Example of Chinese hospitality - with pics!

[Locut0s]

The last 3 days here in Nanning we have been guests of a friend of my fathers ( though not staying with him ). He is a writer of some limited fame here in China and has also turned a number of his short stories and novels into TV mini series. At any rate he has been treating us out to dinner and showing us around Nanning the past few days. Like many friends you will make in China he is extremely gracious and insists on showing us all around the city despite being very busy with work. Though he has more money than the average Chinese. Today he took us to a particularly nice lunch. Situated in a sort of artists compound that a friend of his owns. This consists of a number of small out buildings where artists can rent rooms to work out of the way of the noise of the city. It's a very pleasant place! The buildings are embedded in a small tropical jungle like environment with paths and small ponds winging all about the place. We ate in a small pavilion outside. The friend of my fathers had ordered a huge number of dishes. This is something you may have experienced if you have ever been treated to dinner in China by a friend. They like to order a banquets worth of food for 2 or 3 people and bottle after bottle of beer. Usual more than you can finish. You can see here some shots I took today. I have labeled the one with food:



(1) Bowl of corn on the cob, sweat potatoes and whole peanuts all roated
(2) A whole chicken cooked Hinan style in oil, garlic, ginger. Fresh from the field!
(3) Cucumber cooked in oil, with garlic and vinegar
(4) A very good Tofu dish cooked with the consistency of corn
(5) Chinese style omelet cooked with vegetables
(6) A traditional finely sliced potato dish cooked in oil an herbs
(7) Bitter Mellon
(8) Fresh fish from the lake near by (Not shown)
(9) + (10) Two more fresh vegeatabl dishes (Not shown)

This plus about 4 large beers and traditional rice wine. All these dishes were cooked on a wood fire stove we were told.

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[aquart]

1. I don't want sweat potatoes.

I don't care how tasty they might be.

[Locut0s]

2. Yeah those would be hard to swallow. However we WERE sweating an awful lot :-)

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. lol. n/t

[DaveinJapan]

3. looks great!

thanks for sharing that.

As for "sweat potatoes", I guess people wouldn't like to drink sweat either?

[Locut0s]

4. Ah yes good old Pocari Sweat. Used to have a Japanese friend who loved the stuff.

[malaise]

5. Thanks

I'm really enjoying your threads on your China trip

[Locut0s]

6. Thanks for thanking ;-) I like getting feedback.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. The meal looks tasty

[ensho]

9. #3 cucumber dish - was it fried crunchy or just cooked soft?

sounds interesting.

[Locut0s]

19. Raw. This is a traditional dish made...

by cutting up raw cucumber then marinating it in oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and more.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

10. What great pictures!

Thanks for posting.

[SeattleVet]

11. "Usually more than you can finish" is the norm.

It's a cultural thing. It's considered a loss of face and a great embarrassment to NOT have enough food for everyone to eat as much as they want. At any given function you will always have more than can be consumed. Running out of something is to be avoided.

It all looks delicious! (But is that a bottle of Maalox at the far edge of the table?)

[cwydro]

12. Yum!

Thanks for the pictures!

[NewJeffCT]

13. They weren't scared of your swine flu?

My wife is in China right now, and her family doesn't want to meet with her because they're terrified of getting swine flu from her. Literally terrified... when we were planning a trip to NYC a month ago, they were on the phone with my wife in tears, begging us not to go because of the swine flu. Many of my wife's Chinese friends have similar stories - their families in China are terrified their children in the US will catch swine flu.

But, when I went to China in 2004 and 2007, my wife's relatives and friends there were all super nice to us. Her sister took the week off from work to take us to various places around their hometown (Nanjing) and she used her influence to get us a good room at the Crowne Plaza at a much discounted rate. And, when we went back to Shanghai, a friend of the family got us a limo through his work to take us to the airport.

[Locut0s]

18. Yeah the government has whipped people into a frenzy about that. When we...

arrived the place was boarded by people in Hazmat suits (I'm not joking) who checked everyone's body temp with an infrared thermometer pointed at the forehead. Then we had to sign a legal paper stating our temperature and tat we were healthy at the time of landing. Only once every passenger had been checked could we get off. However once in the country we never had any issue with locals worried to talk to us or anything of the sort. There are two reasons for the panic. The first is largely political and that is that China was roundly accused on not handling the SARS epidemic a few years back so they are going overboard this time to make it look like they are doing everything they can. The second is something not many will admit to but is nevertheless at work and that is a form of xenophobia. China doesn't have a very diverse population yet despite its economic boom and an influx of foreigners. There are very few people of non-Chinese or Asian ethnicity living in the country outside the major cites. Because of this there is something of a xenophobic reaction to many things foreign, especially when it comes to anything viewed as a potential harm. But then again the same forces are at work in the US. I believe part of the fear of this in the US also stems from fear of a "Mexican plague".

[hibbing]

14. yum

Hi,
Thanks for posting these. I really really want to go to China. So much about the people and the place fascinates me.

Peace

[mainer]

15. Yes, more food photos please! I love seeing these.

It sounds like you're eating (and drinking) well! It's interesting how "Chinese" food in the U.S. bears such little resemblance to what you actually eat in China.

[Locut0s]

20. In the big cities with good Chinatowns you can....

get some fine Chinese cooking in the US and Canada. Though it's never going to be the same as in China. But yes as a rule the rest of American Chinese food isn't very authentic at all. Having been raised eating my mothers Chinese cooking I make it a point to stay away from anyplace that looks like "western" Chinese cooking (I can't stand that stuff).

[NewJeffCT]

22. Most American Chinese food is a lot sweeter than real Chinese food

They often put a brown sauce on American Chinese food that makes it far sweeter than typical authentic Chinese food... though, there are so many different tastes by region in China, that American-style Chinese food is probably authentic in some part of China, but that style just isn't popular among Chinese.

We have neighbors here in CT that are from Shanghai, and when we went over to their house for dinner once, their food was pretty sweet and seemingly more Americanized, even though they've lived in the US for less than 2 years.

[Heidi]

16. I love these threads. Thank you for posting them!

[Locut0s]

17. You're welcome :-)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. I would never think to put corn, sweet potatoes and peanuts together.

Intriguing. Must try. Thanks