Chinese food on a stick

Will see these at a State Fair anytime soon?

Chinese food on a stick

The comments on that page make me weep for this country. "I only eat ten different things" ; what a sad narrow minded worldview.

That said, I'd be hard pressed to try the silkworms;)

I agree with your comments Octarine.

I was equally saddened by the poster's comments":
"I wish I could tell you that Pete, being the curious traveler he is, tried each one of these Chinese delicacies. Sadly, he wimped out and ate at McDonald's instead. Way to go Pete! I think most of us will be right behind you."

Why travel all the way to the other side of the world and restrict yourself to exactly the same boring experience that you could get right in your own town!

Octarine wrote:The comments on that page make me weep for this country. "I only eat ten different things" ; what a sad narrow minded worldview.

That said, I'd be hard pressed to try the silkworms;)

I understand your point and agree with the sentiment, but would ask that you save some tears for the Chinese. Although willing to eat a dizzying array of different creatures and the constituent parts thereof, it seems to me that in general, Chinese tend to be very parochial in their culinary perspective and mostly eat only Chinese food (in some form). Though there are more restaurants in Hong Kong than in any other city on earth , almost all of those serve some variation of Chinese cuisine. Though Mr. average American would be less likely to have eaten starfish and silkworms it's also likely that his/her exposure to foreign foods would almost certainly exceede that of the average Chinese. As I sit here in my office in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I find myself within a mile or so of several different Indian, Korean, Italian, Mexican, Greek, Japanese, Thai and of course Chinese restaurants, not to mention the plethora of American resturants of various types. A variety it would be hard to match in most any other country on earth.

I understand what you are saying Kuhdo and agree somewhat. However, if I had to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life you better believe it's gonna be Chinese. From Fukien to Taipei to Sichuan, there's enough there to keep me happy for the forseeable future. I've got stews, bread, rice, seafood, spicy meat dishes, yummy crunchy things, yeah, I can live with that.

Of course I will rooting for Thailands' annexation after a couple years:)

according to my Orson Scott Card

it's Pakistan who's annexing Thailand

Octarine wrote:I understand what you are saying Kuhdo and agree somewhat. However, if I had to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life you better believe it's gonna be Chinese. From Fukien to Taipei to Sichuan, there's enough there to keep me happy for the forseeable future. I've got stews, bread, rice, seafood, spicy meat dishes, yummy crunchy things, yeah, I can live with that.

I have to agree with you about the desert island cuisine choice, but the point I was trying to make was that the Chinese are not very open minded about
"foreign" foods themselves (as a sweeping generalization). The reluctance to try new types of foods is not a strictly American affliction.

Kuhdo wrote:I was trying to make was that the Chinese are not very open minded about "foreign" foods themselves (as a sweeping generalization).

I agree with Kuhdo.

Several years ago, I hired some Mexican workers to help demolish our garage. As a courtesy, I included them in our lunches, which included lasagna, hamburgers and Chinese. After several days, they showed up with tortillas, beans and condiments. Thanked me for my efforts, then advised their plans to eat their own food.

In the late 1980's, we had a team of Chinese visit us to negotiate a technology transfer, which never came to fruition. They absolutely refused to eat anything but Chinese food. I tried to invite them to eat at our home, which my Dad actively discouraged because it would embarass them to refuse. I tried to test the waters by suggesting other foods, they showed no interest at all.

I've also had to deal with Europeans and their preconceived prejudices of our food culture.

While we may not be perfect, I have seen a broader interest in a wide range of foods demonstrated by Americans than by many other cultures I have encountered.

Regards,

kuhdo wrote:... the Chinese are not very open minded about
"foreign" foods themselves (as a sweeping generalization). The reluctance to try new types of foods is not a strictly American affliction.

That's probably true for most, but when I was over there I saw an awful lot of McDonald's and KFCs (none of the English-speakers seemed to know what KFC stood for) - and they seemed to be pretty popular and well-accepted.

True, American fast food seems to be the exception with The Clown, King and Col. drawing crowds in even the most gastrocentric societies.. But try to find much western (or even other Asian) food beyond that and yopu're out of luck. As C2 points out, there just isn't much interest in other ethnic cuisines in Chinese culture.

I guess I never realized that the Chinese had that "cuisine-centric" thing going-but I certainly can second Cathy's experience with Mexicans- I've seen that over and over again throughout the years.

stewed coot wrote:I guess I never realized that the Chinese had that "cuisine-centric" thing going-

They own it baby.

Cathy2 wrote:In the late 1980's, we had a team of Chinese visit us to negotiate a technology transfer, which never came to fruition. They absolutely refused to eat anything but Chinese food. I tried to invite them to eat at our home, which my Dad actively discouraged because it would embarass them to refuse. I tried to test the waters by suggesting other foods, they showed no interest at all.

Part of what you experienced may have been Guan Xi, the intricate Chinese dance of favors and obligations, and not just picky eaters. Under the esoteric rules of Guan Xi, acceptance of a gift or favor generates a future obligation for the recipient. During negotiations, an offer of food or an invitation to somebody's home for a meal is viewed as more than just a friendly gesture. To accept such an offer is a symbolic formalization of a social or business relationship. I have also noticed the same sort of rituals surrounding food in Germanic cultures.

On the topic of food on a stick, when I was in Taipei on business, one of my favorite street foods was "squid on a stick". The vendors would split a squid lengthwise, flatten it out and put a stick through it. It was then cooked with the arms and tentacles arranged outwards and upwards from the body . Somewhere I have a photo of a group of young Chinese girls walking through a night market with what appears to be the baby monster from the Alien movies attached to their faces.

d4v3 wrote:Part of what you experienced may have been Guan Xi, the intricate Chinese dance of favors and obligations, and not just picky eaters. Under the esoteric rules of Guan Xi, acceptance of a gift or favor generates a future obligation for the recipient. During negotiations, an offer of food or an invitation to somebody's home for a meal is viewed as more than just a friendly gesture. To accept such an offer is a symbolic formalization of a social or business relationship. I have also noticed the same sort of rituals surrounding food in Germanic cultures.

This seems like a very reasonable cultural explanation. I know there was a lot of emphasis on equality because we took turns paying for meals.

For those few weeks it was all-Chinese food all-the-time. There was no interest to deviate from consumption of Chinese food. Unfortunately it was only local to Highland Park Chinese restaurants we visited. While they could order in Chinese, I cannot recall our receiving any off-menu homestyle Chinese.

When I travel, I like to eat what is typical for the local culture. To insist on eating like I do at home is missing a key element to the experience at least for me. I also visit local markets, grocery and houseware stores with the same enthusiasm I have for a museums. From my perspective, these Chinese missed learning opportunities by sticking to their food preferences. Of course I wasn't confined to whatever social pressures they were subjected to.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:For those few weeks it was all-Chinese food all-the-time.

I could think of worse things to endure.

Cathy2 wrote:Unfortunately it was only local to Highland Park Chinese restaurants we visited.

That's one of them.

Steve,

Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

True, American fast food seems to be the exception with The Clown, King and Col. drawing crowds in even the most gastrocentric societies.

Not that Eastern Europe probably qualifies among the most gastrocentric societies, but when I went to Budapest in '90 McDonald's had just opened (on Karl-Marx-Platz) and beyond the food, it was clear that what people loved about it was that it was an escape from whatever the social structures around eating were. Of course there, few people ate out before Communism fell; but there are other ways in which eating as a family ritual, much as we romanticize it in all those Slow Food ways, becomes oppressive when it's all you ever do.

Heres an article by Fuchsia Dunlop that touches a little bit on the some of the stuff bought up in the thread (esp. the Chinese chefs visit to the French Laundry)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9ef6bc42-3f18-1 ... e2340.html

speaking of Dunlop: her new book on Hunan cuisine is finally available stateside. woohoo!