The Surprisingly Diverse Food in China

Before visiting China, when I thought of Chinese food this is what came to mind: Dim sum, dumplings, stir fries with black bean or oyster sauce, salty dehydrated fish snacks, chicken feet, BBQ pork and, of course, rice. It is so so so much more! The food has been a big part of our experience here and there are some days that we literally just walked around street markets eating.

When we first arrived in Beijing we quickly learned that our impression of "chinese food" in Canada is what is typically seen in the southern provinces. However in the north, grains such as wheat, millet, sourghum are the staples rather than rice because of the colder and drier climate. There are all types of noodles made from these grains and typically accompany meals fried or boiled.

Noodles, Pork and Gai lan

Egg, tomato, veggie, noodle soup

Pingyao Mountain Noodles

Dumplings, of course!

Noodle soup in beef broth.

There are also an incredible variety of breads: steamed buns (with and without stuffing), flat breads and small flat buns similar to pitas.

Steamed buns (Baozi).

Red bean and pork buns.

Chinese Hamburger in a pita type bread in Xi'an.

Dessert: bread rolls and red bean stuffed buns.

In Xi'an they would tear up the bread and put into soups.

The other big surprise was the amount of roasted meat. In every city from Beijing to Tagong it was common to see street vendors selling skewers of roasted lamb, which we refered to as "spiducci" (Italian lamb skewers).

Mutton skewers in Xi'an.

Mutton skewer in Beijing.

We had our first Peking Duck dish in Beijing on my birthday and it was a dining experience. You are served the meat diced, which you then dip in plum sauce, then chopped raw garlic, then sugar. It was delicious! This is at the top of my list of dishes to find when we're back in Vancouver.

Two ducks roasting over an open fire...

Happy birthday to me!

There are also a wide variety of hotpots. You're brought a steaming pot of broth that sits on a burner at your table and then you order your meat and veggies and then cook them yourself. These are also accompanied with dipping sauces. In Beijing we got a Tahini based dipping sauce whereas in Sichuan we got a garlic/cilantro/sesame oil dipping sauce. (As a side note, in Quebec, there is a meat and broth fondu type dinner that we would have at least once a year. My grandmother and aunts would buy frozen paper thin sliced raw beef and we would cook it in the boiling beef broth at the table which would also be served with dipping sauces and pickles. Can you guess what it's called? Yup, "Fondu Chinois". I had only put two and two together when describing the hotpot to my Mom!)

This meal cost us less than $20CDN with beer!

As mentioned in a previous post, the Sichuan style of hotpot was definitely the best food experience we had with all that crazy, numbing flower pepper!

Flower peppers.

In Sichuan province there was definitely the biggest contrast of flavours. In the Eastern part, like in Chengdu, the dishes were spicy filled with flower peppers and hot peppers! The meat could be chicken, pork, beef, or fish.

Spicy noodle soup.

Spicy chicken with peanuts.

Spicy tofu dish called: Mapo Doufu.

In the Western part, basically in "Cultural Tibet", the dishes were milder, the meat was typically yak (fresh or rehydrated) and there usually wasn't very much of it in the dishes. They had noodles as well but they were flat, hand torn noodles, typically served in soup.

Typical Tibetan noodle soup.

Dehydrated yak meat.

Here are some other typical Tibetan foods that we had:

-Tsampa: A roasted barley flour mixed with yak butter then formed into little cakes. This we did not like much and from what we heard from others, it sounded like it's not uncommon for foreigners to dislike it.

-Yak butter tea: Yak butter and cream mixed in hot water. Yak butter definitely has a much stronger taste than cow butter. Tom liked it enough that if it was served to him he was able to drink his cup. Me, on the other hand, I was incapable of even taking a sip! I felt terrible.

-Momo's! My favourite. Little meat or veggie dumplings.

-Yak yoghurt. This was surprisingly good considering my aversion to yak butter. It had a bit of a sour taste to it.

Yes, those are chopsticks.

When we arrived in Guilin, in Southern China, we immeditaly noticed the shift from wheat to rice. Rice was served with every meal and was basically a given, like water and a dinner roll at Swiss Chalet. The two famous dishes that we were recommended were: Guilin noodles and Rice rolls.

Guilin noodle: pickled beans, peanuts and fried pork belly.

Rice roll with pickled veggies and pork.

Breakfasts here are also very different than what we're used to. Chinese typically eat noodle soups, dumplings, hard boiled eggs or steamed buns for breakfast, not oatmeal or PBJ on toast. It was definitely easy to find Western dishes like the "American Breakfast" but it was 20-30yuan ($4-$6CDN)! I realize it doesn't sound like much but when the local breakfast food costs 5-15yuan ($1-$3CDN) your mindset quickly shifts!

Almost all our breakfasts were noodle soups and/or steamed buns.

Great egg, tomato, veggie noodle soup.

We did of course, indulge ourselves with some Western food items when we had serious cravings!

We bought original after this...

Yes, Walmart.

Starbucks, over course.

Turns out Lays in a tube turns into crumbs.

Black sesame! Tastes like peanut butter.

As for my cooking lessons, I got two! My first one was when we did our horse trek in Langmusi and stayed with a local nomad family. Our guides wife showed us how to make the local tibetan noodle soup and also make the hand pulled noodles.

I'm going to need more practice: I was so slow!

My second was at our hostel in Guilin where they hosted a dumpling night. We learned different dumpling forming techniques.

Tom's dumpling technique.

The food experience of China has been exceptional! There is still so much more than just the above and, I'm embarrassed to admit, I've taken over a hundred photos of food. When we are back in Vancouver, I will be making a trip to Chinatown and the Richmond night markets in search of some of my fav's!