America in China

Dairy Queen in Chengdu. Diary Queen is surprisingly popular all over China. Fun fact: I have never eaten at DQ.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer in Hangzhou. I have neve seen this kind of PBR bottle. Tastes the same.

7-Eleven in Shanghai. 7-Eleven is also surprisingly popular in China. They look the same as in the U.S. but sell only Chinese products. They are also open 24/7.

Today's candid moment is brought to you by... nobody, because I still haven't found a sponsor for my blog. Little help?

I was getting tired of posting my school lunch meals everyday and maybe you were too. So instead I decided to take a video for you guys.

       Here I am on the back of an electric scooter driving through Zhuji. Terry, my friend and fellow foreign teacher, is the one driving. I took the video because I wanted to show you what a "typical" street might look like in China. I find these kinds of everyday situations to be very interesting and unique. Even though I've lived here for 6 months I still find myself thinking, "Man, I'm in China. This is really different, and I like it." 

       This video was particularly great because I think it captures a many common elements seen in everyday Chinese life. The first thing is that electric and motor scooters like this one are every where. I counted 14 of them in this video! They're so cool. I don't get why more people don't drive them in New York City. Second, is how many close encounters there are in Chinese traffic. It's hard to tell in the video but when Terry yells, "Hey hey hey hey hey," we came close to hitting two women crossing the street. After that we get pretty close to a car. You can also see all the people in the street and all the different shops around us. 

Just a typical day in Zhuji.

The video was taken at around 4pm.

Culture shock story of the day.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Chinese toilet.

I realize that many other countries in Asia and even Europe have these types of toilets, but for the purpose of this blog I am calling it the Chinese toilet. This was the first one I saw in China. I was in a bar with my foreign teacher friends and had to use the bathroom. So I walked into the room that I thought was the bathroom only to be confronted by a whole in the ground. "I must be in the wrong room," I thought. I left and went to our table and asked my friends where the bathroom was and they pointed to that door I just came out of. I was confused. "But there's no toilet in there...". With a childish grin on his face my friend Terry says, "That is the toilet. You have to squat." I was dumbfounded. "Squat?! Are you serious?!" I got over it and did my thing. Apparently that's the natural way our bodies are supposed to go to the bathroom. 

What: School Canteen Lunch

Where: Tianma International School, Zhuji, China

How Much: 10 RMB

Description: YES that is a CRAB and is it just me or does he not look happy to be on my tray? He's looking at me funny. Or is it a she? Anyways I love crab, so let's start with it since it's pretty unusual. I have had crab like this many times in China. They boil the WHOLE crab in some kind of ginger sauce. It is super soft and easy to take apart. To eat crab like this you can't be afraid of getting messy. I started with the body. The top came right off and exposed the body, which is the meatiest and my most favorite part. I stuck my mouth right into it and sucked out all that goodness. That sounds wrong. The meat is super soft and tasty, the ginger goes great with it. For the legs and arms you just pull them off the body and suck out the meat from every corner you find. Some people find it gross and too messy, but I like it. It's like eating lobster but much harder because of all the little areas the meat is hidden in. But that's what makes eating it so fun. It's like an adventure or scavenger hunt and at the end is tasty goodness. This is total food porn talk. 

       The dish on the top was a new one. I had no idea what it was and I gambled on it. Turns out it was squid and green peppers so I won. I've had squid before in China so I recognized it when I took the first bite. It's chewy but very tasty and the green peppers go well with it. Finally there is the bok choi AGAIN. That's three days in a row I've had it and I need a break. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I want to say a few things I have observed about Chinese food verse America food.

Generally speaking, Chinese food is very healthy. I'm no chef or nutritionist but the food here just looks and tastes healthier, as do the people (How they look NOT taste). Chinese people are generally very skinny and there are very few truly fat people here, unlike in America. That being said here are some of my thoughts. 

First, the Chinese eat a lot more fruit. They love that stuff. At my school, the kids have a snack break about an hour or two after lunch, about the time when they start to get that mid day grogginess. You know what they are served? Oranges. Or bananas. Or apples. Not cookies and mountain dew. This gives them an extra boost of sustained energy for the rest of the day, and I can see it positively affect their performance.

Second, the Chinese eat a lot more vegetables. Every meal has ATLEAST two vegetable dishes. If they are eating family style there are many more.

Third, their vegetables are almost all steamed. Again, I am an not an expert, I repeat I am NOT an expert, but steamed is a lot healthier than fried.

This segways into my next point, which is that they really don't fry their food that much. Vegetables steamed. Meat boiled, sometimes grilled or fried. Spring rolls steamed. Dumplings almost always steamed. Pork buns steamed. Don't misunderstand me, they do fry some of their foods, especially street food, but compared to America, it's not even close.

I'm not trying to bash American food culture or say one is better than the other, well actually I kind of am saying that Chinese is healthier, but not better because I love me some NYC pizza or bagels. I'm just saying that American's could learn a few things about healthy eating habits from China.

What: School Canteen Lunch

Where: Tianma International School, Zhuji, China

How Much: 4.80RMB

Description: Today's lunch. White rice, plain. Chingzai (bok choy) with some tofu in it. A bit soggy today but still crunchy and tasty. At the top we have steamed red pork. Famous dish in China. The pork is whole. Meat, fat and skin. Really grossed me out when I first started eating it in China, but I've kinda got used to it. They steam it enough where the fat and skin are exteremely soft and tasty. Last we have lotus root. Another popular vegetable in China. It is steamed but is still very crunchy. Not crunchy like celery, like a smooth crunch if that makes any sense. The taste is hard to describe, but it's good. 

Rating: 3 out of 5

Little bit of everything in this post

This is baotza or as we call it in english, a pork bun. It is a steamed bun stuffed with various ingredients inside. They come in many different varieties. Some have pork, some have vegeatbles and tofu, and some have bean paste. This particular one has pork and cabbage. You can find them anywhere in China at small food vendors. They are steamed in bamboo steamers and cost about 1RMB each, that's about 15 cents.

This is Tomatoe and egg soup. A famous dish in China. Seems odd at first but they actually go very well together.

Enter the Chinese supermarket. This is how they sell chicken feet and chicken wings. Is that sanitary? Really bizarre to see all that chicken laid out infront of you. Buy at your own risk.

Again, CHICKEN. Just hanging out. This time it's whole. At least they don't butcher it infront of you...

Foreigners in a foreign land. Me, Kyle and Terry walking through an alley way in China. Those are family's that live in tiny huts in the alley ways, not gangs about to jump us.

In that same alley way I found the boys shootin some pool.

This picture was taken in a traditional Chinese courtyard. The old man was just sitting in his tiny chair, drinking tea, and enjoying his book. It's the simple things. He didn't seem to happy about the pciture though.

For all you Knick fans out their Harbin Chinese beer is a sponsor of the NBA in China. This particular pack was New York Knick themed. Oh the irony. 

I found this video while going through some of my old photos. The plumping in China can be shaky sometimes. Most places like restaurants, schools, houses don't have hot water and when they do it can be dirty sometimes or just have general problems. I am lucky enough to have hot water, sometimes. This was one of my first days in my new apartment and the sink was acting up. Pretty funny.

Couple of posts coming at you guys today. After 2 days off I finally have some fresh content.

What: School Canteen Lunch

Where: Tianma International School, Zhuji, China.

Cost: 4.80 RMB (that's about 85 cents).

Description: I did something a little different today with the white rice. I poured some dark vinegar on it. Never tried it before. It was a little over powering but overall not too bad. Recognize the green dish? If you read one of the lasts posts you'll recognize it from one of my favorite lunches. Crunchy green beans with garlic and seaweed. Killer combo, like nutella and banana. Then we have been sprouts. This is a very popular dish in China. They are steamed with a hint of red chili. Crunchy and delicious. The last dish is potatoes boiled with bits of pork on the bone. Another popular dish in China. The pork bones add amazing flavor to the soft potatoes.

Rating: 3 out of 5

This picture has a great story behind it. It was my first day at the open market in Zhuji. My friend Terry, who is a foreign teacher at my school, took me there to show me around. The first stand we walk up to was this one. There were live chickens, ducks, and other birds in cages and it all smelled like shit. You know that smell when you walk into a pet store? Imagine that times 10. Terry says something in Chinese to the lady and she opens up one of the cages and grabs a live chicken out by its neck. As the chicken is flailing around violently in the grasp of her hand she calmly asks him in Chinese, "is this one okay?" He confirms and it was then I realized what was going to happen. She took the chicken to the back of her stand where there was a large cutting board and meat cleaver. Use your imagination to to fill in the rest. As for me, I quickly turned and walked away before shit went down. I was not about to watch a live bird get butchered and skinned in front of my eyes.

Here's the thing. I love meat. I love all foods. One of the foreign teachers even called me a garbage can because I will eat anything. But I can't watch a live animal get killed, even if I eat that animal. Maybe it sounds hypocritical but that's just me. I can look at  raw meat without a problem, but the second you show me how it gets from being alive to an edible product I'm out. 

These are Chinese dumplings or as they call them jaotza <--spelling is completely off. These were my first dumplings in China. After our first day of classes the foreign teachers all took me to this small shop right outside my school in Zhuji. All this shop does is sell dumplings. This is very common in China. In the picture below you can see the woman with a bowl of mixed cabbage and pork and dough making the dumplings by hand. She takes a small chunk of cabbage and pork, places it on a small piece of dough, pinches the dough into a dumpling shape and repeats. As soon as we walked in she screamed something in Chinese to the back of the shop and out came what seemed to be her son. He took our orders, grabbed a bunch of dumplings and went to the back to steam them. A few minutes later he came out with this. The dumplings were soft and the dough was almost translucent. The pork and cabbage was amazing. The dipping sauce was dark vinegar. In China they like to dip their dumplings in dark vinegar instead of soy sauce like we do in America. The vinegar is salty and bitter and a great compliment to the dumplings. I had 2 plates. I need to go back there soon.

Chinese Street BBQ. These guys are everywhere. Some are on wheels, while others set up shop outside a bar or KTV (Chinese Kareoke). Good food. Better drunk food.

Here's one on wheels. He doesn't seem to be happy that I'm taking his photo. Come on guy this is free advertiement. You can see there's a wide variety of things on a stick. You've got everything from mushroom, lettuce, cabbage, and peppers to pork, beef, chicken and fish. Vegetarian friendly ;)

You tell them what you want and they throw it on the hot grill. 

If you want they'll brush on some marinade, bean paste, or sprinkle on hot chilis, garlic, or scallions. They even have five spice powder! The possibilities are endless.

Final product. Mushrooms wrapped in bacon with some five spice sprinkled on. This is some serious street food boner matieral. Street food porn.

Had the day off from work today so I am going to post some old photos. I promise tomorrow you'll have fresh content, I swear. Enjoy!

Hey look! Chinese School lunch! Now this is what I'm talking about. This plate is a home run. Do they play baseball in China? Anyways, you've got your standard white rice, but what is that? It couldn't be? Is that some kind of soy sauce on top. Oh but it is. This particular soy sauce came with chunks of garlic or something in it. Either way it adds flavor to the white rice, which can frankly get kinda boring sometimes. THEN. Then we have one of my favorite dishes in China. Chinese eggplant sauteed in soy sauce and fresh garlic. So yummy. The eggplant is soft and tasty and soy sauce and garlic are the Jay-Z and Beyonce of food couples. Soy sauce and garlic go together like bacon and eggs. Try it sometime. Then we have another one of my favorite dishes in China. Green beans sauteed in garlic and seaweed. The green beans are crunchy and the garlic and seaweed go great together, like Shaq and Kobe. The meat dish I believe is pork on the bone sauteed in oyster sauce with a hint of red chili. Sticky and tender. Meals like this are the reason I look forward to eating in my school canteen. 

Cost ~$1.

 5 out of 5.

This is Chinese McDonald's. I know what you're thinking, "McDonald's is the lowest of the low. What kind of scum eats that crap?" I do. For me it's a once every couple of months cheat meal. Heck, why I am making excuses, I just wanted to try some Chinese McDonald's. This was their crispy chicken sandwich. Ain't no McChicken I know. The bun was super fluffy and I loved the variety of seeds on top. Is that oatmeal? See McDonald's CAN be healthy mom! The chicken was tender, crispy and a little spicy but not too spicy. There was some lettuce and mayo to compliment the chicken. Great munchie food.

One of my readers suggested I post other pictures of my journey in China in addition to the ones on Chinese food. I thought this was a great idea. The point of this blog isn't just Chinese cuisine, but Chinese culture in general as viewed through me. I had some extra time today so here are some pictures I thought you'd like. Enjoy!

This was the view from my window yesterday morning at about 7AM. The city I live in, Zhuji,  has  somewhat of an air pollution problem. Overall, China's air is very poor, but compared to others, Zhuji is normal. Most days it is not too bad, but some days I wake up and it looks like an apocalypse outside. The air clears up my mid-day. This problem is real and should be a bigger concern to the government, in my opinion.

This photo was taken today, right outside my apartment on campus. It is of a woman driving a small metal cart with an over sized (to say the least) haul of cardboard and garbage. Not pictured is her daughter sitting in her lap! This is a common site in China, but it blows my mind every time I see it. It is such a tiny little cart carrying such a huge top heavy load. I don't understand how they don't tip over. Maybe they do? Comical and baffling.

This was the view from my hotel room in Fuzhou. The apartments you see are very typical in China. If you zoom in you can see the metal cages on all the windows, which they use to dry their clothes. Fuzhou is located across the water from Taiwan and is a somewhat tropical city, hence the palm trees.

This is pedestrian street in Xiamen. We stopped by a small restaurant to eat seafood. Nothing special just normal China.

The story behind this photo is very funny. Me and my other foreign teacher friends were late getting to our train back to Zhuji so we had to get on the first car on the train even though our seats were 6 or 7 cars down. The car we got onto was PACKED. Each seat had 2 people, the walkway was full of standing passengers and if you look on the left side of the picture you can see a guy sitting on top of a seat! We had to make our way through these people in order to get to our car, oh and we all had our luggage to haul as well. We ended up having to walk over people, crushing their toes while they yelled at us in Chinese. Needless to say we made it.

This menu perfectly captures the mis-translations on Chinese to English menus. This one was from an "authentic" western steak house in Zhuji.

I had the morning off from work today, so I didn't eat at my school's canteen for lunch nor was I able to take a picture of any Chinese food today since I ate at home.

However, as I explained in my first blog post, I am halfway through my stay in China. This means I have about 5 months worth of photos laying around on my computer. So, I decided to share a few of my past meals over this time period.

Also, I had a reader ask me what the RMB after the prices meant. RMB is the currency they use in China. It can be also referred to as Yuan (¥) or as the Chinese like to say, qui.  $1 = ¥6.09 

What: Whole Fried Chicken Leg + Thigh 

Where: Street Food Cart. Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, China.

How Much: 8 RMB

Ingredients: Whole Chicken Leg, breading/flour, five spice powder.

Description: Sorry Mom(Aiti)! My mother warned me not to eat street food in China, but how can I resist greasy fried chicken? My kind of comfort food. I rarely eat fried chicken like this, but I was on lunch break at work and was walking through the streets when I spotted a street vendor selling it. The smell hypnotized me into all of its crispy tasty goodness. The leg was originally whole, and that's how I thought I was going to eat it, but when I told the vendor I wanted this one he put it on his cutting board and chopped it up in slices. He then proceeded to cover in the original Chinese five spice powder. Five spice is a popular spice used in China. Of the five spices I can recognize garlic, cumin and ginger. It goes great with fried chicken. Overall the chicken was a little dry, but the breading was crispy and tasted great with the five spice. I ate it in about a minute. The Chinese love chicken, especially on the bone. They love it fried, roasted, and boiled.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

What: 3 Fried Crabs on a stick

Where: Pedestrian Street, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

How Much: 7 RMB

Ingredients: Crab, breading/flour, five spice powder.

Description: Again, sorry mom! This one was just too good to pass up. Fried crab on a stick! I mean come on. It's literally 3 full crabs on a stick, deep-fried, and covered in five spice. Hangzhou is the capital of the Zhujiang province and is about a 40 minute train ride from my city of Zhuji. The city has everything you need from international supermarkets to the famous West Lake. Pedestrians streets are in every major city. They consist of tourist shops and tons of little unique and not so unique food stands. Cars are not allowed to pass through which makes it easy for tourists and Chinese alike to walk through them with ease. As soon as I saw the crab I knew I had to try it. The lady took it out of a huge pile of crabs on a stick she had, deep fried it a second time to warm it up, I guess, shook some five spice over it and there ya go, crabs on a stick. Shell and all I took a huge bite into it. It was delicious. The breading it is fried in is extremely crispy and flavorful. It is fried so much that the shell of the crabs are edible. Greasy, crispy, and tasty. Definitely one of my favorite street foods in China.

Rating: 4 out of 5

What: Muscles

Where: Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.

How Much: 5 RMB

Ingredients: 5 muscles, garlic, other unknown spices.

Description: Xiamen is probably my favorite city in China, so far. It is a fun and tropical city right across the water from Taiwan. This particular day I was on a popular small island in Xiamen called Gulangyu. Gulangyu is famous for it's Beaches and tons of great fresh seafood, among other things. I was walking through Gulangyu's pedestrian street when I came across these muscles and they looked too good to pass up. I am assuming they were steamed before hand because when I ordered them all the guy did was put them on a grill for about 30 seconds to warm them up. They were super juicy, fresh and the minced garlic and other spices on top added great flavor. A small but delicious seafood snack. Wish I had more right now.

Rating: 5 out of 5

What: School canteen lunch

Where: Tianma International School, Zhuji, Zhejiang, China.

How Much: 6.80 RMB

Ingredients: White rice, fish, bok choy, unknown green vegetable with carrots and pork.

Description: I ate this today for lunch. I eat at my school's canteen everyday for lunch. Overall I really enjoy their food. There is always a wide variety of dishes to choose from, with several different types of vegetables, as well as pork, beef, or fish, and of course white rice. All the food is fresh, local, and the lunch ladies are always helping me learn the names of the dishes.

This meal in particular was good but did not have any of my favorites dishes. There is white rice, which is just white rice. Sometimes I put soy sauce on top, but not today. The fish is in pieces and boiled in a ginger sauce. Very delicious and soft. The sauce it was in was so good that I poured it over my rice. Bonus points for creativity. Fish like this in China always has bones, and lots of them, which makes eating it a task to say the least. If the bones are small enough I just chew them, however most of the time I have to pick them out with my fingers or spit them out. Sounds gross, but spitting out bones during a meal is common in China and is in no way seen as a rude or disgusting gesture. They eat all parts of an animal and love to eat the bones, hence there is a lot of spitting out of bones during meals. The bok choy (top right) is steamed. It has a crunchy root and a soft leaf. Tasty and an extremely popular dish in China. I do not know what the last dish is called. It is some kind of crunchy and sweet vegetable with pieces of pork and carrots for flavor. 

You may be wondering , why is there a spoon on his tray and no chopsticks? The chopsticks are not pictured and spoons are the only other utensil offered in the canteen. The Chinese don't use forks very often.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Do you guys like this stuff? If so I will continue to post daily pictures of my chinese meals, if not I'll still continue to post daily pictures of my chinese meals.

What: Xao Mien

Where: Local mom and pop noodle shop. Zhuji, Zhejiang Province.

How Much: 10 RMB

Ingredients: Fried home-made noodles, minced pork, cabbage, seaweed, green onion, egg.

Description: One of my favorite dishes in China. Mom and pop noodle shops like this one are everywhere in China and each one has their own variation of xao mien. They all consist of fried noodles and pork and the rest is up to the chef. I think what makes this dish so great is that there is no "perfect" version. Each one is catered to the chef's taste, the preference of the locals, and the region of the country. However, I have tried several different types around China, and this is by far my favorite. The noodles are hands pressed in the shop. They are a "perfect" doughy consistency of soft and chewy. The cabbage gives the dish a great crunch and tangy taste, the seaweed adds a unique salty taste, the green onion adds, the flavor of onion? The pork adds flavor and depth and the egg just tastes good. A delicious Chinese dish with tons of flavor and great texture, always served hot but not too hot, and cheap. What more could you ask for?

Rating: 5 out of 5

I will post pictures of the noodle shop later.

Picture was pulled off of my instagram account @matthewrautionmaa.

Before I begin my first ever blog post, I want to explain something.

I was supposed to start this blog when I first came to China, around September 1st, 2013. However, upon my arrival in the city of Zhuji, located about 40 miles south of Hangzhou, I found out that blogspot.com is blocked by the Chinese Government aka The Great Firewall of China and in order to access my blog and other blocked websites like Facebook and Youtube I would need a VPN. I didn't end up getting a VPN until about a month into my stay and by then I had forgotten about my blog.

So I am starting about half way through my stay in China.

As the title suggests, the focus of this blog is on exploring Chinese culture through Chinese food. I wanted to make this blog as a way of documenting my travels in China, sharing some of the cuisine I eat, and overall sharing my experience here in China.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I am living it.