Week 1: Facing my fear of food

For those who know me well, I’ve never liked Chinese food. I have successfully avoided eating it in America for over 6 years, and the scariest thing about going to China was having to face the food. So much of a culture is shaped around meal time and what is eaten-I didn’t want to miss out on this, but I also had zero desire to start re-tasting the flavors I had despised for so long.

That being said, the first few days were not great. The thought of getting food made me feel ill (even though the food itself always turned out to be pretty good) and meal times were something to dread. However, I’m happy to report that my perspective has changed, thanks to the constant chiding of my coworkers in Shanghai to be more open-minded and keep trying things.

So far, the most adventurous delicacies I’ve eaten include:

• ·         Chicken feet
• ·         Chicken knuckles
• ·         Eel
• ·         Tendon
• ·         Hundred year egg
• ·         Beef tongue
• ·         Shrimp with the heads on

I can’t say I enjoyed this selection, but I am trying to branch out every day with the help of my friends.

One of the most interesting aspects of eating in China is that it’s like having a selection of tapas. You get a HUGE menu to choose from, and then pick whatever dishes you’d like for the table. A large lunch for 4 one Saturday included 3 kinds of dumplings, 2 dishes with Shrimp, some bread, a meat platter, a vegetable platter, a noodle platter, a porridge, and 2 desserts.  It’s a huge amount of food, but I like the variety and the fact that I’m not stuck with a single dish that I may not like. Going to eat with Chinese people is awesome too, because they order for you, which creates a variety and forces me to try some things I wouldn’t otherwise touch.

Overall, I’m happy to say that Chinese food is growing on me and I don’t feel traumatized when meal time rolls around anymore. I’m still apprehensive, because you never know what unusual morsel will end up on your plate, but it’s been a real adventure these past few days. Even when you think you’ve picked a safe option, you can never be sure: I got a “sunrise cheese bun” at a bakery and it was normal bread, filled with some sort of ezCheese product. Not the nice baked bread I had expected, but an interesting flavor. Something as mundane as tofu can be transformed as well-there’s one kind of fermented tofu that smells like a farts and sweat mixed together. I haven’t been able to get through the smell to try that one yet, but if I could conquer chicken feet, the sky’s the limit!