Joe has returned from China, and here is the start of his recap of the trip (I’m proud that he dove right into the food that was unusual and unique – what a kid!):
One of the most unique experiences of my trip to China was the food I ate. The best tasting were different eggplant dishes, Beijing Roast Duck, and some really great fish.
You would probably find the weird “believe it or not” food more interesting, so that is what I’ll talk about.
The list begins with stomach; pig, goat, and cow. The people there eat stomach very regularly, which was difficult for me to get used to at first.
I also ate pig foot and ear. Both tasted fine, the only problem was eating around cartilage and joints.
I also ate various other culinary treats: blood tofu, from pig, cow, and duck. I had many interesting soups, including duck bone soup, goat stomach soup, and jellyfish soup. The jellyfish soup had whole translucent jellyfish in it, and was embarrassingly difficult to eat with chopsticks. I also had fish eye, fish head, and fish tail.
A lot of food I had there was a bit tricky to eat, both because of chopsticks and the very strong flavors and seasonings I wasn’t accustomed to. One meal we were eating what is called hot pot, where the raw food is dipped in boiling water with various seasonings in it. One of our teachers decided it wasn’t spicy enough for us and gave us some chili slices to cover our food in. As I was eating some beef, one of these chili slices was caught between my braces. It felt like acid against my gums.
Also, I ate some noodles, and as I was flailing the around with my chopsticks trying to get them in my mouth, some of the chili oil flung into my eye. Again, acid had started melting another part of my body.
It will be nice having a hamburger and some French fries again.
I know we have military readers who have eaten at far-flung places around the globe – so, reply to this post with your most unusual meal? It would be fun to hear about it.