Food Edition

This subject requires it's own post! The food has been an adventure so far, a learning experience and at times, a real character builder! The way the food is presented is stunning, with the focus always on presentation. We have been provided plentiful amounts of food, the hosts and staff of the hotel and restaurants we have dined with are attentive and gracious to us all. The menu is pre-set and doesn't require anything more then an adventuresome spirit. Let me tell you about the "very, very good...very, very good"" and authentic, traditional dishes we have had. Do you like eel? How about duck with the face still smiling at you? (Think "A Christmas Story" where they dine on Christmas day in the Chinese restaurant), or maybe some jelly fish and a side of pig gut? Yes, those dishes were served to us, and I must say there were a lot of students who braved it all and tried everything! My sixteen year old daughter, who up until recently still didn't like her food to touch on the plate, ate everything presented. Wow, that's huge....but I digress. The traditional way to serve Chinese dishes is on a giant "Lazy Susan" where dish after dish is brought out and you just go around and around serving yourself. Now as for me, I wanted to be brave, really I did, but as soon as I saw the eel, I suddenly wasn't hungry. Let's just say, rice has become a good friend to me on this trip! Many dishes that are not recognizable in the quacking, slithering, jiggling way, are quite good and not too threatening, I think I do my best when I just put it in my mouth and don't ask questions. I was pleasently surprised by the many things I've eaten though.....who knew pig gut tasted just like mom's fried chicken??? I'm not kidding, and my little four year old just thought they were Chicken McNuggets! About now, I would guess, students have found a McDonald's and/or a KFC....beautiful fast food, sounds pretty good right now! But really, it's rare to see an overweight person here, and I've noticed that their "desserts" are very low in sugar, not at all in the sweet catagory you would normally put them in. I'm sure our American diet would horrify most Chinese, I know our American toilets do, just as their bathrooms scare us, but that's another story, for another day, not one where you've just had eel for dinner!!! In all honesty though, there is so much that has been daunting, but we are managing quite well, and finding it all fascinating in the process. Well, more about our food stories as they happen......Bon Appetit!