Chinese foods I can’t stomach   By Robert Parkinson, CEO and Founder of RMG Selection There is a popular idiom in Chinese, min yi shi wei tian, which can be roughly translated as “for the people, food is everything.” After watching two seasons of the CCTV documentary A Bite of China, which tantalizingly reveals the breadth and depth of China’s food culture, I am inclined to believe it. The show made me think back to my own early food explorations in Beijing. At the time, I was intrigued about Chinese dishes that might be considered novel, distinct, odd or even disgusting from a Western culinary perspective. I loved most of the things that I tried – zongzi (glutinous rice wrapped in leaves), jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), tangyuan (sweet rice balls customarily eaten during Lantern Festival) and chunbing (Spring pancakes), to name just a few. But there are a few things that left an awful taste in my mouth, which I remember clearly to this day. Tofu is one of my favorite Chinese foods. However, bloody tofu is absolute not. The first time I saw bloody tofu was at a hotpot dinner with a few friends. A Chinese friend ordered some red and soft sliced cubes, which I had never seen before, so I opened my mouth, and down the hatch they went. It was only later that I learned that it was a pudding made of duck or pork blood, like English black pudding. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not a vampire! On another occasion, while I was visiting a fair at the Temple of Earth (Ditan) with some friends during Chinese Spring Festival, I was suddenly accosted by an overpowering smell that made me want to wretch. Yes, it was that Hunan specialty, stinky tofu. I cannot say that I’m a fan of this kind of tofu either. I’ve also had my share of “odd” food experiences just from being at the office. Sometimes, the Chinese employees at my office will eat preserved chicken feet. It’s difficult for me to stomach, or even try putting it in my mouth, because in Western countries, nobody eats chicken feet. As most people know, Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner. This is one of my favorite festivals in the Chinese calendar, and I like very much the story behind it, about Chang’e’s ascent to the moon. I also enjoy very much eating sweet moon cakes. However, last year, I was given a rude awakening when I stuffed a piece of moon cake in my mouth, only to discover it was salty! Afterwards, I was told that the filling inside was preserved duck egg. My final food turn-off is another common Chinese dish, which happens to be one of my wife’s favorites – braised pork knuckles with soybeans. My wife believes that the collagen inside the pork knuckles is good for her skin. Although there are also some versions of pork knuckle dishes in Europe, such as Schweinshaxe in Germany, eating this part of the pig is not really common at all, at least in my experience. And how can one possibly eat this dish without making a huge mess? I’ve listed a number of dishes here that I don’t like, but if you want to experience the uniqueness of Chinese food, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you try them for yourself. To read the original link on Global Times, please click here