Eating in China

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening for the past couple days (just attending a trade show and finishing up a visit with a factory). I thought I'd post tonight about eating in China.

They take their food very seriously here. Especially for guests. They want to serve you their very best which includes seafood and fish--not things I enjoy. They also use every part of the animal and I mean every part--duck heads, pig heads, duck and chicken feet, pig feet, cow lung, cow tongue, really anything and everything. It is the norm here to have fish served whole--yes, it's still looking at you. They pride themselves on having the freshest food. In fact, they want to show you how fresh it is and that's the reason for the "live" menu (things were really still alive when we walked through). I met one guy here who said he was once served a fish that was so "fresh" that every time he stuck his fork in it, the fish's mouth opened. Here is the best picture I could find online of a "live" menu:
This is fairly close to what I saw only the fish were still in tanks and buckets, still swimming around. Oh, and the food wasn't covered with plastic wrap.

Traditional service style here is called "round table." They take you into a room and everyone sits around a round table with a lazy susan in the center. They only bring out one or two dishes at a time and set it on the lazy susan. They turn the lazy susan and always offer it to you first since you are their guest of honor. You can understand why there would be a lot of pressure to eat everything you're offered regardless of whether or not you actually want it. For this reason, I have tried things that I never would have otherwise. They love to watch your reaction and get great pleasure out of your enjoyment (or lack thereof in my case). You only take a little (two or three bites worth) at a time and pass it on to the next person. New dishes are added one at a time and each one is always offered to the guest first. Since the table is always being turned, there is always food in front of you. Here is a picture I found online:
This shows two things that aren't typical--plain rice (I have to beg for it since it is considered common food) and it looks like they brought out all the food at once--but this will give you a pretty good idea of what its like.

Manners during eating are very different than in the states. They always bring out a hot towel to start with. You wipe your hands and face before you eat. They eat very quickly here and eat a lot at these dinners. Literally, it feels like a race to consume everything. Before you finish one thing, they're already offering something new. They also chew loudly and slurp a lot. This can really get on my nerves. Not a whole lot of talking goes on during the meal, but there's a lot of noise. At the end of the meal, they pull out the toothpicks and start picking their teeth. They also smoke when they're finished. They don't generally do this in front of me (they leave the room). I think it must be because I'm a woman because other people I work with say this isn't the case for them. Oh, and for dessert, they bring out a fruit of some kind. Normal desserts are fairly uncommon here.

I hope I don't sound too critical. Really, it is just a different culture and I'm merely pointing out the differences. They are a very kind people and want to give and show you their very best. Some things that I really enjoy while I'm here are their fruits and vegetables. They have some unique fruits that are very yummy. And it is customary to have fruit plate delivered to your room every night. I really enjoy the way they prepare their vegetables. They are very tasty. I may try to imitate some of it at home.

There you go. When you come to China, you'll know what to expect.