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A lot of people, in fact I would venture to say most people, around the world are familiar with the cuisine of China. They've tasted egg fried rice and kung pao chicken and maybe even sampled fried dumplings, which in the U.S., are sometimes called "potstickers." And there is nothing wrong with those foods, nothing at all. They are delicious and, in many cases they do reflect an original element of Chinese cooking, often times changed to suit the locals' tastebuds.
So what about eating for real in China? Well, that could be the subject of an entire book, so I'm going to tell you about my favorite way to enjoy China's diverse culinary scene: on the street.
Moreso than almost anywhere I've ever been in the world, China has a very strong street food culture. Even this is really too broad a topic to cover here, because there are so many different styles and types of dishes depending on where you go in China. So I'm going to focus on the delicious finds that you can find almost anywhere in China, from Beijing to Guangzhou.
Chinese breakfast? I know, right? Not something people talk much about. If, like me, you love savory foods, there are a few really nice options for breakfast in China (amid some rather stodgy stuff like rice porridge and hot soy milk). My favorite thing to get for a quick street breakfast is jian bing, or a Chinese crepe. Somewhere between an omelette and a crepe, this thin pancake is cooked on a hot griddle and stuff with any number of delights. The most common version is usually filled with a fried egg, scallions and chili paste and goes down kind of like the spicy Chinese version of a breakfast burrito.
Oh, Chinese skewers, how I love you! Barbecued skewers, or chuan, are probably the most popular and common form of Chinese street food. Every evening, chefs across the country set up their rolling carts on the street and cook an unbelievable array of skewers over hot coals. I say "rou" in brackets because this word means "meat" in Chinese, and not all skewers are meat - you can also try out barbecued veggies, tofu and fish, and the selection of meats ranges from the most popular yang rou, aka mutton, to chicken wings and sliced beef.
Then you have the, shall we say, more adventurous offerings, such as those pictured above, which I photographed (and of course, tasted!) at the Donghuamen Night Market in Beijing. At this very touristy street market, you can try out some seriously weird foods, from huge black scorpions (top left) to bugs, shark and even starfish? I tried the smaller scorpions (bottom right) and was pleasantly surprised - served deep-fried and salted, they were crispy and tasted a lot like a potato chip. Huh.
Along with the skewers each night come a whole array of soups. Most are cooked in a pick-and-choose style, where you choose whatever you want to go into the soup from the cart and it's individually cooked in a huge pot of communal broth using a small basket. The offerings are rather endless and it is probably the cheapest and most delicious meal you'll ever have in your life, made better by a round of not-so-cold beers, as pictured. This particular evening, I went for fresh lamian (hand-pulled noodles), baby bok choy, fried tofu squares and bean spouts, which were cooked in a fresh chicken broth and which I topped off with a hearty dose of whatever spicy chili was sitting on the outdoor table. As you can see, these soups are, strangely, ladled into plastic bags and then plopped into bowls for more sanitary consumption.
Corn on the cob? In China?! Yep. It surprised me, too, the first time I saw it, but it turns out that this is pretty much the single most common street snack in the country, especially in touristy areas. I think that's because it is easy to make with a simple steamer cart or coal roaster. It is also very healthy, and the Chinese are big on healthy snacks (they are obsessed with sunflower seeds and mandarins, for example). Anyway, when you find yourself wandering around somewhere and get hungry, you are bound to find corn on the cob for cheap, cheap cheap!
Baozi, or buns, are as ubiquitous in China as chopsticks, and they come in so many different varieties that I think it would take a lifetime of traveling the country and only eating buns to try them all. The basic bun, known as mantou, is a simple yeasted bread that is steamed and eaten for breakfast. Others, such as the undeniably delicious Shanghai version, xiaolongbao, are called 'soup dumplings' because they are filled with the most gorgeous broth juice you'll ever taste. The above photo features a totally different type of bun - though made from the same basic dough, this gentleman is filling the buns with gorgeous chili paste, pork and scallions, to eventually be folded up and either steamed or deep fried. Can I have one now, please?
There is a good chance you've already tried Chinese fried noodles, or chao mian (myin), heinously mispronounced in many places as "chow main." In fact, you might've even been put off by those slightly crusted over "spaghetti with soy sauce" versions so often seen at bad Chinese buffets in the U.S. But chao mian are definitely a highlight of eating on the street in China (especially when you're *cough*drunk*cough). Chao mian are served by dedicated chefs who have carts built with gas-powered skillet cookers, where they fry up the noodles to your liking in a very hot wok. A typical version is cooked with freshly-made Chinese pulled noodles and includes baby bok choy, bean sprouts, egg and chili but can be modified according to your taste. And it is sooooo good.
Photo 2: Megan Eaves.