When I did a tourist search for the area of china where I am staying, the local cuisine specialty is “Exquisite donkey meat.” I find this interesting. If all goes according to plan I should be in Dongying right now. I would have just spent a day in Beijing rocking out at the Great Wall and such. By the time the tourist fun has likely slowed, and been replaced by work and interesting local foods.
Really though, most of the local food delicacies don’t sound that bad. The northern area of china has a few foods that are specific to its area including duck, cucumber, steamed pancakes, Tianjin cabbage, lamb, mu shu pork, and carp.
I am most excited about the Mongolian hopot. Everyone I’ve spoken to has sung its praises. Esentially its a selection of meats, vegetables, and noodles that can be dipped by the consumer into a vat of boiling water or broth that sits on the table. This, with the collection of sauces, apparently makes for a fantastic meal.
While my co-workers have passed on tales of how the chinese would trick them into eating horribly strange items and then make fun of them endlessly, I think the food opportunities will be very unique and I’m looking forward to them. I’m also lucky because my destination, the Shandong province, is known for its older style Chinese foods and is considered the best location to get authentic eats.
Sidenote: I had promised you that I’d be put together a selection of MSPaint drawings prior to my departure entitled “The Rock, Stopped.”
The next 7 days (including weekends! booya!) will highlight selections from this gallery. Some of the drawings are good, others, less good. Feel free to comment on them. They will appear in the Quickthoughts section to the right.
Authored by:
mike d.
