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As a kid, I hated Chinese food. There was just something about the food that tasted gross to me, but as I got older I began to like Chinese food. The Royal Dragon Chinese Food Buffet was one of my favorite restaurants in town, and orange chicken from Panda Express was my absolute favorite Chinese food. This is what I thought Chinese food was. I had no idea how wrong I was until I moved to China.
Real Chinese food that they eat in China tastes nothing like the food that is passed off as “Chinese” back in the states. I am only familiar with Guangdong food, since that is the region I’m living in, so food in different regions of China is most likely quite different from what I eat here. It’s hard to describe the taste of the food, but there is something about the way that the Chinese mix spices and sauces that is so delicious and unique to China. Umami, a Japanese word, is the closest descriptive word I can find to describe the flavors in Chinese food. Umami describes a fifth taste, after sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. It’s the way that the Chinese can combine flavors that makes it so different from the taste of any other food. They can take something as simple as broccoli and cook it in a way that makes it taste like a delicacy.
Zhuhai is known for its fresh seafood, and since I’m not a big fan of seafood, I tend to order chicken, pork and vegetables most of the time, but there have been a few times that I have had surprisingly good fresh fish. What I find the strangest about Chinese food, is that they eat everything. There is no part of an animal that is forgotten about. When you order chicken, you never really know what part of the chicken you’ll get. And there are always bones. It’s like they cut straight through the entire animal and give you pieces from that. Eating bite size pieces of chicken and finding bones in it takes some getting used to. Other strange parts of animals that are eaten here: stomach (pig stomach has a surprisingly spongy texture), intestines, and feet.
The vegetables in China are fantastic! Everything is cooked. It is very rare to find raw vegetables anywhere, so salads might be a rare find this year. Veggies, lettuce, mushrooms, broccoli, and everything else is either boiled, grilled, and mixed with spices and sauces that the taste changes depending on how and where you get it. Black tree fungus is easily one of my favorite foods that I have discovered so far. It has a strange texture, but the flavor is amazing.
The only issue I’ve had with Chinese food so far is eating everything with chopsticks. Hopefully, one day I’ll figure out how to properly hold my chopsticks and then all the food will make it into my mouth instead of dropping onto the table or into my lap!
