Lovely larvae (they were moving; I am not kidding!)

Wouldn’t you eat a live squid for the cultural experience?   Sampling bizarre food is normally a fun part of experiencing other cultures, but I have to admit that this time I failed to fully engage.   When I read “Lost On Planet China” a couple of weeks before departure, I  was, well...rather appalled by the descriptions of some of the culinary offerings that I might expect in China, including the aforementioned living creature!    I assumed that the author exaggerated for dramatic and humorous effect.  But it didn’t take too long in country to discover that his fanciful descriptions of Chinese cuisine were not far off from reality.  

Menu items that I passed on included:
Pork Lungs in chili sauce, anything with blackfungus listed as an ingredient, stewed soft shelled turtle, braised intestines, braised sea cucumber (they seem to do a lot of braising; this makes me suspicious, but even if it had been breaded and fried I would have passed)  While some menu items were evocative (Buddha Jumping Over a Wall”comes to mind) the obvious question is what, exactly,  is in it?

There's a fungus among us!

Mr Don, a local who showed us the sights one day, summed it up well when I inquired about Chinese people eating jellyfish.  “Oh, Chinese people eat everything” 
 (Sorry I can’t supply the accent and Mr Don's amazing smile that  made this statement, while obvious,  so much more charming!)  

So  I admit I played it safe.  What with dealing with the worst air pollution in the history of civilization, the jet lag, the lack of sleep, I did not need to succumb to some weird Chinese virus;   I needed to get some calories and Tsingtao alone, as good as it was, was not enough.



So we gravitated to those places with the large technicolor photos of menu items, seeking anything that looked remotely familiar, and pointed.  The waiters got this. Even so it was not a guarantee of consumable goodness, but I did end up eating lots of vegetables and rice and noodles.  Fine with me, but some of the best food that I ate came from street vendors.  I know what you’re thinking:  that it might be safer to eat deep fried fungus than to risk street food.  Here’s my logic:  I am watching them cook it, so I can  determine the sanitary quality of the facilities, as well as know exactly (more or less) what the ingredients are.    Plus, it’s cheap.   One morning, a few minutes from the Tanrui Hotel where we stayed for a few days, I procured a delightful repast that I cleverly called Buddha Jumping over Wall (translation : a thin pancake  with egg scrambled on top, and a dollop of chili sauce, all folded over to make a sort of pocket - ideal for consumption while weaving through the throngs of Chinese jamming every square inch of sidewalk.)

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In Old Shanghai I found some scrumptious biscuits and a wedge of nice chewy flat bread for the equivalent of about 30 cents. (180 RMB)  Of course fruit stands are everywhere.  One afternoon while wandering around Old Shanghai, I was sustained by a “Chinese Grapefruit”,  aka a pomelo; It’s very like a grapefruit, but the skin could seriously be used for a football and the fruit is less juicy and more crunchy than a Florida grapefruit.

I was munching on the fruit while examining some merchandise at an outdoor market when a wiry fellow reached over to grab a piece of it. Instinctively I pulled away and clutched the fruit.  Not that I didn’t want to share.  But I think I had seen enough unhygienic practices thus far on the trip that I really didn’t want an unknown person’s hands on my precious food!  I broke off a piece and handed it to him. He grinned and started devouring it.

(A note on hygiene:  Anyone who know me will be surprised at my concern for hygiene.  I am not one who frets about such things as a rule. Not that I’m a complete slob; I just don’t worry about germs much.  But, thinking about some of the practices that are commonplace in China:  nose picking, spitting,  hocking clams, small children peeing/pooping on the street...etc. and also being aware that there were all kinds of lovely bacteria and viruses that were ostensibly new to my immune system in this country...taking all of that into consideration; my concern for potential pathogens was ...a notch above the norm)

OK back to food. When times were really desperate (mostly meaning we were just too absorbed with tourism to find food or the options were too much like octopus liver to be appetizing)  we grazed on the giant bag of homemade granola that is my backup were ever I go. I could fairly easily subsist on this stuff for a few days if necessary.   This type of foraging, I know, is not for everyone but it works for me.

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My fiend Rita arranged a  birthday gathering for her husband Frands at the Shangri-La Hotel in Qingdao. Pretty fancy-schmancy!  (see photo!) The assemblage of guests was international!   Rita’s friend from Lebanon along with  her Italian banker husband,a young couple from Tennessee and England and of course a few Maine -iacs!  (You can see most of us in the photo; we look very civilized don’t we?)

Dinner was served on a  large round table that was mostly covered with  a lazy susan type thing carrying at least a dozen dishes. Around the table like a carousel went the mysterious Chinese food.  It was great sport tyring to retrieve “Chinese meatballs”and noodles using  chopsticks!  I needed breaks to slow that thing down! Needless to say I had plenty of room left for the absolute best chocolate fudge ice cream cake ever.  No I don’t think this was a traditional Chinese dessert and I’m  not sure if it was made on the premises , but I did notice a Dairy Queen in the area!!(seriously)  Such is the cultural melting pot that is China in 2011.



Bread is rare in China; this mantou bread tasted quite good!






Next: Chinese Booze