So there I was sitting at our first meal. It was a decent meal consisting of rice, fish, potatoes noodles and mixed vegetables. The meal is usually ended with watermelon or other types of fruit.
All of our meals were set up by our tour company and over the next two days we were brought to “toury” restaurants where we would enter and no Chinese customers would be present. After eating at these restaurants we were walked through some type of gallery and expected to purchase an art piece. One night we were even served French fries at dinner – traditional? I don’t thi
nk so.Most of us were a bit upset at this. Here we were in a different country looking to experience as much of it as we could. After these few disappointments we told the tour company we were disappointed and they rearranged all of the rest of our meals to feature more authentic cuisine.
The most authentic meal we were serves was at Zhejiang Forestry University. Here all nine of us students got to enjoy a dinner with two of the universities grad students. This was helpful because they showed us correct ways to eat our dinner. We were told that the plate was for discards and only if you needed a spot to rest your food to get a better grip on it.
This was the most interesting dinner we were served. Duck tongues were one of the first items to spin around our table and thank goodness I have friends like Jake to insist I take one by placing it on my plate. Needless to say I ate this and it is a delicacy in China. Sea cucumber was the next entrée this was very slimy and very fishy and some people almost weren’t able to swallow this. Also at this dinner were pigs ear, this however, I did not try. Other food throughout the trip consi
sted of squirrel fish, snails and carp.I was a somewhat picky eater before this trip but now have a deal with my mother stating she is never allowed to call me a picky eater again or I will serve her a platter of duck tongues.
sea cucumber!
http://www.reefseekers.com/PIXPAGES/Yap-Palau%20'04/Grazing_sea_cucumber.jpg
1 comment:
by Jake...
I was really looking forward to trying a whole bunch of different foods, but found out that Chinese food takes like Chinese food. This was, for me, unexpected. This may be a misperception on my part because we ate at some big touristy places that cater to us, so we might not have gotten truly authentic dishes every night. I was impressed with how they use every part of the animal (sometimes even parts they didn't know were in the dish). I like that zero waste policy when it comes to cooking. I am just not all the way there when it comes to eating it.
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