Living in China for half a year, I had the liberty to taste the real deal china food. Tourist and travelers do not taste the same kind of food. A tourist is a mere visitor to a foreign country but a traveler is an adventurous type of people wherein they blend with the locals, doesn’t go around with a tour guide or tour group.
More often than not, people worry about what they will eat when they go to new places and that my friend, is what you call a tourist. To be a traveler, you need to be ready to eat all kinds of food. Some precautions won’t hurt like taking flu shots or several kinds of vaccines but, as we all know, to have a strong immune system, you need to have a few germs inside your body.
What to try in china?
Xiao Long Bao – This is a meat wrapped in a soft flour wrapper. Go to chinatown in your place and you can find these wrapped meats but, to get the real authentic feel, your Xiao Long Bao should have soup inside it. No soup = fake! It is about the size of your fist when closed. To eat it, you will be given a straw to sip the soup out and chinese spoon to eat the wrapped meat.
Yang Row – That is how you exactly say it in mandarin. “Yang” means lamb and “Row” means meat. You can find these food in street corners and is a must try with chili powder. Just writing about this makes my mouth water! This food costs around 25 US centavos. Just four sticks of that and an order of a rice would be great for a meal!
Mini Lobsters – There are some spots in Shanghai, who displays their mini lobsters outside their shop to attract customers. Yes, they are cheap. For just $8 dollars, you will have lobsters than can feed 2 to three people!
Just be warned though. Some street foods might not be clean enough for your stomach to handle. Just make sure that you check what you eat.
What not to try in China for weak stomachs but a must try for travelers!
Starfish – Seen in most shores, who would have though that this is a delicacy in China? This food is a bit crunchy, because it was fried first. Tastes salty but blends nicely with sweet fruit juices.
Snake – According to an encyclopedia, when eaten raw, snakes could be a dangerous source of parasitic infections in humans. I guess this goes with all the other food listed here. In Asia, snake blood is drank because it is believed to be an aphrodisiac. While alive, the blood is drained and usually mixed with liquor to improve the taste.
Beetles, Grasshoppers and other small creepy crawlers – Yes! As weird as it sounds, those we kill in our households, are sold there to be consumed by human beings! How does it taste like? Just crunchy, a bit salty with some weird tastes from time to time.
All these foods can be tried at an intersection in Wang Fu Jiang Road in Beijing, China. As human beings, we have the tendency to be more adventurous thus, producing travelers and not the same-old same-old tourist we see everywhere. You should try it. We only live once, you know? It is worth a try! What nasty stuffs have you eaten lately?
Views from the corner 
