Relatives and Food
I have some distant relatives in Beijing. They are incredibly kind to me even though no one in my immediate family had ever met them before I got here. They picked me up from the airport, let me stay with them for a few days, and then drove me to the school and helped me get settled there. They made the transition to China very smooth.
They also have invited me over for dinner a few times. I don't particularly enjoy these meals because inevitably there is something I'm not used to eating. I tried really hard to not seem like the picky American, because I know that is the stereotype. At first it wasn't even really my fault. The night I arrived in Beijing they asked if I was hungry at 11pm, I said no, but they wanted to feed me wontons. Unfortunately the wontons had shrimp in them and I couldn't eat them because I am allergic. The next morning they poured me a tall glass of milk with breakfast but I'm lactose intolerant. That night for dinner they asked if I liked goat. I don't like goat but having not been able to eat the wontons nor drink the milk, I felt obliged to say yes. But it wasn't goat meat, it was blood, tripe, and intestines. For the moon festival we went out to eat at a restaurant. My auntie was sitting next to me and kept giving me chicken feet. At least they had been deboned and were easy to eat. The real kicker that evening was the fresh catfish soup. They cut up the fish and put it on a plate but it was so fresh that the head was still twitching on the plate. We asked the waitress to take it away but she just put it in the soup bowl (on a hotplate) to cook. The fish meat was really good though. They invited me over for dinner Saturday with nothing weird this time (if you don't count the pickled garlic)! But I forgot the cardinal rule of eating with Chinese relatives: Stop before you are completely stuffed because once you look like you are done, they'll tell you more food is coming out, and it's the best part. Ah well, there are worse things than eating too much yummy homecooked Chinese food.
They also have invited me over for dinner a few times. I don't particularly enjoy these meals because inevitably there is something I'm not used to eating. I tried really hard to not seem like the picky American, because I know that is the stereotype. At first it wasn't even really my fault. The night I arrived in Beijing they asked if I was hungry at 11pm, I said no, but they wanted to feed me wontons. Unfortunately the wontons had shrimp in them and I couldn't eat them because I am allergic. The next morning they poured me a tall glass of milk with breakfast but I'm lactose intolerant. That night for dinner they asked if I liked goat. I don't like goat but having not been able to eat the wontons nor drink the milk, I felt obliged to say yes. But it wasn't goat meat, it was blood, tripe, and intestines. For the moon festival we went out to eat at a restaurant. My auntie was sitting next to me and kept giving me chicken feet. At least they had been deboned and were easy to eat. The real kicker that evening was the fresh catfish soup. They cut up the fish and put it on a plate but it was so fresh that the head was still twitching on the plate. We asked the waitress to take it away but she just put it in the soup bowl (on a hotplate) to cook. The fish meat was really good though. They invited me over for dinner Saturday with nothing weird this time (if you don't count the pickled garlic)! But I forgot the cardinal rule of eating with Chinese relatives: Stop before you are completely stuffed because once you look like you are done, they'll tell you more food is coming out, and it's the best part. Ah well, there are worse things than eating too much yummy homecooked Chinese food.
posted by wchien at 8:52 AM
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