My life in China, Part 8- Fish eyeballs and baijiu

During my time in China, people took me out to eat a lot, especially in the first few months. As I sat facing the door as the guest of honor in banquet after banquet of Lazy Susan parades, I was overwhelmed by the abundance and variety of Chinese cuisine. It was a bit of a whirlwind, and it’s hard to differentiate when I tried what and who was with me, especially when you add alcohol in the mix, but I’ll try! 

China is a toasting culture, and everyone wants to ganbei (literally translates to dry glass) with the foreigner. Sometimes perfect strangers, all very drunk, would come up to me to toast with red faces and broad smiles like I was a long-lost friend. The Chinese are also curious about how much an American can drink. Beer was fine, and at the time, I could undoubtedly impress in that realm (Chinese beer has an average ABV of about 3%, so like water compared to the 5%+ I drank in the states). But once the Baijiu (a white spirit made of mostly Sorghum with typically 50-60% ABV) came out to play, watch out. I call it “liquid headache,” not just because of the hangover that you will suffer, but because I equate the taste to the tang you get on your tongue when you’ve hit your head so hard that you’re on the verge of a concussion. Yeah, it’s that bad. But, it was hard to say no. Being an introvert by nature and now finding myself in an incredibly social environment, the booze helped. I was young and willing to get a little sloshed with my new friends, especially when someone else was buying. The hangover was a worry for tomorrow. 

I will say, I wasn’t quite used to this hospitality, and I tried to return the favor when I could, but there is no such thing as splitting the bill with the Chinese. They fight fierce battles over who pays at the end of a meal. I was new to this world and did not yet know the ways of this fight and they could be fierce with pushing and arguing, and sometimes it could cross the line into the face-saving game. When the notion of face gets in the mix, again, watch out. I got better at the dance and learned some tricks over the years, like excusing myself to go to the bathroom and then secretly paying the bill, but it took time to figure out what the heck was going on. I mean, life-long friends were physically fighting over who would treat the foreigner at the end of the meal. Having me pay was out of the question and would have even been an insult.  

The Chinese are incredibly hospitable. I was a guest in their country, and they wanted to treat me well. Was it all altruistic? Certainly not. Some just wanted a chance to practice English, others wanted favors, and a few desired to impress their friends with their white monkey. I get it- no harm done. It was a worthy exchange. Perhaps a few even wished to torture me a bit. For example, a favorite guest of honor tradition that I found while eating spicy fish (a Sichuan specialty of whole white fish cooked in very spicy oil- it’s fantastic) was forcing the foreigner to eat the fish’s eyeballs, or as they would tell me, the very best part. They were wrong… very wrong- if you have crunched on an eyeball, and yes, they crunch due to the cornea, they are like eating cartilage filled with fishy goop. But, outside of the practical jokesters, the large majority of Chinese were just excited and proud to show this foreigner what their country had to offer. Thinking back to all the great meals (and even the bad ones) I had with awesome people, I’m humbled that they opened the doors to their lives and culture so that I could have these life-changing experiences.

Hence, those first few months, I tried many different types of food on the burden of someone else’s coin. Things I would have never tried on my own, like one of my favorite dishes- fish livers and tofu (a dish I can relish with my father-in-law). There were things I wouldn’t have even known how to order, like say, steamed silkworm cocoons (this pushed boundaries for me, but actually, they are fragrant and full of umami flavor, or xiang as we would say in Chinese). Through my friends (and then family), I tasted some things with no English names and beyond my conception, like the cornucopia of strange Asian fruits and vegetables. Some of these exotic foods were expensive, like shark fins, bird’s nest, sea cucumber, or abalone (all of which are not incredibly tasty but eaten more for medicinal purposes). I probably would have missed out on these experiences if I had to personally put down the large sums to try something “weird” that I might not like. I am so gracious of the generosity of those who helped me with my food adventure! 

If you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a foody. I grew up watching Julia Child and Yan Can Cook on PBS and found joy reading through my grandmother’s old cookbooks. Then, in my early teens, we got the Cooking Channel with Iron Chef (the dubbed Japanese version), Emeril Live, and Good Eats! But most importantly, I found Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour, my absolute favorite (soon followed by the Travel Channel’s No Reservations). Bourdain just resonated with me. In that show, he was living a life I wanted to live, venturing down back allies, stepping into dingy restaurants, eating strange and exotic things, and exploring the culinary unknowns while spitting out the most poetic descriptions of food and life I had ever heard. As a quick aside, his death was the only celebrity death that impacted me on a large scale- to the point of tears and caused me to evaluate my own life. Such a loss. Anyway, I was living in China and could have some of these fantastic culinary experiences myself! I was even able to try some of the things he ate on that show.

It wasn’t all glory. I consider myself an adventurous eater, and I’m willing to try just about anything (except dog- I’m a lover of canines and just can’t do it). That isn’t to say that every experience was enjoyable. Some things I would vehemently refuse to eat again (any kind of intestine other than a fish’s no matter how much it’s washed, I’ve tried them all), or at the very least choose to pass (I don’t really like tripe), but I am indeed glad I tried them.

My parents are not particularly exploratory eaters. I think it runs about par for the course in their generation. My mother hates fish and it was virtually unknown to my taste buds growing up. That left a plethora of food from 71% of the Earth’s surface out there for me to try. I think I had lamb once for Easter (with mint jelly), but basically, it was pork, beef, chicken, and turkey: no organs and no strange cuts and indeed no duck, donkey, turtle, rabbit, snake, pigeon, bear, cocoon, frog, deer, insects, eel, snail, hairy crab, squid, octopus- you get the point. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is an exceptional cook, and the baby boomer generation can be very creative with their food, but it is usually around the classics. Exotic food just wasn’t in their experience, and as you get older, you tend to stay with what you know. Thus, I’m not particularly sure where this drive to try new foods came from, but it is fierce, especially back then with my virgin pallet. 

Chinese food is not all strange things, far from it, but I imagine you wouldn’t be reading this if I was talking about the very best chicken dish I tasted while in the country. China is a country that doesn’t waste when it comes to food. All parts of an animal, from head to foot, are not just eaten but savored with a creative flair. It is a noble way of viewing food. There is, of course, historical reasons for this. Famine and starvation are not unknown in Chinese history (even relatively recently). There has always been a lot of people in China with limited resources. It has taken the number one spot for population back to antiquity, and sometimes you had to get creative to survive. 

It is all exotic? No. You would undoubtedly recognize things from an American Chinese food restaurant on a menu, not much, but some. It would be different, but it would also likely be much better. Kung Pao Chicken is prevalent as in a spicy dish that includes chicken, vegetables, and peanuts, but you will also find a million different versions depending on the region. You will find fried meats in sweet sauces, but it certainly isn’t as prevalent as it is in the states, and it would likely be less fried, less sweet, and 100-times more flavorful. There are certainly dumplings (Jiaozi), but with filling varieties as abundant as the stars, rice and noodle dishes that run the gamut, and, my god, the seafood.

Basically, an American Chinese food restaurant took a few unhealthy and straightforward dishes from the various regions in China (mostly southeastern, where things tend to be sweet) and applied them broadly as representatives of Chinese cuisine. It is a grossly inadequate summation of the cuisine found in China. It is like saying McDonald’s is an accurate representation of American food. I lie to you not. You could spend your whole life eating dishes from a single province in China and never eat the same thing twice. Then, times that by thirty-four (I include the contended regions for the sake of the food variety in the broader Chinese culture) and you have Chinese food. I have often traveled back to China to visit family over the years, and I always will have something I have not had before. Every restaurant is an adventure, and in general, you will rarely have a bad meal. From street vendors to Michelin Star Restaurants, China is a gastronome’s paradise. 

So, next time you’re in a Chinese restaurant, find the strangest thing on the menu and give it a try. Better yet, head to your nearest city’s Chinatown and try something authentic. Yes, you can still get your sweet and sour whatever and your General Gao’s Chicken, but venture out of your comfort zone a bit. I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.

With eating all these strange and wonderful things, it’s inevitable to get sick from time to time and I had my share of illness. In my next post, I will talk a bit about what its like to be sick in China, the healthcare industry and what is all this hype about Chinese traditional medicine? Until next time.

Cheers!