once again spend a month in China and grab a teeny sample of its wonderfully varied cuisines.

Because of my schedule and commitments it was around midnight when I had finally finished my third dinner of that day. The next question from my host was, “Now for breakfast do you want rice noodles or flour noodles?” I made a quick decision, rice noodles. So early the next morning she was in the hotel lobby ready to take me to breakfast. We parked on a side street. I looked for the restaurant. Then I realized that I was standing in it. The restaurant was one of those sidewalk, small shop affairs where the meal is cooked on a simple, single gas burner on the curb. Guests sit on small three legged “milk-stools” and enjoy the fare. I was even asked what kind of meat I wanted with those noodles and saw the cook mix in the half teaspoon of chopped pork. It was all delicious.

In Kun Ming we went in the opposite direction. The walk-way to the very upscale restaurant was through a beautifully long curved tree lined path. At intervals along the way sat beautifully red-robed instrumentalists. Each played marvelously on traditional Chinese stringed instruments, a perfect prelude to really fine dining. It was similar to other 12- course dinners I’ve been served on special occasions. Two things were new, however. The first is that one of the early dishes was a massive platter of exquisitely prepared and presented sushi, something new for me in China. The other was that while, of course, tea, beer and soft drinks were available, this time the options included a steady supply of wonderfully aged French wine supplemented by what other guests brought with them. Several had selected their own special brand of that fiery Chinese drink called mao tie. Toasts were drunk from each variety. Food, fun, friends (old and new) made for a not to be soon forgotten evening

While on the island city of XiaMen across from Taiwan I was taken to “the best sea food restaurant in the city.” I was told that once again 12 dishes were being ordered. Each one came from the sea. Each one was going to be a delicacy that I was guaranteed to never have eaten previously. And so creatures of many sizes, shapes and flavors from the sea supplemented by fungi and other plants made for a wonderful “lunch”. When one of the dishes was served I took a healthy mouthful with my chopsticks and enjoyed it. I noticed a bit of almost imperceptible snickering at my enjoyment of the dish. Then I was told, “There is a Chinese saying attached to this particular dish. The English version is ‘If man eats this dish, woman watch out. If woman eats this dish, man watch out. If man and woman eat this dish, bed watch out!” I got it. This was an aphrodisiac. I enjoyed the food.

In the large and modern city of ShenZhen one can find to almost anything to eat that one might desire. Most of the world food chains MacDonald’s, Starbucks, Papa Johns. KFC. etc .etc.) are all there. A new one simply called Fridays was the site for several good meals. My very sophisticated host enjoyed some very simple delicacies. I especially noted her relishing chicken feet and duck tongue. I preferred the duck tongue to the chicken feet.

Great enjoyment, made both more somber, even more appreciated as I recalled that when I lived in Hong Kong 50 years ago my Chinese colleagues were trying to figure out how to just get a bit of rice across the border to their relatives where millions of Chinese were starving because of Mao TseDung’s horrendous “Great Leap Forward.” And now China is indeed leaping forward and many (including me) get to enjoy more of that marvelous Chinese food!