Chinese food

It feels crazy telling people I’ve now spent 3 months in China. Even after looking back at all the amazing things I’ve learned and tried in that time, it still feels like I’ve just got here. We took another group trip to the Baishi Mountains this month, home to the world’s longest, highest and widest glass skywalk…which was unfortunately closed when we got there. The views were still spectacular though and you could follow the Great Wall running along the peaks of the surrounding mountains. Local student organisations make these trips really affordable and accessible so it’s not too difficult to go somewhere new and get out of your comfort zone.

Walkway at the Baishi Mountains

Sheldon enjoying the view.

That said, life does feel very normal.

I talked about routine in my last blog and a big part of that is food, which is one of the reasons I came here in the first place. I wanted to try everything I could get my hands on, the weirder the better. I figured with a year to do that, I’d have plenty of time to explore the options. The problem arises however when you find something that you enjoy that’s cheap, nearby and easy to pronounce, it’s incredibly easy to order that every time you go in, forgetting the hundreds of other dishes you’ve never tried before. 

After realising I’d ordered the 宫保鸡丁 (Kung Pao chicken) for the fourth meal in a row from the same restaurant, I decided it was time for a change. A friend of mine from Sichuan province (a region known for its extremely spicy food) had invited me and a few others to try a new restaurant he’d found nearby his campus with dishes that reminded him of his hometown. You pick up a tray, go to the fridges and choose the foods you want, all neatly skewered in rows of meat, egg, seafood and vegetables. The skewers are then cooked and brought to your table in a pot of hot, spicy oil. You take one out and dip it in yet another bowl of chilli sauce. It was tangy to say the least. When asked if I had tried anything like it before, I said it wasn’t really something you could find back in Scotland. He tells me the Chinese food in Scotland sounds like sweet and sour and laughs at the idea of a fortune cookie. “That’s ridiculous” he says, “fortune cookies are more American than Chinese”. As it turns out fortune cookies have nothing to do with China and were most likely invented by Japanese immigrants in the US around 1900, then simply became popular in American Chinese restaurants. There was even an attempt to introduce them to the Chinese market in 1992, but it never really took off as they were considered “too American”.

Choosing skewers at the Sichuan Restaurant

太辣了 (Spicy!)

Our Mandarin teacher talks very excitedly about the food of his hometown, a special kind of tofu in a thin, oily sauce. He explained to us, while it’s well known that each region of China has a different basic diet, each province and even smaller cities have certain dishes they believe to be their speciality. In Tianjin, it’s 煎饼果子 (Jiānbing guǒzi) a popular savoury breakfast pancake that can be found pretty much anywhere in the city for less than a pound. In Xi’an, it’s biang-biang noodles, and in Beijing you’ll find the slightly better-known Peking duck which I got to try last week in the most authentic looking Beijing restaurant I could find…in the middle of a brand-new shopping centre. While the idea of some rustic restaurant serving only the genuine Peking duck recipe sounds nice, it’s either going to be wildly expensive or not the kind of place you’d actually want to be eating.

Peking duck in Beijing

We were in Beijing for the St Andrews Ball, an event organised by the Beijing Scottish Society for expats, students and Scottish business people living in China. It was without a doubt the most extravagant party I’ve ever been to; with champagne, Scottish dancing, food, drink and tartan everywhere you looked. It was a welcome reminder of our own culture back home and the familiar flavours we’ve started to miss. It was almost as though just for that night, we were suddenly back in Scotland surrounded by Scottish people; dancing, eating and drinking the way we know so well. Haggis, neeps and totties never tasted so good.

I think it’s pretty easy to find amazing food no matter where you are in the world, but the tastes of home will always be the strongest.

Our table at the St Andrews Ball

Photo with past scholars