A couple of weekends ago, Chris’ co-worker, Caroline, a local Shanghainese, took us on a Shanghai street food tour in the Qibao Ancient Town district. With my distaste for Asian food and fear of food poisoning, I have mainly refrained from the plentiful street food vendors throughout the city. I was excited, though, to have a local guide who could explain what the odd foods were and make sound recommendations.
Without further ado, I present a photo story of how our exciting cuisine adventure unfolded.
With a narrow passageway, Qibao Old Street was challenging to navigate. Built in the late 10th Century, the town’s name means “seven treasures” in Chinese.Caroline pointed out this vendor selling dried persimmons. A fruit of Chinese origin, it’s sweet like a peach. The other fruit in the glass box is powdered-sugar-covered crab apples.Checking out some popular Shanghai candy, White Rabbit is a type of taffy. The blue bag is like a Snickers bar minus the chocolate and caramel.My favorite item of the day was a moon cake filled with read bean paste. This sweet pastry reminds me of a toasted marshmallow, and these are traditional treats during the Mid-Autumn Festival.As I walk about in Shanghai, I’ve been struck by this awful smell around many of the street food vendors. I thought they were using rancid oil to fry (another reason for my fear of food poisoning), but then Caroline introduced us to stinky tofu. Mystery solved! These fried tofu pieces smell horrible, but they are quite tasty, especially with the sweet-and-spicy sauce they come covered in. I also love to watch the vendors use the extra-large chop sticks so easily. It’s all I can do to get through a meal with the normal-sized ones!
There’s a chicken in there! Known as Beggar’s Chicken, an entire bird is covered in a mud clay and then fired in a kiln oven until cooked. The clay covering is broken to reveal a moist and delicious roasted chicken.Known as the stinky fruit, durian supposedly has a sweet taste, if you can get past the smell. A native fruit of Asia, it has been banned from public transportation in many countries due to its obnoxious smell.
Yes, those are roasted baby chicks on sticks. I couldn’t bring myself to eat real-life Peeps.
Chris, however, had no problem downing the grilled squid on a stick. There is also grilled pork and chicken widely available at the barbecue vendorCandied fruit is a popular sweet treat. Chris’ favorite of the day was the glazed-covered crab apples with the edible wrapping.A vendor roasts quail eggs in an open oven. Eaten like hard-boiled chicken eggs, quail eggs are a nutritious alternative to the norm.Lotus root is known for its many medicinal benefits, such as soothing an upset stomach. Here, it is boiled and ready for a wide variety of dishes, such as stir-fry.A common breakfast item, jidanbing guozi or the Chinese Breakfast Burrito is a thin crepe made of egg filled with green onions, cilantro and a spicy sauce. We occasionally pick these up during the morning commute from a vendor in front of our apartment.Chris holds up a bag of sticky rice with pork while Caroline bemusedly smiles at the silly Westerners. Unwrapped from its banana leaf cover for cooking, the sticky rice is then eaten directly out of the bag with no utensils. This filling goodness is a traditional food during the Dragon FestivalWe ended our day with a common snack of roasted sweet potatoes. Without a fork and much like corn-on-the-cob, the sweet potato is peeled and enjoyed. (Yes, that’s a pitiful monkey on a rope in the background that was performing dumb tricks for a not-so-nice street performer.)
At the end of the tour, we were bursting at the seams. It was a great experience, made even better by the fact we didn’t get sick due to Caroline’s expert guidance. We now have a better sense about what street foods to order, and we plan to put that knowledge to use soon. What’s your favorite street food?
Chris and I did water calligraphy at the end of our ghost tour. Our guides taught us how to draw scary words, like this symbol for ghost.
“You can feel the temperature in this area of the park drop right here,” said Daniel Newman, managing director of Newman Tours, as he circled his largest tour group to date under the shadow of a former state-run hotel. “This is the creepiest stop on the tour for me,” he continues. “Three times I’ve had people on this tour capture an image of the ghost girl on their cameras.”
Halloween in China
Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, and I love a good and spooky (not gory) fright. With a rich history in merciless rulers, unscrupulous gangsters and supernatural worship, China makes an impressive backdrop for the holiday. Though not celebrated among ethnic Chinese in the typical fashion, Halloween is a time to remember past loved ones. Families invite those gone before to dinner where a place of honor with food and drink are set out on the table for the departed family member. The family member is then implored to put in a good word with the gods for those still living. In August, the ghost festival is dedicated to the remembrance and honor of departed loved ones. Unlike last year’s Halloween in São Paulo, Halloween in Shanghai is a big deal. Though it’s not traditionally recognized, as one Shanghai businessman put it, “in Shanghai, they don’t need an excuse to party. If anyone in the world is celebrating something, they join in here. This week it’s Halloween; next week it will be something else.” We’ve seen ads for zombie pub crawls, a Disney villain costume party, a Disney trashed-out princess costume party, and all sorts of other Halloween activities. Just one more reason to love this crazy international city.
Chinese ghost stories
One of our tour guides, Jack Daliday, explains some Buddhist concepts about Jing’an Temple. The missile-looking items in his backpack are the paint brushes for water calligraphy.
What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a ghost tour of our new city? I’ve dragged Chris on ghost tours in Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, Savannah, Prague, Edinburgh and more. Always the believer v. skeptic couple of the group, I’m determined to make a believer out of him yet. Shanghai was our first ghost tour in Asia, and it did not disappoint. Newman and Jack Daliday, both from London but with extensive studies in China, awed the group with background information on sites around the city while using props and iPad imagery to bring the stories to life. We especially liked Newman’s vocal impersonations as that certainly kept us guessing. As an added bonus, we also learned some Chinese calligraphy. At the end of the tour, Newman and Daliday used water brushes to teach the group the Chinese characters for scary words like kill, ghost and usurper, reportedly written by a literary figure in the 1400s in his own blood as he died from an execution of being chopped in two. In celebration of my favorite holiday, and to wish all our worktrotters a Happy Halloween, here are my top-pick Chinese ghost stories from Newman Tours’ Shanghai Ghost Tour.
The face of the clumsy waitress has been reported in the window of this abandoned hotel. Maybe she is waiting to be let out of her holding place.
1. The clumsy waitress A decrepit and charred building stands tall and foreboding overlooking a park. Newman warns us before he begins the story that this ghost has been seen on the tour before. He points up to the sole window visible through the trees. “There, that’s where she only appears through the lens of a camera,” he explains. The ghost girl with the burned skin has reportedly been captured in photos staring out of the room she burned to death in. In the 1980s, the building was a grand state-run hotel. One day during the lunch service at the hotel’s restaurant, a young girl waiting tables trips and spills wine on a customer. Enraged by her clumsiness, the manager grabs her by the ear and hauls her upstairs to the second floor. As punishment, he locks her in the staff room, intending to return later to let her out. A fire breaks out a few hour later, though, and in the chaos of getting out of the building, the waitress is forgotten until it’s too late. Today, the building is a shell of its former self, and the lone window, now surrounded by charred burn marks, opens onto a park where dance groups practice in the evening. As you walk along the path through the park, you can feel a distinguishable drop in temperature as you pass beneath the window. Photos of the windows have revealed a shadowy figure of a woman with a burned face. Restoration workers refuse to enter the room. Is the clumsy waitress still waiting to be let out?
Could these underwater flower pots contain the remains of an entire family? For those who believe in shui gui, they certainly may.
2. A watery family grave A seemingly peaceful pond provides a nice scene for walkers and joggers in Jing’an Park. Not so, according to Newman, as those very walkers and joggers could be pulled in to a watery death at any moment. He points to a nearby clutch of reeds. “This is a good spot for a shui gui to grab you and pull you under,” he explains. A shui gui is a ghost that lives in the body of water he drowned in, and the only way he can pass on is to replace his soul with another’s in the water. There once was a nasty abbot of Jing’an Temple that dealt in illegal money laundering and especially liked the ladies. One day he sees the most beautiful young girl, and he insists on having her. When she rebukes his flattery and bribes, he threatens to commit zhū lián jiǔ zú, an ancient form of punishment that kills nine generations of a person’s family before the person is killed. When the young girl still refuses his advances, he rounds up every living member of her family he can find and brings them to the pond. To the horror of the girl, he drowns them all in front of her before she is also murdered. It is believed in Chinese culture that ghosts can only walk in straight lines. To reduce the ability of the shui gui to pull an unsuspecting passerby into the water, today a zigzag boardwalk runs across the surface of the pond. Potted plants underneath the surface sprout tall bamboo trees. As bodies don’t stay underwater for long, it is believed the young girl’s family members were cut into pieces and placed in those very pots. Are their spirits in the trees now growing from those pots? Or are they beneath the surface waiting to snatch their replacements?
The Paramount was the premier club for Shanghai’s elite in its heyday. Today, the ghost of a former dancer is said to perform after hours.
3. The taxi dancer The art deco sign for The Paramount lights up the street as the landmark creates an impressive photo op. I’m watching Chris take the photo as I see Daliday slip a gun ever so quickly out of his pocket. “He sneaked into her room, and bang bang shot her right in the chest,” he exclaims as he startles the German man he pulled the trigger of the cap gun on. Workers have reported music playing long after closing time. In the 1930s, The Paramount was the club of choice for the shakers of Shanghai and the gangsters that ran the city. Known for good liquor, the taxi dancers were what really brought the gentlemen in. Like a taxi cab, when a cool cat wanted to dance with one of the ladies, she flipped a meteor on and you danced (or maybe even something a little more) for a by-minute rate. During this era, due to the national unrest between the two nations and invasion of China, Japanese officials were powerful but not well liked by the locals. A Japanese soldier spotted a particularly attractive taxi dancer one night at The Paramount. She refused to dance with anyone of Japanese origin, no matter the rate. After becoming hostile, the soldier was escorted out of the club. Still feeling offended and with liquid courage running through his veins, the soldier decided he would sneak back into The Paramount that night to exact his revenge. As the taxi dancer slept in her quarters, the soldier put a pistol to her chest and fired. As the tables have turned and The Paramount is now a discrete gigolo club for wealthy women, it is reported that the taxi dancer still performs nightly. After closing hours, phantom music has been reported throughout the building and a silhouette of a woman can be seen gliding across the dance floor in the upper levels. Is the taxi dancer waiting for her last dance or is some rich lady getting special after-hours treatment? Happy Halloween! Have some ghost stories of your own? Share them in the comments. -MonicaDisclosure: We highly recommend Newman Tours for its Shanghai Ghost Tour, and we even have plans to take the company’s other ghost tour in Beijing during our next visit. We were provided with one free admission to the Shanghai Ghost Tour for mentioning Newman Tours in this blog post. Prices for the company’s many tours are available at its website at www.newmantours.com, and there are discounted rates for students and children.
Over all the other chaotic noise, there was also Chinese-dubbed Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck playing throughout the car as we sped along at 308 km/hour.
Our first Chinese train ride experience was a G (fast train) to the northern beach town of Qingdao (a side note, we found the town disappointing. Billed as one of the cleanest beach towns in China, we found it to be dirty compared to European and American equivalents, and we never spotted the famous facekini. In fact, the only woman in a swimsuit over the three days we visited was still wearing jean shorts). The town was built largely by the Germans prior to World War I when the Japanese took over for their first of two stints.
During the ride there, we learned that most Chinese train passengers don’t feel a need to wear headphones while entertaining themselves. Our train car in a second class passenger seat was, therefore, like sitting down in a Best Buy showroom for five to six hours at 308 km/hour with a surrounding cacophonous of murderous Japanese schoolgirls screaming, stolid American Army generals yelling and tortured Spanish teens begging under an overhead repeat every two hours of a dubbed-Chinese Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
We found our next ride, a first class ride on a similar train to Beijing, to be a bit more relaxing with plusher seats and a mostly quieter car. However, our Chinese National Holiday travels would soon introduce us to the full gamut of Chinese train riding experiences as many options sellout seconds after being introduced to hundreds of millions of Chinese travelers.
Catching a few zzz during train travel in China
Our next train ride was an overnight ride on what is known in China as a “soft sleeper.” This is basically equivalent to a first class sleeping car. Four beds are enclosed in each room with doors that shut and allow for privacy, assuming you know the other three people. Otherwise, it’s a bit like hostel accommodations. The beds were more comfortable, lent more space than Navy sailors are given, and serve their purpose for getting a night’s sleep en route to your next destination.
On another overnight train ride, we downgraded slightly to a “hard sleeper” or second class sleeping car. These cars have six beds to a room, offering less privacy and luggage storage capacity without a closing door. We had read horror stories of seemingly privileged middle to upper class Chinese travelers smoking at the end of your bed or sitting on your bed while you attempted to rest, but we did not experience any unpleasantness.
Beware the hard seats
During our hard seat, no letter 20+ train ride, this was the sight we were greeted to. If at all possible, try to avoid the hard seats!
Our final holiday train ride was one that we wished we could have avoided. With our holiday concluding and time for me to return to work, no sleeper cars were available for the final few days. Our agent told us that they sold out in 20 seconds or less. Therefore, we were forced to endure a “hard seat,” basically a second class seat on a lower tier train with no letter preceding the train number. This wasn’t the second class that we experienced en route to Qingdao on a G train. This was basically a bench draped with a blue cloth in rows of three people facing other rows of three people with a small table in between to heap your trash upon while enduring a slow meandering train for 20 hours on a crowded, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, car that apparently also sells standing-room only tickets. With the train car packed to capacity, a food cart still found its way through the aisle every ten minutes for most of the ride as standing-room passengers folded up their small chairs and compressed toward our benches. Our advice: do whatever you have to do to avoid “hard seats!”
The bathroom on the trains are generally a Turkish style hole found in a room at the upper corner of each car, which helps naturally fertilize the crops in passing farms as you travel. If you’ve just arrived in China and fear food indigestion, maybe flying is a better option.
Purchasing train travel in China
The Pingyao train station presented us with one of our worst shoving matches in a queue. Public transportation in China is always a overcrowded experience.
We often utilize DIYTravel, a travel agency of an Australian couple experienced in the Chinese transportation industry. For 10 Australian dollars, they can customize your trip and advise you based on the idiosyncrasies of Chinese transportation. For example, when we wanted to go from the small town of Pingyao to Xi’an, knowing that tickets would be very limited and sold out on that route, they advised us to purchase a sleeper ticket on to another city, a much easier ticket to procure for a few extra dollars. They also include Chinese translations to hand over to taxi drivers, ticket distributors and train conductors for each situation you will likely face. They also accept Paypal, allowing you to use your Western credit card. Don’t expect to use it often in China.
Whenever purchasing tickets, pay attention to the train number and particularly to the preceding letter. From our experiences, the G is best. As you downgrade, you may not have individual outlets, elbow room or air conditioning. However, having no individual outlets will at times lead to a quieter environment as your fellow passengers’ electronics will die sooner. Unfortunately, with extended battery life devices continuing to hit the market, that advantage will soon be eliminated, adding to the potential hell of a Chinese train ride.
Basic Guide to Train Numbers when Booking
C = intercity, very limited routes
D = over 200 km/hr, runs main routes
G = fast train, high quality, 308 km/hr along most sections of track
K = “fast train,” lower quality and not as fast as the G, 120 km/hr
L = temporary substitute train, no set schedule, subject to delays and availability
T = “express train,” usually only stopping in major cities, 120 km/hr
No letter = slower trains with many stops and crowds, if the first number is 5 or higher, it probably doesn’t have air conditioning
Several friends have told us detailed stories about traveling amongst pigs and other animals in Korea. On our most crowded train rides, we haven’t yet experienced anything close to this. What’s your “most interesting” travel experience?
A mother meets with a matchmaker to discuss spouse options for her adult child at the Chinese marriage market. On a typical Saturday morning in a nearby park, hundreds of parents can be seen shopping for the perfect son- or daughter-in-law.
In perfectly straight rows, tables were lined up throughout the park. People strolled among the tables and vendors on this sunny day, casually stopping to read the placards all in Chinese with photos of young men and women. Some tables hoisted American flags, others proudly displayed Chinese fans or prayer beads.
As my favorite travel activity, I was excited to explore another market in Shanghai. Unlike the wet market tour I had recently attended, though, this market wasn’t selling fruits and vegetables. These vendors weren’t seasoned in sales of meat and spices. These vendors had another product to bargain with this day: their sons and daughters.
Welcome to a Chinese marriage market
In a nearby park each Saturday morning, parents and matchmakers set up booths to potentially arrange the marriages of their adult children. A placard for each potential candidate with a photo is set out among tables for shoppers (typically, this market is exclusive to only parent shoppers) to inspect. On the card are the stats of the potential bride or groom: age, weight, height, education, occupation, etc. The American flags indicate the candidate currently resides in the U.S. Parents stroll through reviewing each placard. When they find one that is appealing, they then begin negotiations with the other parents or matchmaker to set up a meeting between the children.
We mainly saw candidates in their late 20s to early 30s, but there was a section of the park for more senior bachelors and bachelorettes. I believe these are typically widowers and widows looking for another chance at love (or partnership). I have also been told about a fake marriage market where the LGBT population can find an opposite-sex partner for the sole purpose of producing a child or, at least, pleasing parents.
As with most forms of traditions, the ancient practice of arranged marriage has evolved here in China. In times past, arranged marriage was a strict policy that may have meant you didn’t even meet your spouse until your wedding day. Today, though parents still have a hand in marriage, it is much more open to one’s free choice. The Chinese marriage market now serves as more of a dating site administered by parents than a rock-solid contract enforced by parents.
Crossing the line?
Placards with the stats of potential brides and grooms are lined up at the Chinese marriage market. The American flag represents the candidate lives in the U.S.
Since visiting the market, Chris and I have been revisiting a debate. When does culture cross the line? When are acts “just part of the culture” and when should they be viewed as morally offensive?
I believe that Chris and I are very tolerant people, and we do our best to respect other cultures. We both agree the Chinese marriage market, especially in its current form, is just part of the culture. Though it may be strange to our Western senses, this is what is normal and acceptable here.
When more serious events take place, though, what then? When I was an undergrad working toward my minor in Political Science, I took a Global Issues class where I wrote a paper on government involvement to stop crimes against humanity. My specific focus was if practicing female genital mutilation in African countries was a human rights violation or if attempting to intervene was a state sovereignty violation since this was part of the culture. My argument was against FGM for its torturous harm to human beings, regardless of tradition, without the capability to consent.
In the news, we consistently hear about customs that may not only be strange to us but offend us to the point of action. Where do you draw that line and say “that’s beyond acceptable for the culture of the human race?” In my opinion, it’s anything that harms another living creature without consent. When a being is not given the choice of whether to participate, then the cultural aspect becomes morally offensive to the point of protest on others.
Chris and I would love to hear your opinion on the subject. When does culture cross the line for you?
The Penglai Lu Market is one of the first and currently the largest open-air market in Shanghai. These markets are becoming rarer as the Chinese government crack down on health codes and are moving them inside.
Before coming to China, I knew there would be some different items on the menu. I knew that the Chinese food I had in the States was a bastardized version of the real stuff. As I wasn’t a huge fan of that version anyways, I wasn’t expecting to find myself in a cultural cuisine heaven here in China. Further admitting to my lack of the palate needed for Asian cuisine, I foolishly also believed that a fortune cookie was authentically Chinese until I recently attended a dinner at a restaurant here specializing in American-bastardized Chinese food, appropriately named “Fortune Cookie.”
What I wasn’t prepared for was the exoticism that would be a typical trip to the market here. I have come to love open-air markets since we made our first international move a year ago. The brightness of fresh produce, the mouthwatering aromas from the grills, and the lively calls from the vendors urging you to stop and look at their selections, it’s always an incredible experience. From the feiras of Brazil to the orderly market day in a European town to the nostalgia of an American farmer’s market, these open-air grocers are a healthy and vibrant shopping experience.
What you’ll see, smell, hear and (possibly) taste in a Chinese wet market
Appropriately named a wet market for the ability to pour out containers of fish and water, fresh fish still flapping can be found throughout the market.
A wet market is the open-air market where you can buy produce, meats, spices, eggs and other groceries. It is so called a wet market because the vendors are consistently washing down the vegetables or pouring fish out of containers and the water flows down the street. There are air-conditioned super markets here, such as the French CarreFour, and I have even found Kate & Kimi, an online community supplying deliverable groceries. The wet market, though, is the authentic Chinese grocery shopping experience.
Janny Chyn with Shanghai Pathways provided lots of background information on wet markets during the tour. A native of Shanghai, she is a wealth of information.
Upon arriving here in Shanghai, I immediately sought out expatriate organizations that had proven to be lifesavers in our other destinations. With some research, I joined the Shanghai Expatriate Association. Like the São Paulo International Newcomers Club, the organization offers social and cultural outings to teach foreigners about the Chinese and Shanghai culture. I recently booked a tour of a Chinese wet market through SEA. Our tour was led by Janny Chyn of Shanghai Pathways, a tour agency that specializes in tours of unique and hidden areas of Shanghai. Janny provided a very informational tour of Penglai Lu Market, one of the first and currently the largest wet market in the city.
Breads and noodles
Some say Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy from China, but that’s a well-debated subject. One thing is for sure, noodles are a main staple in the Chinese diet.
We started by venturing out onto the first long street of vendors. The first thing you notice is the crowd. The street is narrow, and there are hundreds of people dodging motor bikes and men with carts ringing a bell to signify they are collecting plastic containers as the recycling system isn’t that advanced here.
At the top of the street, a vendor was making Chinese pancakes on a griddle. This flat bread is spread with honey and rolled up for easy take-away. Our next stop was at a vendor selling heaps of different noodles. According to Janny, the Chinese, not the Italians, actually are to be credited with the founding of pasta. Marco Polo took noodles home to Italy after one of his expeditions to China, and the Italians created pasta based upon these noodles. It seems, though, that there is quite a bit of debate on this topic.
Dairy and eggs
If you can get past the black-jellied inside, Century Eggs are said to be quite tasty. Enjoy!
As we moved further down the hustling street, we stopped at a great display of eggs. There were white ones, brown ones, speckled ones and oddly blue ones. Known as Century Eggs, these blue ones are placed in the ground to ferment for months instead of years. The whites and yolks become a black jelly inside and are eaten as one would eat a hard-boiled egg. If you can get past the look, texture and smell, I’m told that are quite good. As a rather picky eater, I wasn’t able to get past the first three senses.
Though it is largely believed milk is not popular in China, Janny said this is not the case. Chinese rather enjoy their milk if not the cheese. Tofu is actually a replacement for most things cheese here. Janny told the story of how milk came to the country in the 1800s. An American businessman noticed there was a lack of good milk in China. Not part of the traditional diet, there wasn’t a need for such a source. He set out on a Public Relations campaign to introduce and develop a strong market for milk in the country, and it has been booming ever since. Most of the milk is imported, but there has been some recent scares in production.
Vegetables, beans, spices and nuts
There is a ton of fresh produce in the wet market. This hidden mushroom is a two-for-one.
We moved on to the first stall of nuts, beans and spices. Janny proceeded to explain that in Chinese culture, it is believed that the food matches the body parts it resembles. For example, red beans are believed to be beneficial for the blood, walnuts are good for for the brain, and kidney beans support the kidneys. I found it very interesting that the Chinese believe purple food, like eggplant, is a good preventative for cancer. Maybe it is no surprise, then, that the American Cancer Society uses a purple ribbon to raise awareness about cancer.
Next door was a vegetable stand with a variety of produce. Especially interesting were the mushrooms, which came from all over the country. One in particular is called the hidden mushroom. It’s as if you can get a two-for-one. Inside the first mushroom a second mushroom grows.
As most homes don’t have the space and food is not doused in preservatives here, most Chinese go to the wet market daily as they only buy a one-day supply at a time. Some haggling does take place at the wet markets, but the price is plainly posted on many items. At the low costs (I bought two bunches of asparagus for the equivalent of less than $1), it seems a bit stingy to even attempt to get a lower price.
Meat
In Chinese culture, freshness is key, and animals need to be viewed alive to ensure good quality. These poor creatures are awaiting the butcher’s block.
As we made the turn onto the next street, I saw them and my heart sank. Inside cramped cages were ducks, chickens and pigeons. Beside them were about 20 frogs in a large bowl. Every now and then, a frog would try to jump out only to be thwarted by the mesh covering over the bowl. A tank of slithering eels came next with the bodies squirming up through the mesh. Known as a delicacy in Shanghai, the eels were pushed back down into the tank by the vendor or snatched out to be skinned. A specialty for the city, hairy crabs pinched out of from their steel cages hoping to catch a vendor’s finger as he snatched them out to beat them with a hammer. All sorts of fish floundered in tubs of shallow water.
The exoticism of seeing your meat alive and jumping was a bit much to take. If I eat meat, it’s mainly chicken, and I have no desire to see what it looked like before it was slaughtered or for it to resemble itself in anyway once it’s on my plate. Here in China, however, that is opposite of what is normal. The Chinese believe that it is best to buy meat alive and butchered in full view. This way, you can see if the animal is healthy and ensure you are receiving the freshest cut. It’s also very typical to serve meat in its original form. Plenty of restaurants here serve the chicken with its head and feet (it’s a popular belief that chicken feet are good for a woman’s complexion) still attached or a fish with its eyes still staring at you. Bones are also left in many animals as the Chinese believe the best meat is located nearest the bone.
Moon cakes are served throughout the Moon Festival, which just took place here last week. The cakes have a meat center and are made of flaky pastry layers.
Holiday foods
There are many festivals on the Chinese calendar, and each comes with a special food. There is sticky sweet rice for the Dragon Festival, and, most recently, moon cakes for the Moon Festival. These special treats are a big hit in the wet market.
With eight distinct food regions in China, the country has a well-versed menu for any palate. To make these unique dishes, wet markets are the traditional means to buy the freshest ingredients. Though a bit of an attack on the Western senses, I would certainly recommend a stroll through these open-air smorgasbords of sights, sounds and smells.
What has been your strangest grocery shopping experience?
The city skyline. With approximately 24 million people, Shanghai is one of the world’s largest cities by population.
After a month of back-to-back travel, we have made it to China. Needless to say, life has been hectic, and I know I’m behind on posts. I have not forgotten about our blog post for our trip to Morocco, and I plan to have it up by early next week. Chris also has one more post about Switzerland, and then I will turn full attention to our new home.
I just arrived three days ago here in Shanghai, and Chris has been here two weeks before that. I don’t think it’s actually set in for either of us that were actually here. I mean, China, really? Last night as we were walking around, I told Chris it felt like we were in a Chinatown in some big U.S. city. But, alas, we are here, and we’re looking forward to experiencing such an exotic locale.
And, do I mean exotic! Every sense has been assaulted since I stepped off the plane. It’s really loud here, and I don’t mean the city noise. It seems talking at a normal range is overrated and shouting is the preferred method. I went grocery shopping last night, and I couldn’t even hear myself think in the crowd. As one of the largest cities by population in the world at approximately 24 million people, it’s easy to get lost among the chaos.
Groceries were also quite the experience. I stopped by a food market to look at the vegetables, and rounding the corner I ran smack into the live animal section. By live, I mean frogs jumping in cages and eels squirming their way out of the top of the tank (photos to come). Chris has already eaten a bullfrog, and not just its legs. As I wasn’t a huge fan of Chinese food in the States, I’m pretty sure I’ll be losing some weight here as I become a vegan.
Yunnan cuisine is known for its use of fresh herbs and fish sauce. Here you see steamed potted chicken (center), (starting at the left and going around) konjac root jelly, small knife roasted duck, chopped pickled green mustard cabbage stir fried with ground pork, wild vegetable salad, steamed ground pork with bamboo, and bitter vegetables.
My first night here, we did enjoy a nice Chinese dinner at a restaurant specializing in Yunnan cuisine, food from the south region of China. As part of a cultural expedition, the local Shanghai Community Center sponsored a dining out where our guide explained the cuisine and how to eat it. We had an array of dishes from wild vegetables like pine needles to roasted duck to konjac root jelly, known as “poor people food” since you can eat as much as you want without gaining weight. I’m sure learning to eat with chop sticks (no forks in sight) can attribute to weight loss, too.
Being here only three days, I have already seen a new world. Shanghai is in extreme opposition to Zurich, and this will be a grand adventure. More posts are soon to come about the food, fashion and overall culture of this amazing country, and we hope you will join us for the ride.
Want to know something specific about China? Let us know in the comments, and we will work it into a blog post.
