There are so many things about life in China that are so different from our life in America. One of them is what foods we can and cannot find. I'm inspired to write about this today because yesterday I made a glorious find....
.... canned whipped cream! It's from somewhere in Germany, so it better be good. We're saving it for a special occasion because it did end up costing $4.50 for the one can. Some things are just worth it!
We have a lot of great fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. Yes, I wrote "meats," and they sure are fresh. The meat stands have slabs hanging from hooks in the open air. You walk up and tell the vendor how many "jin" (a Chinese measurement roughly equal to half a kilo) you would like to buy. He or she cuts it off right in front of you. We buy our beef this way and have also learned how to ask in Chinese for it to be ground. Granted, there are some ways in which this is really gross (oh, the smell!), but it's also quite convenient. We've also learned to ask the vendor to cut off the fat before he or she grinds the meat, so we get really lean meat. It's also very fresh.
We buy our chicken at the big supermarket. There you can get frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They're in a big pile on a table that is refrigerated. The big challenge about buying them is picking them up! For your convenience, there are some tongs available to pick up the pieces. But the tongs are just two flat pieces of metal with no teeth to grip with. Usually I end up dropping the pieces a few times before they make it into the bag that the butcher lady is holding for me. If I say something silly in Chinese she laughs a little and gives me some extra help.
Here's a meat buying tip: Go to buy before 11:00 a.m. or the good meat has already been sold.
The fruit and vegetable stands here are just beautiful. There is an array of colors, shapes and sizes. Everything comes in season, so we get really excited when new fruits or vegetables show up at the stands. Our most recent additions have been strawberries and pineapple. After a winter of bananas, apples and oranges we are very excited.
China also has to offer some really great fruits and vegetables we can't get in America. Our new favorite fruit is a pomelo. It's like a large grapefruit mixed with an orange and is absolutely delicious! As for vegetables, here they eat garlic stalk. It can be stir fried or put in stews. Lastly, eggplant in China tastes so much better than it does in America. This makes Annie quite excited because she likes eggplant, but Brian doesn't...in America. Here Brian loves it.
Here's a fruit safety tip: All fruit that does not have a thick peel MUST be thoroughly washed before eating. The quality of the water used in the fields is not always good and can leave residue on the skin of the fruit. Bananas and oranges are safe, but everything else must be washed, including lettuce.
(Below: One of the larger fruit & vegetable markets in town. This one is unusual because it is indoors. Commonly, they are open air...or just a cart on the side of the road.)
